Week 3: The Kitchen (dining side)

This side of the kitchen is where we eat, but it also has to double as study/homework space for my husband, storage of cookbooks, mail, school supplies, etc.  To complete this project, we bought some items from IKEA.  We bought a desk $50), a shelving unit ($20), some storage bins ($14), and baskets(it pains me to see in print how much they were).  We realized after we got home that we got the wrong size top for the desk, so they are shipping us a new one (so that will look better soon :).  It is a good place for Chet's laptop to live and if he's in the middle of working on something he doesn't have to clear it off for us to eat dinner.  I'm not loving how the storage bins on the shelving unit look, but for now they work.  They house all of Chet's school notebooks, folders, papers, and books, as well as desk supplies and some computer supplies that he uses for school.  The baskets (as expensive as they were) are amazing and I'm glad we got them.  They house my cook books, grocery bags, napkins, etc.  Our mail/important information center area got a clean-up.  The two black bins on the bottom are for library books ready to be returned (so whoever happens to be going to the library can grab a bin and return it when they go).  The top bin is for one library, the bottom for the other.  The marker board unit holds our keys, important messages, and bills that need paid or other mail that needs action.  The black and white bin holds incoming mail.  I think that's it.  A set of curtains and some artwork and the decorative side of this kitchen will meet the new functional part of it :)  (but that's a project for another week).