I really did need all of these...

I got really into pretending I could cook a few years ago.  So when I bought all of these spices (for all of the amazing recipes I was googling) at the bulk section of Central Market and Whole Foods, the mini ziploc bags were cluttering up my spice cabinet.  I found these little spice jars at Ikea that I loved, but all of the racks that held them were a bit ugly.  So... I thought I'd make my own!

Of course, I don't have any pictures of the process (this was a while ago) but it was super easy.  I looked at the area I wanted to use, held up the jars and decided that two shelves (__ inches long) would work for the space/containers I had.  I found a board that was the right depth to hold the jars (a 1X4, I think); used a really thin piece of wood (I think it was sold as a stake or something? ) as the ledge and had the Home Depot people cut everything to length.  Staples held everything in place (this was all getting covered by burlap, so it didn't have to be pretty) and I painted a few L-brackets the wall color so they'd fade away.  I used this tutorial as inspiration (though I didn't stain or seal the shelves like they did, it would look really good.)

(old blurry photos - idea that still works)

I used my cheerleader handwriting and wrote the spices' names with sharpie.  (A: I wasn't really a cheerleader, but I write just like one.  B: Sharpie can be wiped off glass, but that's good if you want to play around with fonts/it doesn't get handled enough for that to be a problem, in my experience.)  I might have bought a few new spices just for their pretty colors/shapes.  Turmeric, whole allspice, and star anise, I'm looking at you.

This brought some much needed texture and color to a builder basic rented kitchen.  When you rent, the kitchen is one of the rooms you can do the least to; no re-tiling or painting cabinets and there isn't usually a lot of wall space for art or new paint colors (if you're even allowed to do that!)  These shelves were practical, cheap and easy to DIY - you know those are my favorite attributes.  It also left more room in my spice cabinet for over priced bottles of balsamic vinegar and the million different bottles of Asian sauces and vinegars that I only use for making peanut sauce.  So... important things.