EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKkkkkkkk!

Although we've been in our house for a year now (in 3 days time), we've had constant issues with our kitchen sink since we moved in. The guy who fitted it before we moved in was a bit of a potcher (I think that's the Welsh word for it!) and so the rubber washer under the taps is all skew-whiff and doesn't form a watertight seal meaning that the taps were leaking for a good couple of months before we realised exactly what it was that was causing that awful leaking musty smell.

On top of that, I think I've just realised that he didn't seal around the sink either (I don't know if he should have or not...) and so water is seeping through there and now the carcass is just totally water damaged....gross.

Anyway, I did today's challenge, but in the knowledge that I'm sure likely to need to do it again when the cupboard has dried out, and I think that Toni from A bowl full of lemons' tip to cover the bottom in sticky back plastic might be the option here!

We don't have a separate utility area and we do all our washing up by hand so under the sink and the above sink shelf contains all of our washing/cleaning/householdy bits and pieces...although I've realised today I really do use far too many chemicals!

Here's my before of the shelf (ignore the mistletoe....I know it's WAY overdue throwing out!):


And here's the after of the shelf:



I still have our recycling info blue tacked to the wall because our local council is brilliant with recycling....they take almost anything (except food, but it's coming!). I feel really strongly about recycling and so I follow all the rules saying the paper products have to be bagged separately from the plastic, tin & glass. They all get thrown into the same truck though so I assume they go to different sorting lines when they reach the recycling depot.

Here's the before of under the kitchen sink:


On the door is a pink plastic holder thingy for all our plastic carrier bags which we still seem to accumulate although we always use our cotton bags when we go shopping....I have no idea how we manage to have so many!

Here's the after:



As you can see it's tidied, and I have chucked out some things....especially the limescale removers seeing as I've never seen such clear un limescaled kettles before moving to Wales!
I've had to put down some old tea towels below the tubs though to try to soak up that residue of leakageness so hopefully once it's all sealed around the sink, this can become a lovely dry place!

The bags in the pink holder I folded into triangles using this tutorial from Polka Dot Pineapple and the pink holder is also tidy!

Ok, that's the fun over, what's next?


If you want to check out the 21 day Organising Challenge over at A bowl full of Lemons, feel free to click the button below.