Kitchen tour

In keeping with our theme for March I'd like to share a tour of our kitchen. Here is our space:

And another angle: 

We love this room. It's a bright, sunny, beautiful space for nurturing and play. The best part is that it's baby proof, so there's nothing within Bee's reach that can harm her and no reason for us to limit her access in the kitchen. I've written about baby proofing here and here. I believe that a safe place for a child to freely explore is an essential need, and it's one of the core values our home decorating and layout is based upon. 

In the kitchen, we've provided Bee with several areas of interest as well as eliminated some of the common kitchen dangers. We don't have anything dangerous in the bottom cabinets and we store our cleaners in a different room. This allows her to really get into everything and she spends so much of her day taking things out and putting them back - pots and pans are a favorite! So, let's take a closer look:

We've painted the outside of our pantry with a black chalk board paint and have given Bee her very own space to use for artistic expression. She delights in scribbling! When she's done, we put the chalk away inside the cabinet and out of her reach.

We have dedicated the bottom drawer in the refrigerator to provide her a space for healthy snacks that she's able to help herself to throughout the day. I try to prepare two options each morning for her to select from.

We purchased an inexpensive child table from ikea and it is the perfect spot for Bee to enjoy her snacks. I also found this beautiful child sized pitcher which I fill with water in the morning and place it on the table so that she's able to pour herself a drink throughout the day. She is becoming so great at pouring! 

Sometimes allowing a child to practice helping themselves means there are messes to clean up, and that's okay! It's all a learning process. 

I've hung a towel for spills at her level. She is not at a stage yet where she cleans up her own spills, but given the opportunity, she loves to help! 

This child set broom and mop set is another wonderful way to foster independence and encourage keeping a neat space I made the stand by cutting cardboard, wrapping it in wrapping paper, and taping magnets to the back. It works perfectly and looks great!