Feeling very shelf-ish

I'm once again painting shelves. With a small space you can either use lots of enclosed storage or go the opposite direction with open shelving. Since I think too many cabinets would just make our space seem smaller, we're opting for open shelves in every room.

In the kitchen we already have one shelf above the sink. Today I'm painting another we'll use in there, to house the large toaster oven and all our coffee-making paraphernalia. We used this same shelf at the house on Canning, for the toaster oven and bottled water-with-spigot contraption. Since we have a brand new water tank here, we're just using tap water rather than buying bottled, so we took off the bottled water thing and now I'll have room for coffee-related items. There's a small shelf underneath the larger one which will be perfect for all my mugs, too.

We're re-using the bathroom shelf too. It's MDF covered in a wood-look melamine veneer, which was fine for the house on Canning but I'm painting it white for this bathroom.

White just works best in small spaces, since it recedes. That's why I'm using so much in the casita... on the walls, ceilings, shelves, and as much of the furniture as I can get away with :)

The shelf for the bedroom is ready but we haven't installed it yet. Maybe this weekend. Along with the ones I'm painting today (and tomorrow, since they'll require multiple coats).

While I really like most clutter to be kept behind closed doors, I'm embracing the concept of open shelves -- as long as I can keep them neat and orderly. For example, in the bedroom I plan to use some large, fabric-lined baskets to keep things accessible but hidden. In the bathroom I'll be using some collapsible fabric boxes. And over the kitchen sink I'm only putting items that are white, clear or stainless steel. For the most part. I have also added in some turquoise glasses for a pop of color. But overall, my goal is for an orderly, low-impact look.

My motley mug collection will be semi-hidden because that shelf is inset under the larger one AND will be going on a wall that's not so visible except from certain angles in the kitchen.

I'm thankful for the many baskets collected over the years, because I'm finding places for them all over the casita. Big, small, doesn't matter. Keeping the clutter collected is my goal, and baskets serve that purpose well.

I'm also re-thinking storage in the kitchen. We borrowed a hutch from the house in Sta. Rosa but it isn't working out as well as I'd hoped. At first I thought the best thing to do would be to keep an eye out for a tall, long but narrow cabinet with doors. But after perusing my inspiration photos on Pinterest, I've decided I'd rather have Ivan build me an open cabinet that we can put a countertop on, and I can sew a skirt to hide the shelves below. Very cottagey and very practical, since countertop space is practically non-existent in my kitchen. I have about 30 cm (12 inches) on one side of the sink and 45 cm (18 inches) on the other. Mostly I use the small folding table (that we're using for a dining table) as a work station for mixing, chopping, etc.

The only thing is: Ivan already has a TO DO list that's waaaaaaay too long. But I'm okay with waiting a while, because I'm in no big hurry. As with everything else, I know we'll get things done eventually. Poco a poco.

What's your preferred method for corralling the clutter?