Design: Kitchen III

The Situation: Tiffany has about four black-and-white washcloths that we usually rotate through. She's moving out in less than a month, and it would be advantageous to have fresh new washcloths available when she leaves. Said washcloths live draped over the cabinet doors, or over the edge of the sink - they're constantly falling off, or dripping onto the floor, or onto bare toes, which is just gross. They need a better place to live.

The Goal: Fresh, bright, easy-to-clean washcloths with designated, easy-access homes.

Thoughts on the Matter: I've got two (and a half?) ideas brewing for this.

1. Hanging pegs. There's a video on the BHG website (or at least, I think it was BHG) about adding ribbon edging, a hanging loop, and a grommet to plain washcloths to make them spiffy. I've got the ribbon, the hem tape, and the grommets, and it's an easy enough project to do. I also picked up two miniature wall shelves with hanging pegs from the paint-it-yourself aisle at Hobby Lobby (both together were less than $3). A coat of plain white paint, and they'll look awesome, especially with crisp bright-edged washcloths hanging underneath and something useful and / or mildly decorative (salt and pepper? mini vase with flower? you get the idea) sitting on top. Only downside is, there's not really a good place to put the shelves. The only wall that's broad enough, high enough, and not in the way of a cabinet door is the wall between the hallway and the kitchen. The shelves would look decent there, as would the washcloths (so long as there was some color - thus the ribbon), but it's about three and a half feet away from the sink. Even I have to lean just a bit to reach it if I'm standing at the sink. Anyone shorter would have issues. Also, if I end up putting a breadbox or rack in that corner, the towel shelves would have to be bumped higher up - so the top shelf would hang uncomfortably high (again, even for me). So the idea is good, but one more time the layout of the kitchen thwarts me.
2. Over-the-cabinet racks. I saw some hangers today at Bed, Bath and Beyond that were intended for hats or coats or something - single hangers, designed to hang over the closet door. (Kind of like these, but simpler and not an assortment.) Two of those (or something like them) with a dowel glued across, and the whole thing painted in waterproof paint (or regular paint and sealant, or some such) would make an easy, no-drills-required hanging rack that could sit right on the cabinets under the sink. We'd still have the drip issue, but honestly the drip issue is less a problem than the washcloths-are-constantly-nasty-because-they're-always-in-the-sink issue.
   
3. Combination. Set up one of the hanging shelves, so there are fresh clean cloths ready for use. Also set up one of the over-the-cabinet shelves, so that there's always a cloth immediately to hand - for drying, for cleaning spills, whatever the case may be. This would put three cloths into rotation, and if I kept another three or four hanging in the laundry room (shower curtain hooks from the dollar store, on the rack over the dryer), it would be easy enough to rotate out the used cloths every second or third day (some roommates go through 'em that fast, some don't). This may be the approach I take.... It has the added convenience of only requiring me to buy one set of over-the-door hangers. One set of hangers was going to be more expensive than both of the wall racks, which was a shame. Might still snag a couple extra - it would be nice to be able to hang the bag dispenser, instead of leaning it against the cabinet wall, and over-the-door works both ways - but we'll see. First I want to nose around and see if there's a way to make them on my own (cheaply and without access to tools, as always).

Other Thoughts: I'm not so sure I'm gonna keep looking for a bread box. As nice as it would be to have a designated, contained place for the bread, I don't think it would work out - we always have too much of it, and I tend to buy oddly-shaped bread (baguettes, round loaves, whatever's on sale and more interesting than wheat). So, we'll see. If I happen to run across one at the flea market or something, then maybe, but I'm thinking the $20 Walmart / Target kinds are out.