And now, a word about cup hooks.

When you were growing up, did your grandmother have her tea cups or mugs neatly hung from little hooks on the inside of a kitchen cabinet? Mine neither, she wasn't that organized, but I saw other kids' grandmothers' kitchens, and they had cups hanging from cup hooks. I'm pretty sure that's how I developed the opinion that cup hooks are for old ladies, and people who have tea cups. Imagine my surprise when a little light bulb illuminated in my brain (doesn't happen often these days!) and I realized cup hooks aren't just for cups. Or grandmothers, for that matter.

I was searching for ways to organize the top of my kitchen sink. Between a few different scrub brushes and sponges for various kitchen cleaning tasks, the sink area was getting crowded. I'm not a fan of storing wet sponges under the sink (because mold, ew), so I started looking at what other sink items I could stash. That sad, lonely, hardly used (read: often dry) drain stopper caught my eye, and after a little musing I realized adhesive cup hooks on the inside of the sink cabinet would hold it up nicely. Observe Figure 1:

Fig. 1: Assembled cup hook drain cover storage.

 

Now I'm not the most patient person in the world, which means I don't typically have the patience for measuring and stuff. So to get this little system attached, I simply slid the cup hooks onto the drain cover, held the whole arrangement where I wanted it to make sure it would fit, and then removed the backing from the adhesive cup hooks and pressed both into place while they held the drain cover. I wasn't sure it would work, honestly, but it did so WOOT! Here is what the attached cup hooks look like when they're not holding the drain cover:


I got so excited by The Great Cup Hook Success that I started trying to find other ways to use these handy little guys. I had been keeping a rubber lid opener on a shelf above the kitchen sink to remove the expertly attached lid from my husband's coffee mug when he brings it back after a day at work (seriously, if the mug was used to store Kryptonite, Superman could carry it around without care after my husband put the lid on). I never liked having the grippy thingy on a shelf, but it was better than fishing around in a drawer for it after my hands were already wet from washing dishes. Cup hook to the rescue! Observe Figure 2:

Fig. 2: Ugly-but-useful rubber lid opener ON A CUP HOOK!

I just used a regular hole-punch to add a hole to hang the lid opener from the hook. Not the most beautiful solution, but very effective. Someday I might get a cuter lid opener, but for now this works!

And to the left you will see the adhesive cup hooks I used (or what's left of them).

Once upon a time I used screw-in white coated metal cup hooks to add storage for keys to a large letter sorter (which has since been repurposed as a wall-mounted library in the nursery). I plan to use those prettier cup hooks for other projects, like hanging my measuring cups and spoons inside my baking cabinet, and hanging my dish brush and bottle brush above the sink. Those projects will have to wait until I can find that box of remaining cup hooks. I know it exists somewhere in my garage, and I refuse to buy new cup hooks just because I can't figure out where the hell my husband put the ones we already have.

Have you used cup hooks to organize your home? How so? Do you prefer adhesive or screw-in? Share your stories in the comments!