Welcome to my sad, crowded, disorganized mess of a pantry. It has needed some TLC for quite some time, but I never got around to doing anything about it until last September I couldn’t take it anymore. That’s when I saw a couple of pantry redos on Pinterest and got inspired. So I set to work organizing, pulled things out, thought about new placement, emptied ugly store containers to fill labeled Tupperware that I had on hand and stuffed everything back in. Sadly, the picture above is what it looked like AFTER I “organized”. All that energy and the result was that Kyle couldn’t find his cereal in the morning because it was on a different shelf! So, deflated, I walked away for a few weeks. Then my mom came in October and re-inspired me. We went to IKEA, land of great cheap organization, and talked paint color and label design. My Silhouette Cameo didn’t arrive in time to do the vinyl labels with her, but I started on those a few weeks later. Right before Christmas, Kyle convinced me to paint and get rid of the tacky contact paper and finally this week, I finished painting the shelves. After 6 months, it’s finally complete and I love it!
A little paint and a few cute containers and organizational tools made such a difference!
One of the best ideas was to use the door space. Although Kyle raised his eye brows a bit at the red baskets (his quote after I told him what I wanted to use them for, “OK, but what are they supposed to be used for?”). And I LOVE having the spices there, hanging pretty on the door, easy to see, easy to reach. Perfect! I told Kyle it was what I’d “always wanted” and he said if he’d known a magnetic board and tin cans would make me this happy, he would have done it a long time ago. Lesson: Better Communication – the key to every good marriage! 
Oh well.
The Silhouette was a godsend. It was so easy to use and I loved how the vinyl labels turned out. It had a little trouble doing the tiny labels for the spice cans, not because it wouldn’t cut the vinyl, just that the little bits it was cutting out tended to get caught in the blade. It was more trouble to apply the labels than make them. I’ve read that transfer paper makes this part easier, so if I ever need to do this again, I think I will go that route.
One thing that I think made my pantry so ugly before is all the little packages of junk that make it look like the baking aisle threw up on the shelf. So I bought these cute boxes at IKEA and labeled them too. Now the popcorn salt, taco seasoning, bread crumbs, marshmallows, etc are all hidden away and not cluttering up my pretty pantry.
Now for a little Before & After:
Top Shelf – before everyday items like cereal and bread were hidden among all the unopened Costco stash. After, it’s reserved for the unopened food items and a few big container spices.
2nd Shelf – before the stacking of stuff drove me crazy whenever I needed something on the bottom, but after I put those white wire shelves to better use and fixed my container issue with new coordinating ones.
Third Shelf – before I could never find the can I was looking for and always bought more of what I already had by mistake. After, the can organizer and red boxes cleaned up the clutter.
4th Shelf – I’m not sure why I don’t have a before pic but the after speaks for itself.
Bottom Shelf – before it was packed with stash items always looked cluttered. After, most things are hidden in the black container and what’s out can be neatly stacked. And who doesn’t love a basket of root veggies, right?
I’ve finally completed what may have been the most unnecessarily long project EVER. But I really do enjoy it. The red makes me happy when I open the door and I love that it’s so much more usable now. Shoulda done this a long time ago…
If you’d like more info on any of the containers I used, click here for the details. Hope this inspires a little pantry project of your own!
…..www.iheartorganizing.blogspot.com u will love the blog. she will love this post! then more people will see your blog and be inspired by your awesomeness! do it!
