When we first moved into our house 4 1/2 years ago, one of our favorite things about it was our pantry. It was not original to the house…at some point over the past 30+ years, one of the previous owners decided to add in a pantry by breaking through the wall in the kitchen and taking a few feet from the garage. This simple change was (and still is), in our minds, brilliant! So we moved in, bought some wire shelves and loaded up our beautiful (and very empty) pantry. I have to admit, I really, really like a full pantry. It just makes me feel safe and happy. I like to always feel prepared for the impending Zombie attack!
Now, while we try to keep it organized and clean, just like everything else, it has a way of getting quite dis-organized and cluttered. We’ve also gotten very intentional about buying in bulk over the last year while making the shift from “regular” foods to more locally grown/organic/generally healthier foods and learning how to make as many foods from scratch as we can (it’s a process we’re still in the middle of). While this is great and fun and healthy and all that good stuff, it also makes for a lot of extra items (flours, nuts, rice, etc) that need to be kept sealed after the original bag has been opened and proves difficult to store efficiently.
So, this is what our pantry looked like before Tool Lady decided it was time to make some changes. I jumped in to help (I so wanted to just sit on the couch all day, but I’m so glad I didn’t) and we knocked it out together.
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| The right hand side – before |
Note all the random bags, stuff shoved wherever we could find a spot to shove it and all of the bag clips not being utilized…
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| The back – before |
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| The left hand side – before |
This is what our kitchen looked like in the interim…not a pretty sight. I always forget how it has to get worse before it can get better when it comes to organizing!
There really was stuff everywhere…on all the counters, the dining room table, the floor…it was ridiculous!
However, after many hours of pulling everything out, going through it all, taking it out of it’s original containers and putting it all in recycled jars (some mason, some saved from purchased spaghetti sauce, jellies, etc), our pantry went from, “Why the hell can’t I find anything?!” to “Sweet! Now I know exactly what we have!”
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| The right hand side – after |
Everything in glass jars (yay!) except for chips and cereal. The right hand side is now mostly items that require preparation (flour for baking, dried beans for cooking, etc). The two baskets hold our potatoes and winter squash and the bottom shelf is for small appliances, and misc. to help clear off some of our counter space.
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| Close up of one of the shelves |
The back shelf didn’t require a lot of attention, but it now holds all of our trash bags, aluminum foil, sandwich bags, vases and party stuff. You can also see the top shelf of the right hand side here…it holds our canners, stew pots and dehydrator.
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| The back – after |
The left hand side holds everything that has already been prepped or is quick and easy. The bottom shelf now holds our tupper ware and water bottles that were moved from a cabinet in the kitchen (once Tool Lady got started organizing, it was hard to stop…we did the pantry and four other cabinets…we could’ve gone all afternoon and into the night had we not exhausted ourselves!).
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| The left hand side – after |
Have you noticed the plywood on some of the shelves? Tool Lady cut a few pieces to sit on the shelves that hold the cans. The wire shelving is great but the spaces between the wires are a little wide (and slippery) for some of the smaller jars to be able to balance nicely. With the plywood in place we don’t have to worry about any slippage 🙂
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| Close up of two of the left hand shelves |
Now, if we can just keep it this way for more than a few days (HA!), we’ll be in good shape.
xoxo,
M
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So great! I dream of a pantry that size, though I was pleased that this house did have a pantry at all–only one set of shelves as wide as the door that hides them, but at least it was something. I love the glass jars for storing things though.
Christy – Thanks for popping over! Yeah…I’m pretty lucky to have Tool Lady in my life! 🙂
This is my first time here – what a lovely job you did on the pantry. I don’t know who the “tool lady” is but I sure wish I had one in my life!
How encouraging! It looks great. I was the happy subject of having my pantry recently cleaned out and reorganized by my son and his girl friend. It was New Years Eve actually, they got bored and decided to clean the pantry. It is a HUGE pantry, so you can imagine my excitement at such a gift! You and I both are ready for the new year!
Great job! I am in the process of transferring most of my foods to glass jars as well, unfortunately I need bigger jars. I guess a trip to goodwill will be in order soon 🙂 I am jealous of your dedicated pantry! We have shelves in our entryway off from our kitchen, but it becomes a catchall for winter gear/mail/and our bulk leftovers (flour/oatmeal/beans). Maybe if I put a piece of fabric around the shelves…hmmmm…ideas are brewing now, thanks!
Heather – Thanks! We had a few items that didn’t fit, so we just split them up into 2 jars and put one behind the other on the shelf. I like the idea of putting fabric around your shelves! You could tack it up or, if it allows, maybe use one of those adjustable rods to put up a little curtain??? Thanks for popping by!
Lynnie – Congratulations on your pantry re-do! What a wonderful gift!!! Doesn’t it feel nice to walk in and know exactly what you have?! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Julie – Agreed! I love when things are clean and organized, they juts don’t always stay that way 😉
Congrats on your sewing area! Even with a little clutter after, it must feel amazing to have gotten it to such an organized state! Now you know where to put things back, at least!
Good job ladies! There is such a feeling of satisfaction when everything is neat and tidy! The issue is keeping it that way.
I took 3 days organizing my sewing area, But after feverishly cutting out and sewing 7 aprons, 1 lounging pants, 10 La La Loopsy outfits . . . Yowzer! It took a couple hours to get back to some semblance of organized!
The good part: I knew where everything was.
The bad part: In my hurrying some stuff was tossed instead of put in their proper place.
Julie from AZ
loves2spin – Thanks! It was pretty overwhelming, but completely worth it!
Jaime – Right?! Now we just have to maintain it! To label everything we simply cut the labels off the bags and taped them onto the jars. Anything we didn’t have a label for, we just hand wrote 🙂 Good luck with your mudroom re-do! Pantries are essential!
Niki – Thanks! I’m also happy that it seems to be getting easier to access local foods! We have a fantastic Framers Market here that I am very grateful for! I am completely jealous of your 2000 sq feet of growing space! We have a small fraction of that!
I’m sorry you don’t have a pantry! Could you convert a closet, maybe?
Wow, that is an amazing change!! I love the jars of beans.. we too try to eat as locally and naturally as possible. I’m happy to say that this is getting easier in recent years with a surge of new and young farmers (as well as our own 2000 sq ft year-round garden!)
Sadly, we don’t have a pantry – awkward house design.. but someday maybe.. congrat’s on your newly organized space – a nice treat to start the new year!
I think that is wonderful! I bet it was fun, too.
Oh, I love how organized it is! And are there even labels on the jars?! That’s fantastic. One of my goals next year is to convert part of our mud room into a pantry, since our kitchen lacks one also.
-Jaime
Every closet and pantry area in my house needs this kind of rehaul!
Allison, I’m right there with ya! Every nook ad canny needs to be addressed! I think it might just take me a year to get it all done!