Pantry Makeover

Next week we'll be celebrating two years in our home. When we first moved in I didn't have any real vision for decor or organizing. I thought it would be best to live in the house for a bit to see how we naturally used spaces before making any design decisions. Tidying Up with Marie Kondo had just hit Netflix shortly after we closed. I applied some of her concepts in the kitchen but didn't quite make it to the pantry.

Our pantry is a decent size but it only has three shelves. I knew two years ago that  would eventually be something that we needed to change. Being home this past year definitely made me get sick of messy unorganized spaces very quickly. Cooking three meals a day plus snacks during virtual school got me together real quick. The pantry was a space that went from overcrowded to all out messy. Our time to  address this space has come.

As you gaze upon this before photo please know that I am an Aquarius and your judgment will not go that far with me. Also, this organized chaos is one of things that I "organize" and within 48 hours the other people that live here create this mess all over again. Lastly, no one eats chips from the bottom of the bag. This is something that I have learned in the past year too.

Now for the full before...

Only the real can relate.

Anyway. Like many of you I watched The Home Edit on Netflix in 2020 and was led to be believe that I too could have that kitchen. Here is my attempt to organize, label and lay down the law.

Of course, I started by cleaning out the pantry. I threw away anything that was expired and I gifted things I knew no one was going to eat. Next, I wrote down everything we would need containers for and the size of the container needed. I decided to order glass canning style containers from IKEA because on a recent trip to Goodwill I came across a set that I loved. 

I knew the quality of the jars would be legit. As long as nothing is broken during the shipping process I know I'll be happy with them. (I could've gone to my local IKEA store but I was afraid that they wouldn't have everything I needed in stock. I have also been trying to do as much as I can online to avoid my children having to spend another school year at home. None of this is my ministry.)

For additional storage for things like bottled water, trash bags and paper towels I ordered these huge black and white baskets from Walmart. I also found a cute dog food container at HomeGoods to help get rid of the not pictured huge bag that is normally blocking the door.

Now for the makeover...

Putting things together or building things in general is not where my (or my husband's) talents lie. For this reason, we worked with a closet company to help us make the most out of the pantry space. The pantry ceiling slopes due to the stairs above it so I appreciated having someone help me get the most out of the shelf area.

Here it is empty...

It only took them a couple hours to make my small pantry more functional...