Greetings!
No, I didn’t die. Shew, you can all relax. 
I’ve just been procrastinating – one of my specialties – because I’m no longer on the MSPI diet and many of my meals are chock full of dairy.
There! I said it! I’ve gone to the dark side. But, that also means there’s a light at the end of the non-dairy tunnel.
But today I have a post hopefully we can all enjoy —- de-cluttering the pantry! Maybe “enjoy” isn’t the best word…but let’s just go with it for now. This is how my pantry looked before. (Warning: Type As and those sensitive to clutter might want to close their eyes…)
A few close-ups for the full effect…
Clearly I had a problem. So when Nate Berkus highlighted a pantry re-do, I was riveted. Here is this amazing woman’s post on it. She is an inspiration.
Warning: I’m not nearly as crafty as Dina and my pantry doesn’t look half as pretty, but I’m still very happy with it. Maybe one day I’ll paint it something other that blasé beige and order those adorable “Wallies” things. (See procrastination reference above).
Anyway, this is what it looks like today…
Since I didn’t purchase the Wallies yet, I labled everything in Photoshop so you can tell what’s what.
I have really deep shelves and three really deep corners that could mean a lot of wasted space. I solved it with 12″ Lazy Susans (already had) and by putting jars or other holders behind pretty baskets. Like this….
Skinny wall shelves also helped corral a lot of small clutter…
And the IKEA shelves tucked into the former no-mans-land are where I keep everything else, including extras of anything or if all of the cereal doesn’t fit into it’s cute little container.
Ahhhh-mazing. I can actually SEE what I’m getting low on and I don’t hate opening my pantry door anymore. Woo hoo!
Oh, and it’s still Fuss’ favorite place to play peekaboo….
While I was at it, I also tackled the area under my stove. The shelves are so deep, I swear if I ever didn’t feel like cooking I could crawl in there and hide until Turbo ordered a pizza.
Things get lost, I have to stand on my head to reach anything, and pot lids would always come tumbling out every time I reached for anything. This is it before.
Now after:
Here’s a brief overview of what it took to get the job done:
1. Measuring
2. Measuring
3. Shopping trips to IKEA and The Container Store
4. More measuring.
My problem was that I needed to make sure I had enough of the clear jars, and both stores are an hour and a half drive, so there was no swinging back by if I forgot something. I also didn’t want to completely clear my pantry and leave it a total mess for several weeks, so I did a lot of arranging in my mind. For the record, I don’t recommend my method.
Once I hit IKEA though, all of my obsessive measuring paid off. I did it in under an hour! I swear that place is like Facebook…had I not been meeting someone for brunch I could’ve burned HOURS. This is what my cart looked like…
Chock full and under $200. I was so happy; I wanted to hug a Swede.
Here’s my shopping list for both projects, which costs a little less than $300:
PANTRY:
Wall installed shelves, The Container Store
Expand-a-shelf, The Container Store
Assorted SLOM jars for dry goods, IKEA
Clear plastic containers, IKEA
2 Antonius Wire Drawer Sets, IKEA
Assorted baskets, Hobby Lobby during a 50% off sale
I already had the Lazy Susans in the corner, but they’re available at Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as IKEA
UNDER STOVE:
2 Pot Lid Rack, The Container Store
1 Expandable Wire Shelves, The Container Store
Happy De-cluttering Everybody!
