Working on the Pantry

Lately, I have been trying to focus not only on the decor of the house but also on the organization. Its an area that I strive to become better at! I have resolved myself to dedicating at least one of my weekly posts to this topic so here is the first of many Manic Organization Monday!

My pantry has been a source of frustration for as long as we have lived here. It is a large space but the set up wasn't exactly the best utilization of the space. The fact that it is a walk in is nice but it is a small square shape so you lose a lot of functionality in the corners. Below are some before shots (and this is not nearly as messy/disorganized as it has gotten before!)

So I started off by taking everything out of the pantry.... about midway thru I ran out of counter space! I also threw away alot of stuff. We had 3 jars of pickles that were expired that have been hanging out way in the back for over a year! Yeah - it was a mess!

Once the pantry was empty I looked at the layout a little closer. The shelves to the right are not that long and since we have the trash can in there too there are only three of them. I made a rash decision and pulled them down! This left me with 2 free walls and access to all of the remaining shelves! Finally, I was getting somewhere! I grouped like items together and started putting the pantry back together. What an improvement!

Now taking down those 3 shelves meant that I needed to do something with all of the stuff that was on them. The top shelf was paper supplies and cups. So that was an easy move to the kitchen cabinets where I keep my entertaining platters and such. Duh! It is so nice to have all of my party stuff together! Then taking a hint from another pantry project I saw recently (if only I could remember which blog!) I moved all of my baking supplies to a rattan box that keeps everything together and makes it super easy to just pull the box out when its baking time.

The second shelf housed several lazy susan's filled with spices and seasonings. We use these often and it is one of the areas that gets the most disorganized. I found a very easy solution that I love. A three tier wall mounted spice rack at Home Depot! Now our spices are easy to access since they are all visible (and alphabetized!)

Snacks were moved from their cardboard boxes to glass canisters. Easy to see when they are empty and easy to quickly grab when we are leaving the house in a hurry! Extra boxes are placed behind the canisters for easy refills!

All of our baby and kid snacks are grouped together too!

The bottom shelf holds our canned goods and extras of bigger items such as juices.

All in all - this change has made a HUGE change in the feel of the pantry.... but there are 2 more changes that really take it to the next level! More on that tomorrow and Wednesday!