So - I'll admit that I'm a little [A LOT]

 embarrassed to even show you some of these photos - 

 

Because - WOW.

I'd sure let our pantry get

 OUT-OF-CONTROL.

We'd gotten to the point of just stuffing it in to make it all fit... 

And while I'm not one to alphabetize my canned goods...

 

I am OCD enough to want things in categories so I can find what I need easily...

And this was no longer working for me. Ha.

But of course - I started with the AFTER photo -

Because. 

OMGoodness.

What a difference.

This month I decided it was TIME to get this space organized!

First - I made a plan:

I took photos of each shelf because I needed for things to stay 

basically on the shelves where they were. 

SIDE NOTE: When we first moved into this house over 15 years ago I couldn't unpack the pantry until it had the same number of shelves as my former pantry. 

[So things could go where they were SUPPOSED TO BE.] 

Yep. I've got issues...

 After taking photos of each shelf and listing what it held, I measured and planned for containers to make it easier to access it all...Then I searched the internet for available products... but ultimately bought most everything EARLY one morning at Wal-Mart and curbside pick up at Michael's - based on the measurements I'd taken. And of course, I bought more than I needed, but again, returned the leftovers safely early in the a.m. hours.

[So much easier than mail-order for me...]

 Next I emptied EVERYTHING out - all over the dining table - and begin to group things... sort things... and discard things... But surprisingly... there wasn't an awful lot to throw away... 

 

 [We did move the BIG box of light bulbs to the laundry room...

Other than that, it all went back in. Yes.]

I painted it all a nice coat of paint, white mixed with a little blue...

just because I wanted to play a little...

[What a difference a fresh coat of paint makes, y'all.]

I knew I wanted an additional shelf up on top to hold some lesser used items - namely my cake tins [that I love.] So my sweetheart took care of that for me!

 

Of course, Bernard the Curious One had to supervise... 

[our pantry is actually in the hallway beside our stairs...]

SIDE NOTE 2: I prefer wire shelves that I can see through

I know it's not for everyone...

 

The cart from Michael's was easy to put together and fits perfectly [due to my measurements!] to the side. It's holds all the things that were stacked willy-nilly in the floor... 

 and now we can just roll it out when we need something like a waffle iron, fry-daddy, pasta maker, etc. [We also have some other lesser used items -- like large serving trays tea pitchers,etc.--  behind it that we can get when needed.]

Let's look at a few details -

Remember I told you I purchased a bunch of storage things to use... but as I cleaned out the pantry I realized I had SO MANY containers stuck behind that were not being used at all... and call me sentimental... but I LOVE my tupperware containers that I bought when we first got married... so I simply used what I had...

I have larger bins and baskets on the 2nd shelf that holds our tea, coffee, and sweeteners that we buy in bulk..

.  

And I REALLY LOVE having a favorite Aunt's canisters in my pantry...so I wanted to put them front and center... I used some creative ingenuity [alright, just some refrigerator bins I'd gotten CHEAP at Aldi's a few years back] to raise the tupperware up a bit so that those canisters can still be seen with the smaller ones in front.

These two canned goods holders came from Wal-Mart and it's so nice to SEE the canned items we have without having to pick each one up to see what's underneath...lol.

I can tell at a glance if we need to buy more tomatoes...

or olives - what's up with THAT.

[And yes - they are organized by soups / beans / fruits / other veggies...] 

There's a bin just to the right that holds our [pancake] syrups, honey, jelly etc.

I labeled most everything... including my sweetheart's snow cream kit that is always ready to go - just in case we get that ONE GOOD SNOW here in the South. [It's actually tucked behind one of the bins on the first shelf - but having it all together was very nice and easy to pull out recently. These labels are simply printed on the computer and taped on... that way I can change them up whenever I need to do so. I tried to put them on the canisters so they could be read in one cohesive row... if that makes sense...

It's pleasing to my eye...
 

The next shelf has  the following: a bin for  pasta / rice / quinoa, one for tuna packets / granola bars, one for crackers [including my tupperware saltine keeper,] 

and a bin for sauces / peanut butter / etc. 

 

The area to the bottom right of our pantry is actually the AC / heat return so I use that as a shelf and have a LARGE shallow basket there. I purchased these two extra-big containers for the rice and beans we buy in bulk.

 

Cereals, oatmeal, and sauce packets are in this basket as well. 

The bin beside the rice and beans[to the left] is a tupperware container that held snacks for the boys through the years [it has their stickers from childhood on it, still] so I'm using it to hold our individual servings of almond packets.

 

The top shelf of the cart is filled with hot chocolate and apple cider packets [in smaller tupperware bins w/out the tops] as well as re-purposed jars that hold cranberries, nuts, chocolate chips, pop corn, bulk shrimp seasoning, raisins, etc. 

 

I hung this little 'mail' folder container [Michael's] to the right. [The pantry sign is from Magnolia Home that I picked up on sale sometime last year - Craig riveted it on for me -] 

It holds extra foil, parchment paper, etc. as well as easy to reach tea mix, and other things we might want easy access to [right now it's sun-dried tomatoes and instant rice.] I also put in hooks to hold my pop-over pan that was forever getting in the way before... 

and our pizza stone holder hangs up there too... 

 

To the right we hung an Ikea trash bag holder to take the place of the bag bunny we've had for years [and years]. It holds those plastic garbage bags we recycle as smaller trash bags throughout the house... If you look closely you can see I cut out a bit of the bottom so I can pull bags out from there... but really - it's not problem to pull them from the top when I need one...

So. I think that's it - 

AND I LOVE IT.

It's just a much calmer space now... 

But more importantly, it's so much EASIER to use.

I know it looked like an overwhelming task to try and rein it all in... 

But I used my best social work skills [HA] and set out a [case] plan that broke it all down into doable parts. And honestly - it worked. 

I didn't try and do it all in one setting... 

Just tackled one part of it at time, took a break, then moved on...

I'd love to hear about the projects you're working on these days...

I"m trying to tackle one big project a month

 so I'll be sharing another one of mine soon...