Pantry Project

I've been in a "spring/fall cleaning" and organizational mood lately. Last week while I was off work, and the rainy weather kept Landrie and me inside, I started with the kitchen. The first day I took out all of the dishes and stuff from our cabinets, cleaned them, and rearranged them. After living here a year, and realizing how unusable our cabinets really are, I figured there had to be a better plan. Pretty much the only thing that stayed in its original place was the silverware, and only because the awesome cutlery holder my sister gave me fits in one drawer and only one... Do you remember me mentioning before about how when you become a Mom & Wife and Manager of your house, you realize the weird and unusual things that need cleaning, beyond the obvious? I mentioned before how I never realized that the dishwasher needed washed/wiped down, and the washing machine, and the trash cans, etc. Well.. kitchen drawers and cabinets are another. What a mess! There were a lot of crumbs, handprints, grime, and stickyness on ours. Anywho... after I had the kitchen cleaned and organized, I decided to do the pantry. I was so excited about our pantry when we moved into this house. It seemed so big! I have learned, however that it may be big, but it is so unusable. The shelves are so deep and stuff got "lost" in the back. We were always over buying at the store and we never knew what we had or didn't have. I also realized how filthy and icky the shelves and walls were once I got everything out... Here are some before pictures...

I generally kept everything pretty organized, but still no "handy dandy" pantry....

So, one day while Aniston was at school, I went for it. I went to Lowe's and between me and the guy in the lumber department, I came up with a plan. I bought the stuff to make a shelf. My dad would be proud. I knew Mr. Schmidt would be watching my debit card swipes, so I wanted to keep the $$ amount low. I looked at the premade shelving, boards, brackets, etc. and I couldn't find anything I liked. I also knew my shelf didn't need to be "presentable" because it was in my pantry afterall. So, here is what I came up with... I bought:

3 particle board shelves

5 4" PVC couplings

wood glue

2 pine furring strips (didn't use)

I had them cut my pieces for me at Lowe's. We have a saw and I do know how to use it.. "ish".. but I figured it would be easier and no clean up! 

I also went to Dollar Tree and bought containers and baskets. I spent $12 at Lowes and $16 at Dollar Tree.

Here is my big helper for the day... 

She loved playing with the PVC couplings...

And, of course standing in them... 

Here was our loot for the day. 

Here is the pantry all cleaned and all our food... it looks like a lot when it's on an 8 ft table!

I started out by cleaning the pantry really well, and making the shelf. I used some extra paint we had left from the girls room redos and painted out the pantry white. My original plan was to paint the entire pantry white. A good clean look. I ran out of paint and didn't want to buy anymore or make another trip to Lowes, so I improvised. (More on that later!!) For the shelf: A long story short, I used one of the particle boards, the 5 couplings as support, then another particle board for the top. The third board was cut down to make the front piece. I painted it all white and Randy nailed it in for me when he got home from work.. DUNZO! 

So, like I said, I painted everything white, and luckily I started with the middle shelf and my new shelf because I ran out of paint pretty quick. I had an idea to line the pantry like I had seen on Pinterest. I didn't have any wallpaper so I used fabric. I had some remnants left from when I did Landrie's rug, so I used that.

I started using watered down glue (FAIL) to help hold it up while I stapled, and it no workey!

 

I trimmed it out with black ribbon I had for a finished look along the top.

 

 

I added some baskets and decided to do the bottom shelf too. It stayed like this for several days because I couldn't decide whether or not to do the middle shelf.

The containers I bought had blue lids, so my hubs painted them black for me. 

 Spray paint is a wonderful thing, isn't it!?

A work in progress... 

So, I eventually covered the middle shelf, labeled the containers, and bought some large black baskets (WalMart Clearance) for the larger items and cans on the bottom two shelves. There are baskets in the bottom behind the cans that hold small appliances, lunch baskets, plastic sports bottles, etc. I spent $4 on more fabric and $10 on the larger baskets. The labels were free (I had them) and I printed them from my laptop at home.

The last thing I did was tag the baskets and larger baskets. I made the tags from labels, cardstock and scrapbook paper I had. I took a tip from a blog I saw on Pinterest and had the tags laminated. This will keep dirty hands from messing up the tags. I tied them on with more black ribbon I had through tiny holes I punched.

Here's the finished product. Lots better. I love it.

Here's the breakdown of the cost...

Lowe's (shelving supplies): $12

Dollar Tree: Canisters and Baskets: $23 (16 canisters and 7 baskets)

WalMart: Large black faux leather baskets: $10

Hobby Lobby: $4 for 1 1/4 yard of fabric (on sale)

Paint: free (leftover from previous project)

labels: free (had white mailing labels)

tags: free (scrapbooking paper and cardstock)

laminating: $3 at Office Depot

Total Time to complete project: 3 days

Total Spent: $52

My Minnie came for the weekend, and while she was here we did a few more projects to help spruce up my kitchen. She helped me make, (and by help I mean, she made while I asked questions).. some curtains for my kitchen window. I had blackout liner sewn in them because the setting west sun is just awful thru this window in the evenings. Ignore our dinner dishes in the sink...

She also made me a holder for my plastic bags to go in my pantry. I wanted something long and skinny to fit in the corner and not stick out and be in the way...That is my picture my mom bought be for my birthday I've had my eye on.... My "Jumping off" point for my kitchen!

Here it is "in action"!

So, because my sister has a hidden talent.. she helped me reupholster two of my kitchen chairs with some leftover curtain fabric. 

Here is the "before"...

And the "after"...

I'm in love! I love me some Damask.. I love me some dark wood, curvy lined, french inspired chairs... put them together and its just awesome!

And, because I just couldn't stop... I made this mail sorter. I found it on, you guessed it.. Pinterest. The link is here. It's a mail sorter. I need to buy some sort of scrapbooking label something or other.. the top ribbon will say "mail".. then the first pocket is "in" and the bottom pocket is "out". I'm hoping this will help us control the overwhelming pile of mail we always have laying around! If not, well then, atleast it's cute! It's hanging in the little hallway coming in from the garage.

My next goal is to get our closets organized.. starting with our master closet. Oh boy.. this should be fun! Especially since Mr. Schmidt has more clothes than me! We shall see....

Enjoy the beginning of fall!! Makes my heart so happy!