So let's talk pantry organization, shall we? First, let's take bets on how many times I type panty instead of pantry. All set? Okay, here we go. These days, it's not really allowed to just shove your cereal boxes on top of your refrigerator and call it good. Instead, you have to wallpaper the inside of your pantry, line the shelves, and apply die-cut labels for each matched glass container.
I mean really. Who needs all of that?
Pretty pantry organization to make meal prep easier.
Well, apparently, we do. The way I figure it, you can fight the forces of Pinterest - or you can join them. And this wee kitchen is the perfect opportunity to join them. If I had a pantry with a door that closed, or even ample behind-the-scenes cabinet space, and if I wasn't weekly fending off new species of invading hordes of pests, I'd stick with my cereal boxes.
But instead, I have a shallow white shelving unit and a tiny island for storage - out for all to see - and a big yes to all the aforementioned would-be home invaders.
That's all the excuse I need to invest in pretty labels and glass containers. The blog provided the excuse for the pretty colander and just-so draped embroidered dish towel. We totally leave that out all the time.
Yeah, I dig it. I actually backed the white shelving unit a couple times before I landed on this pretty twig + birds print (on sale at Kate's Paperie for about $4/sheet a while back). It's the right level of busyness behind all that food. Two former attempts:
The strawberry paper is from a roll of vinyl tablecloth material they sell at dollar stores. I thought it was adorable, and couldn't wait to write a blog post about the wonders of dollar store vinyl, but alas. Way too busy, way too red. Not a good combo with the food storage.
The floral is wrapping sheets from Paper Source ($6 each) that I think is seriously so pretty (you may recognize it from Flea Market Fab), but which wasn't quite the right size and really got lost behind all the food.
You can see a small-investment option 3 in the first pic as well - those polka dots, which I just stuck up in one area to see if we liked it. We didn't.
We lived with them all for several weeks to see if they'd grow on us before I decided to try the Kate Paperie stuff, which I already had. A simple print, with white as the accent -- I think it makes all the difference.
I liked the colorful floral so much I framed a bit of it with the Pinterest-approved "But first, coffee." I sweetened that up by adding please at the bottom, though it doesn't show up well here. I just wrote on the paper with chalk pen and then framed it.
(In case you couldn't tell by the number of times I undertook it, backing shelves is an eminently manageable task. Especially if you use double-sided tape, like I do. Sure, you have to remove the shelves and stuff, but that's a good excuse to wipe everything down, and you don't have to be at all perfect when you're backing shelves that will have things in front of them. There's no chance anyone will notice imperfections. Even you. Promise).
You can also see that the organization of the goods themselves has undergone a process. I always think it takes a while to set things up in a way that really makes sense for how you use them, and I am finally really happy with the pantry set up. I have things corralled into rough zones, and to my literal brain, that works.
The zones aren't perfect: those darn pretzels in their reused animal cracker bear jar are too tall to live anywhere else, and sometimes I move things around as we use them up. The oats, for example, are in a smaller jar, and therefore a different shelf, now that we've used up a lot of our supply. C'est la vie.
The zones do make for easier food prep. Being able to see what everything is, and how much of it we have left, is also a huge perk - it helps stimulate dinner ideas and makes grocery list making easier.
If you're interested in a pantry overhaul, it's not too tough. In case it's not obvious, I wrote the labels myself. I used a chalk pen and a pad of chalkboard paper I picked up at Marshall's a few months ago. Some of the labels (the ones that don't look like circles I cut out) are from the Target dollar section. In general, if I see something chalkboard/label related, I must purchase it. I have no will to say no to such things.
The narrow glass jars are from the dollar store, and the wider ones holding flour are from Marshall's. Target and Amazon sell the same brand (Anchor Hocking, I think). The white jars holding the sugar are from Target years ago. Those wire baskets in the island are also from Target - on clearance last summer for $2.38 each. And finally, the green-lidded bins were a Goodwill find this winter; they're all over the house. (You can see them in Lou's market, here). I love that they are truly clear and truly rectangular, not those translucent sloping bins you see so often.
So, shall we do a before and after? How about a before, during/disaster and after?
To be fair, the "before" here is actually the mid-organization shot. And the middle is always the worst. The real organizing also happens after bedtime, so the photos are always worse, too. But the better for a good before and after amirite? You can see another before in the Home Tour.
So anyway, pantry organization. It's important. But more important: I avoided panty dropping, right? Sorry, I really didn't even intend to do that.
Thanks for reading!