Organized PANTRY {HWH}

You wouldn’t even know how much I love organizing by looking at the state of my pantry for the last six months.  And the worst part is, we have a huge pantry, so there is no excuse for not having it organized!  A couple weekends ago, I spent an afternoon clearing the pantry clutter, rearranging the goods, and making it more efficient for daily use.  Can we start with the nicer “after” pictures first?

That feels so much better than what we had before!  When we moved in and unpacked six months ago, we sorta grouped things together, but then just left it like that while other rooms were focused on.  Have you done that too?  It kinda just gets away from you, and the next thing you know, Clutterville!  WARNING:  This next group of pictures is not pretty!

BEFORE

  

I started by taking out all the stuff at the bottom, so I could figure out what belonged.  It always gets worse before it gets better, right?! 

Needless to say, there were about three bags worth of trash in there, but look what else I found?!  I guess my husband was right! Ha!

 

I sorted, rearragned, gathered the recycling, and threw out the trash.  I moved all the small appliances to the bottom right shelf and moved James’ food to the bottom center shelf so that I could see it immediately when I walk in.  I also put my stash of cookbooks on the top center shelf since I like to see them.  The cleaning supplies went into a metal bin on the floor. 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

The blue woven baskets were a World Market Find.  I had to make a trip after seeing the goods found over at A Thoughtful Place.  I haven’t labeled anything yet- just hadn’t decided what type of labels I want to use yet.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

     

AFTER

This is where a second refrigerator will eventually go, but for now, I was able to whittle the seasonal decor bins from four to three and added a $20 Home Goods mirror.  The plastic bags were recycled.

And see the little good luck Chinese cat near the cookbooks?  A long ago gift from my Grandma!

The rug was an Ikea find for just $4.00! 

Isn’t it interesting to see what kind of food people eat when you peek at what’s in their pantries?   

Pantry Party

One of the things at the top of my “to do” list is organize my pantry.   When we moved into our home in July, I quickly unloaded the pantry boxes, but didn’t really organize the contents because there seemed to be so many other areas of the house that needed attention.  Now that we’re pretty well settled in, it’s certainly time to give the pantry some much-needed attention.  And the thing is, we have a huge pantry.  So there’s no excuse for it not to be clean, clutter-free, and well-organized.  But, I don’t want to stop there.  I want to beautify it with some pretty paint, wallpaper, or fabric, like some of my favorite bloggers have done in their homes.  I am so inspired. 

**********

House of Smiths.    This is the first pantry image I saw that just made my draw drop.  Shelley painted the pantry walls, then used quatrefoil vinyl {which, by the way, she sells from her shop Wonderfully Wordy} to line her walls.  The design certainly adds a chic element to their pantry.  And the pretty jars and labels make my inner-OCD child sing with delight.

Cre8ive Designs Inc.  Stephanie used starch to apply the gorgeous damask fabric to the walls and painted a coordinating color on the opposite wall.  So feminine and pretty.  I just love her fabric and color choices. 

Decor Chick.  Emily has got to be genius.  Not only did she add totally high-quality, super-functional carousels to her pantry, she made molding and wallpapered the walls with beadboard paper.  Truly delightful.  And I love the wreath!

Amber Lane Living.  Danielle’s gorgeous yellow, grey and pink fabric was mod podged onto contact paper, then applied to the walls.  So creative!  She used scrapbook paper and decorative molding to create the look you see on the top shelf. 

 

These 4 great pantries were each created in a different way {vinyl; fabric and starch; wallpaper; mod podged fabric onto contact paper}.   I’m leaning toward using the fabric and liquid starch method for my pantry.  Do you have any ideas/suggestions?  Have you done any decorative sprucing to the walls in your pantry?

Sneak Peek Inside (First Floor)

We've been so busy with the newborn baby that, although we continued to visit our in-progress home, I didn't take any other photos.  So, the next thing ya know, the interior of the house looked like this.

Dining room with raised paneling and chandelier.  We chose arches for a softer feel.  Off of the dining room is the butler's pantry.

Butler's pantry, view from hallway.  The counters are carerra marble and the cabinets are stained.

We are definitely gonna need more wine!

Jimmy's office.  It has the samed raised paneling as the dining room, just stained dark like the butler's pantry. 

Staircase opposite the butler's pantry and a view of the living room.  Love the swirls on the staircase.

View to upstairs.

Powder Bath, cabinet designed by Chris (our builder) with a (dirty in this pic) hammered bronze sink.

Breakfast room looking into the living room.  Kitchen is on the right.  I'm currently rethinking the ceiling fan and the breakfast room chandelier (you can see a portion of it in the upper left corner).  The two really clash.  Maybe a natural drum shade for the breakfast room, or none?  Or take down the fan?  There's a close up of the chandelier below.

In the kitchen we chose to go with the classic combination of white cabinets, white subway tile and carerra marble counters.  Farmhouse sink to come.  I love this clean, simple look and took much inspiration from fellow bloggers.  We stained the island dark to keep the kitchen from being too white.  The dark harwood floors should also help pull everything together. 

I'm picturing my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks (among others) on the shelves in the island.  There will be two stainless steel pendent lights above the island.

We are keeping the far cabinets open with glass doors.  

Check out this pantry!  Bigger than my first apartment.  No more hunting for canned goods.  I go to bed at night dreaming of organizing it.  (I know, I have a problem:)  It will hold an extra refrigerator on the far left corner.

This is the "mudroom" or more like mud "hallway" opposite the pantry.  I'm planning to put baskets in the cubbies and hooks under the cabinets for coats/backpacks/etc.  Maybe put a seat cushion on the bench.  This is the hallway off of my garage.  Maybe I should make a spot for mail here?

Lighting:  All of the lighting fixtures are from Lighting Inc. in Houston on Richmond Ave.  I worked with Jessica, who was awesome.

Paint:  Sherwin Williams.  All paint on the first floor (except Jimmy's office) is "Accessible Beige".  I wanted something that was on the cool side, closer to grey than tan and very light (especially since the paint on our previous townhome is so dark). 

Sneak peek of the second floor coming tomorrow!

*Linking to The Inspired Room.