My Pantry

Hellooooo, friends!

My PantryGuess what? We finished our mini pantry overhaul, and my kitchen is finally accessible, again! Wahooo!! That means awesome recipes coming at you guys, this week!

I thought I’d share with you guys what we did to brighten up our pantry, and make my time in the kitchen a little cheerier (since that’s where I spend 90% of my time!).  Sorry the photos are a bit grainy, but my little kitchen and pantry don’t get very much light!

I do wish I had taken a few before photos of our pantry and the wire pantry rack with all of the stuff on them, because you can’t really grasp how much of an improvement this is without knowing how disheveled and disorganized it all was before. How I even found ANYTHING is a mystery. Actually, no, it’s not, because I never did find anything, and then ended up with 5 boxes of aluminum foil, including a commercial-sized roll that weighs like 20 pounds…unopened, of course. Anyone need some foil?

My Pantry

Buuuut, this is what we started with after we removed EVERYTHING from the pantry, including the wire shelves. Just FYI, this paint (that is literally on every wall and ceiling in the entire house) is actually The Worst. Not only is it a terrible, mind-numbing beige, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to clean. As you can see there are some pretty awesome stains there in the pantry. Because guess what? You try and scrub that with a sponge and it takes off the paint, and then the water leaves a stain. You want to use a pencil to mark a place for something on your wall? Good luck getting that off! And don’t even try to use the eraser because then all hell breaks loose and you’re left with a huge smudge.

Needless to say, we’re sick of this crappy paint, and finally decided to start getting rid of it. The pantry, because it’s so small, and this is our first home DIY thing, was the best place to start!

My PantryWe painted the ceiling and baseboards a nice white color, and decided to get a little crazy and paint the walls a brilliant sky blue. It makes the tiny space so much happier!

Oh, and the paint we decided on was the Behr Marquee in an eggshell finish (not sponsored I’m just a very happy customer!). I don’t have enough words to describe how much I LOVE this paint. It’s a paint and primer in one, and you only need a single coat. We bought a can of white and a can of blue, but we have tons extra to use in other parts of the house. Seriously. It will cover anything and everything in one coat. Plus, it dries SUPER fast. We had everything painted in a day and a half!

My PantryAfter everything was painted, and the shelves scrubbed (they were sticky and nasty), I put everything back in. I tried to minimize clutter by storing like things together in plastic tubs. I also use clear plastic jars or sealed containers, clearly labeled, to store all my baking stuff. It makes it easy to see what you’re looking for, and it’s better than having everything in its original packaging taking up room.

Of course, I have way too many ingredients (and you wouldn’t believe how much I tossed out), but such is the life of a baker, I guess?

I also have too many kitchen gadgets. Luckily, they now all have a home in the pantry instead of all over my counters, though!

My Pantry My PantryThe wire shelving unit in the kitchen used to be three tiers of complete and utter chaos. There were Ziploc baggies of baking ingredients EVERYWHERE, and it looked like a bomb went off. I ended up storing everything that was on it in the pantry, and chose to just store somewhat visually attractive things on it (like sprinkles and my hot pink mixer), since it’s one of the first things you see in the house.

We also added an extra shelf, and swapped out two of the old shelves for specialized shelves. One is a metal working surface that I can cool sheets of cookies on, or what have you, and one is a pull-out shelf that makes accessing all the little jars of sprinkles and cupcake liners super simple.

My Pantry My PantryI feel like this post is getting way too long and ramble-y, and I’m really not sure if anyone but me finds this interesting, so I’m going to go for now, but I’ll be back tomorrow with a recipe!

P.S.—Rook is very excited he doesn’t have to eat his meals on the porch anymore šŸ˜›

rookie

   

22 Responses to “My Pantry”

  1. Kim — October 14, 2014 at 4:42 am

    Wow! Looks Fantastic!

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 10:42 am

      Thanks, Mom šŸ™‚

  2. Sarah@WholeandHeavenlyOven — October 14, 2014 at 6:30 am

    Omg I’m SO jealous of your new space! Looks totally awesome, Rachael! Love the blue. šŸ™‚

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 10:42 am

      Thank you, Sarah! We had originally planned on like white, and then we were just like "Ya know…go big or go home…" haha

  3. Liz+@+Tip+Top+Shape — October 14, 2014 at 7:20 am

    I’m super jealous of that pantry!!!  My apartment has a tiny, tiny kitchen.  I barely know where to put my food!

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 10:44 am

      Thank you, Liz! Our townhouse kitchen is pretty teeny, too, but It does have this awesome walk-in pantry which kinda blows my mind!

      I totally suggest these wire shelving units, though for extra storage if you have the space. I think I got mine from either The Container Store or Storables, but I've seen them all over!

  4. Becky — October 14, 2014 at 12:50 pm

    Looks fantastic! I always love “behind the scenes” kinda posts like this – gives me ideas of what to do with the space I have. šŸ™‚ Love the idea of a brightly colored pantry.

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 1:55 pm

      Thank you, Becky! I'm happy to hear that!
      I always like those kinds of posts on other blogs, too, but I wan't sure if it was just me, haha!

  5. Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen — October 14, 2014 at 12:54 pm

    Wow! That pantry is so bright and cheerful! And, I have to tell you girl – my eye is drawn to that hot pink mixer! I love it! So cute and it rocks it in the kitchen!

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 1:57 pm

      Thank you, Kristi!
      I'm so obsessed with my hot pink mixer! My other stand mixer is white, and not nearly as awesome šŸ˜›

  6. Alessandra // the foodie teen — October 14, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    Wow, your pantry is stunning! I totally love behind-the-scenes posts too!

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 3:52 pm

      Thank you so so much, Alessandra!

  7. Corina | Glamorous Bite — October 14, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    Love your new pantry, Rachel! What a great color šŸ™‚

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 4:09 pm

      Thanks, Corina! I love the color more than I ever thought I would. I may even paint a bathroom that color, now!

  8. Kiran+@+KiranTarun.com — October 14, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    Love the transformation of your pantry! Look at all the space šŸ™‚

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 5:37 pm

      Thank you, Kiran! It feels so much bigger!

  9. ATasteOfMadness — October 14, 2014 at 7:06 pm

    I am so jealous of your pantry! Mine is non existent. Pretty much only half of the cupboard under the stairs šŸ™

    • Rachael — October 14, 2014 at 7:22 pm

      Ack! It can be super hard to not have enough kitchen space, I know that first-hand! I'm super lucky to have a little pantry, but gosh I could really use more counterspace!

  10. Jess — October 15, 2014 at 2:33 am

    Oh! Looks wonderful! We’ve been talking about doing this for a while. I have no cupboard space but a large pantry area that could be used for kitchen storage. You’ve inspired me!

    • Rachael — October 15, 2014 at 10:42 am

      I hope you'll post pictures if you do something with it! I'd love to see!

  11. Elizabeth+@+SugarHero.com — October 17, 2014 at 10:33 am

    Oh my goodness, this looks so awesome! I have major pantry envy. You would laugh and point if you saw the chaos in my kitchen. Great job!!

    • Rachael — October 17, 2014 at 10:44 am

      Haha, I just wish you could have seen my true before pictures. It was a NIGHTMARE! No one should ever be so disorganized as I would. It kinda got to the point that I'm like, "Oh this bag of hazelnut? Let me just throw that back in there from across the room!"

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