57 February Featured Space: Kitchen - Pantry Reveal

Ok ok!  So I know it's March already, however I still have a couple of Kitchen posts to wrap up, so bare with me until we transition to our March featured space, Kid's Spaces.

And I must beg for forgiveness now, I think this post will go down as one of the longest in history, Guinness Book style!  So sorry for the information overload, I am super hopeful that it's worth it!

At the beginning of February, because the Kitchen space was my featured monthly space, I decided that I was going to undertake a project of my own within my kitchen.  And you have all been hearing about it in bits and pieces, from the new bag I "No Sewed" together to hold chip and bread clips, to the uber awesome pantry necessities for keeping the space ultra tidy and the food ultra fresh!  Yes, I was going to do a major pantry project!

So why a pantry makeover you ask?  Well, for a couple of reasons.  As in any organization project, it's so important to do things that make your space work better for you, and your daily life.  And although my previous pantry was so super organized, my kitchen was not functioning to what I thought it's full potential was.

You see, we currently have two closets within our kitchen, one smaller one that goes floor to ceiling and another that is more of a half a closet.

The floor to ceiling closet started out like this:

 

We originally used this closet as a place to hold our garbage can and cleaning supplies.   

Our pantry, as I mentioned earlier, was a very organized and functional space:

And the closet, is actually only half a closet really, because our stairs to our lower level, go right underneath it, cutting it in half.

So where did our coats live?  Great question actually, glad you asked!  Well, our house was originally built negative a coat closet.  That's right folks, no place for the coats and shoes and hats and mittens and backpacks and umbrellas, to call their home.  Lesson learned, we will NEVER own another home minus a coat closet.  So, with no coat closet, all coats and boots would pile up here {this photo was taken on a good day}:

 

The remainder of our outerwear is tucked away in a spare bedroom closet, causing us to have to walk through the whole house to grab outdoor goods.

So, again, some fairly organized living was happening here, but I was actually dealing daily with a few problems with this situation:

1.  The coat hook area by the back garage door, became a dumping zone for backpacks, boots and outerwear, causing the area to quickly become extremely cluttered and crowded.

2.  The fabulous closet holding our garbage can and cleaning supplies, seemed like a ton of wasted storage space, screaming to be used.  Only problem, where to put the garbage can?  It was too big to add to the coat storage mess by the garage!  Plus, our doggy dishes lived over there also:

3.  The biggest problem I had with how we were using our closet space, was that I was walking clear across my dining room, anytime I was in need of some noodles or cereal or making lunches:

And although the picture makes the pantry closet look like it's only a few feet away, it was literally 13 walking steps away from the counter I prepare food at {26 steps round trip}.  And as you can see, the garbage closet, is a mere 3 walking steps away.  Total nonsense!

Therefore, it was time to switch things around, here was the new plan:

 

Yep, we were going to move ALL of that stuff from our original pantry cabinet, to the taller, skinnier, garbage holding one.  And then we were going to make a coat closet out of the once pantry.  And the garbage can you ask?  Well, with us moving all of the coats and boots away from the coat hooks by the garage entrance, and purchasing a more slim garbage can, we were able to move it out of the closet to it's new home next to the garage door:

 It fits oh so perfectly, as good as OJ Simpson gloves!

So moving the garbage can was the first successful step.  And the rest was pretty easy as well!

Now, as with majority of home projects and organization projects, things had to get ugly before they got better.  For two days, we lived like this:

 

That is the entire contents of two cabinets, all living on our kitchen table.  It's all about making sacrifices, and if that means living off of a kitchen table for two days, then it's so worth it!

So, now with our cupboards all empty, we started to make them what we needed them to become.  It was transformation time!

We started out by digging out leftover shelving from our storage room, that we still had from when the home was built.  What a huge $$ saver!  We also took out the extra shelving from the original pantry turned coat closet, and used that as well to create more storage in the then garbage closet.

Something else worth mentioning, although I don't have photos of it before, was that we had lined the lower half of the garbage closet, with glossy ceiling tiles, for easy garbage cleanup when food splattered on the walls.  And of course once you apply those to the wall with a strong adhesive, taking it down would cause total wall repair, so we opted to actually just finish the closet with more panels, all the way to the ceiling for a more unified look.

Here is what the new pantry cabinet looked like with floor to ceiling shelving, and floor to ceiling wall panels:

 

  

TONS of storage space was just created, and I was in kitchen heaven.  Well, almost, I still had a table full of stuff to deal with!

Oooh ooh oh, as you can see from the snapshots above, I had purchased this over the door storage system:

And although I was good at measuring the door dimensions, I wasn't great at considering I would have a big ol' door knob in the way.  But, waste not, I will show you what we ended up doing with the two larger storage baskets shown at the bottom of the unit.  The top part fit just perfectly, giving us so much extra pantry storage.  So, split into two pieces this organizer was.

While my amazingly wonderful hubster was assembling the new pantry, I was busy working on the new coat closet.  As I mentioned, we had removed most of the old pantry shelving to reuse in our new pantry space, leaving the new coat closet, looking like this:

 

Ok, so we actually removed ALL of the shelving.  For a minute.  So I could patch all the shelving holes and give the closet a fresh coat of paint.  Then, back in went one shelf for hanging coats {and holding all of our cleaning supplies, up far out of little finger's reach}:

And waste we did not.  Here you can see where we added the remainder of the over the door storage baskets, that didn't fit around the pantry closet door knob:

 

Right into the coat closet they went, to be used for all sorts of goodness, like holding hats and mittens and lunch boxes and umbrellas!  Fabuloso!

So, with all the assembly portion of the makeover, now complete, it was time for all of the real fun!  Filling up the two new storage spaces!  This didn't take more than a couple of minutes, although, it was somewhat of a puzzle making sure that things were easily reachable, and making sure I put things back in places that made sense to our daily routine.  

Once all of the food was put back, our new pantry looked like this:

Remember the before:

 

And the After:

Here is a quick breakdown of what happened -

Canned goods were corralled in the new over the door storage baskets:

Extra boxed goods were stashed way up on the very top shelf.  These are items that are un-opened and not used since all items used daily are stored in special air tight containers:

The second shelf down, below the boxed goods, is additional canned goods and rice.

The hub of the closet contains all of our breads, dry foods, noodles and snacky foods:

And you can't forget the pooches, we actually stored their puppy bones in the pantry as well:

And down on the floor there:

Extra bottled juices and waters tucked away wonderfully.  And there is also stack-able baskets filled with veggies and a bin with our green shopping bags. 

So fabulously functional, I could scream it from the rooftops!  I am in pantry love!

And did you notice something hanging from the inside of the door?  Yes my friends, that is our weekly shopping list, waiting to be filled out as soon as something runs low/out:

 

It's hanging from a clipboard that conveniently matches my clip bag:

Nothing like pantry harmony!

Oh!  And the absolute best part!  Location was a huge plus, the total main reason for the switcharoo project, but we also created SO much extra kitchen shelving and storage by going to the new closet and snagging some over the door storage, that I was able to completely empty a full lazy susan, into the new closet!

Can you say wowzers?  I mean, it's so great having so much space to work with!  Now I can start giving pots & pans and appliances more breathing room within their personal spaces as well!  

And not to forget about the awesomeness that is the new coat closet!

The updated closet space now keeps cleaning supplies tucked away from kids, holds outerwear accessories in special baskets, gives shoes a place to take a rest, hangs purses and jackets and offers a personalized space for the kiddos to keep their items for "on the go". 

 

Backing up a bit, check out how perfect these baskets are for lunchboxes and mittens!  Match made in heaven:

And my purses are hung by a simple "S" shaped shower curtain hook {the rest of the hooks are "hanging out" in my bedroom closet, holding all my other purses}:

 

The newest addition to the closet, to ensure no space went to waste, was three photo boxes, that up until now, were going unused.  I popped in some labels in the fronts, that included each kiddo's name, and lined them up under the shoe rack:

 

Now this is what I call convenience.  Each kid has their own outbox, perfect for storing everything from library books to school supplies to everything in-between.  And if we need more shoe storage, these boxes also stack nice and neat, clearing up extra space for the items that cover our feet!

 Once the jackets are hung, this multi-functional closet still boasts tons of extra space and so many storage options!  This gal couldn't be more pleased!

 

No more cluttered coat mess by the backdoor.  Check.  No more walking clear across the kitchen just to make a quick sandwich.  Check.  Extra storage space.  Check.  Easy peasy garbage access.  Check.  Seriously, the total time invested is so worth the outcome, and will be gained back before I can say, "super snazzy kitchen pantry switcharoo project, complete!"

Oh happy day.  I can't wait to hear what you guys think!  Anyone organize spaces within their own kitchens this month?  If so, can you spill the details?  Whether it was a utensil drawer or an entire kitchen transformation, I would love to know what went down in your homesteads, and hear about the amazing outcomes!

See how our pantry looks painted!

And how we have since transformed our coat closet: