#99: Organize our Pantry - DONE!

This is quite an accomplishment, as I seem to not be able to get anything done lately between working and spending time with Luke.

Just a reminder that this is what our pantry looked like before.

I took this picture way back at the beginning of 2010 when I set this goal.  You can see that post and more pictures here.

While I was in Memphis with Luke visiting my sister Rachel in July, Trevor got around to replacing our old wooden dinged up shelves with some new fresh, white ones he bought at Lowe's.  Here's a reminder of what the shelves looked like before:

...and here is how the pantry looked after just changing the shelves out.  Ahhh...already such a nice difference.

I told him NOT to put everything back in or I would never have the motivation to get around to getting everything organized the way I would like to.  So he held me to it.  Even when Dad came to visit for the weekend after I got back into town we left everything on the kitchen counters.  I wanted to just throw everything back in and deal with it later, but Trevor insisted we leave it all out.  I'm glad we did.  The next weekend, Trevor watched Luke and I headed out to go buy all the items I would need to get organized.  I stopped at Walmart first thinking that I would find some cheaper practical stuff there and then I would head to Target for the "cute" stuff.  I was very surprised to find tons of great things at Walmart and by the time I had spent way over an hour there I had pretty much everything I needed so I didn't even head to Target.  I bought quite a bit because I took the "I'm just going to buy anything I might possibly need, and I'll return anything I don't use" approach.  I knew that with Luke around I wasn't going to be able to just run out every time I needed something else...so I just got it all!

Now remember...THIS is what the chaos in our pantry looked like most of the time before this overhaul:

The kitchen was a a complete mess for quite a few days and it only got more chaotic with Luke "helping" by throwing things all over the place.

All the work was worth it though because this is how the pantry looks now!!!  SO much better than I ever thought it would turn out.  I love it!!!

I'm going to go ahead and describe each shelf at a time...so if you could care less about the details of my pantry, feel free to skip to the end and see the before and after pictures right beside each other.

The top shelf now stores our cereal in these clear containers that I bought at Bed, Bath, & Beyond towards the end of this organizing adventure.  I like having these since they not only look nicer than cereal boxes, but it is easy to tell when the cereal is almost gone and it's time to buy more.

The next shelf holds mostly baking stuff and some odds and ends that I wanted to keep in the super air-tight OXO containers I got for Christmas in 2009 from Trevor's parents.  Yes, I said 2009. No, I did not use these until now.  I have a bit of a problem of not wanting to use things until I can make sure I get to use them perfectly.  I also picked up a plastic carafe from Walmart to store Luke's Cheerios in.  To the left of the visible shelf, I have a black container I picked up at Walmart that holds disposable plates, silverware, etc.  To the right, there are some more baking goods in OXO containers and their original boxes.

Trevor's parents got me the set below for that 2009 Christmas and I have occasionally picked up some of the smaller matching OXO containers when I have a $10 off any purchase coupon at JCPenney.  I love the way these stack together so nicely and make things look organized.  They are also supposed to keep foods really fresh.  I'm hoping that will keep me from having the "brown sugar as hard as a rock problem" I've had in the past.  They open and close so easily too, I love the button mechanism on the lids.

On the next shelf, I have these super cute baskets I found at Walmart for a really good price.  Both Trevor and I weren't too sure how we felt about having to the pull the baskets out to get to things, but after a couple weeks we both really like that they keep things contained and it's really not a hassle to pull them out.  To the left and right of these baskets, there are other miscellaneous foods that we don't use very often. 

To add a little charm to the baskets and make it easier to remember what's in each basket, I made some chalkboard tags.  I had been reading on some home decorating blogs about chalkboard vinyl, so I picked up some at Hobby Lobby.

I also picked up a set of chalk markers.  These little guys are great.  They can write on chalkboard surfaces (and tons of other things) and they wipe off with a wet rag.  They show up really well, don't wipe off if you touch them, and you don't have the dust you have with chalk.

I liked the idea of chalkboard tags so that I'll be able to change what these tags say if I ever want to.

I'm totally in love with the can storage on this next shelf:

I saw the can storage idea on Pinterest.  Don't even get me started on my new obsession with Pinterest - that's a whole other post in itself. 

Trevor went to Lowe's and had them cut two wire closet racks to the depth of the pantry shelf.

Then he inverted the shelf and installed it at an angle on both sides of the shelf.  It was as simple as that!

Now I have storage that helps me keep like-kind cans together while enabling me to have the oldest cans roll to the front - so it's like a grocery store!

I also picked up three black storage containers in the dorm room section at Walmart.  One holds our bread and PB and unopened jelly. 

The other one is actually a CD/DVD Storage Container.

Here is what I had been keeping our spice packets in:

Now, instead we are using the CD/DVD Storage container.  It keeps all the packets nice and tidy and out of sight!

I also bought this pencil cup holder to store those long packets of drink mixes and other miscellaneous items.

The next shelf is pretty much identical to the one that is two shelves above it.  We keep our snacks in one and our condiments in the other.  I decided to call the condiments label "Jars" since I couldn't think of an appropriate way to fit "Condiments" on there...I didn't think "Condim." would be too appropriate for our pantry! :)

The final section is the bottom of the pantry.  I got a big black container to put on the left to keep potatoes in and off of the floor.  Then I bought that black crate to keep some of the small appliances in.  These used to be on the very top shelf and I'd about kill myself trying to get them down and dropping them on my head.  Now they are nice and low, but the crate keeps them off the floor and easy to slide out.

I also bought these jars while I was at Walmart and decided to not use them in the pantry, but to instead put them on the counter with some baking supplies.

I used the vinyl to make some more cute labels.   Side note: You'll be proud Mary Ellen...I actually used the scrapbooking scissors you bought me years ago to make these.  So even if I'm a total slacker in the scrapbooking department, I finally got good use out of the scissors! :)

And finally, I bought these vinegar and oil jars at Walmart to put on our countertop.  When we spent a college semester in Greece, we always had these on the table for bread and salads.  I'm hoping it will get me motivated to use them more.

Here's the final comparison - BEFORE & AFTER:

As far as the pantry continuing to look like this...so far, so good!  I really think containers and baskets were the right solution.  Everything has its place, so there is no reason for things to get chaotic again.  This was definitely money and time well spent for me.  Sometimes I leave the pantry open now just so I can see how organized it is in there!

P.S. This post took me like a WEEK to write from start to finish.  Luke apparently thinks I need to pay attention to him sometimes...go figure.  Now that he's mobile, he is a lot harder to watch from the laptop. :)  So now you know why I don't blog as often as I used to.

#39: Resurface Fireplace

Woo-hoo!  I'm SO glad this one is done!! 

This may be one of my favorite things we've done to the house so far.   Trevor had always talked about putting a big flat-screen above the fireplace and I always thought that seemed like a lot of money to spend on a TV...especially when we don't even have cable!  Then I started thinking about it more, and realized it will make the layout of our living room so much better to be able to get rid of the armoire we had at the time.  No matter what, I knew I wanted to cover up the brick on the fireplace and bring everything more up-to-date. 

With the baby coming soon and Trevor not being too sure he could design a fireplace surround that we liked, we went ahead and decided to hire most of this project out.  His cousin's husband Matt built the surround and one of his contractors did the tile.  Trevor painted the drywall, the fireplace surround, and the fireplace insert.  Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Here's the "Before" Picture after Trevor knocked down the old "mantle" (more like a piece of wood).  The tape was from him trying to figure out what size of TV we could fit up there after we put up crown molding.

Here it is after Matt built the surround and put up the 2x4's for behind the drywall.  A hole was drilled through these 2x4's and a pipe was run out to the side to the right cabinet so that we could run the TV cables behind the drywall to hide them.

With the drywall up and all the nail holes patched...

Trevor painting the drywall.

All painted!

We didn't want to pay the money to buy a new fireplace insert, but didn't like the gold on the one we had.  We decided to go ahead and try some high-heat spray paint and paint it black.  We figured worst case scenario it wouldn't work and we would have to go ahead and buy a new one.  Here it is before we spray painted it.

After the surround was painted white and the insert painted black...

Trevor's co-worker Michael came over and helped install the new 50" TV...

And finally, the tile was all laid and grouted!

Doesn't it look really good?!?  I think it just totally changed the whole feel of the room.  The only thing we have left to do is put the crown molding up around the room.  (That's why there's some wood ripped off around the top of the cabinets.)

Trevor just came by and asked if I didn't have an even older "before" picture.  We found the realtor CD from when we bought the house and here's what we found!  I just had to do them right next to each other to show what a difference.   Here's all we've done since we moved in:

1. Replaced carpet
2. Tore down beams on ceiling
3. Scraped popcorn ceiling
4. Sprayed on a new textured ceiling
5. Refinished the walls so they don't have a weird texture
6. Painted the walls tan
7. Tiled the floor from the door to the garage to the back door
8. Painted cabinets white
9. Refinished fireplace

What a change, huh?!?!

#99: New Goal - Organize our Pantry

I decided after Christmas that my next goal would be to try and get our pantry more organized.   It's not terrible, but it could definitely use some more order.  My goal is to get some tools in place that help KEEP it organized.  Many times I've gone through and put things back in order after they've gotten strewn all over the place, but hopefully I can come up with some sort of a system that helps it stay in order!  We'll see. 

I took some pictures of the craziness the other day.   Tell me I'm not the only one who has a pantry like this!?

I think that one of the biggest problems is one of the things that I originally liked about the pantry.  It is big!  (Well, relatively anyway.  At least compared to what I was used to in apartments.)  It's not even that it's big...it's just deep.  When you have deep shelves, things tend to get lost and you can't easily see them.  I'm not sure what the solution is to that. 

While we're at it,  I'd also like to paint it white and either paint or replace the shelves.  I know it is just a pantry, but it drives me nuts to see shelves that look like this right now.

One of the biggest motivators for me to get going on this is that I received this from Trevor's parents for Christmas.  I'd been wanting to get some pantry organization that would keep things fresh.  I found some cheaper options than this, but I was worried how well they would work as far as really being air-tight.  I read a ton of reviews (yes, I research everything!) and these Oxo Pop Containers got great reviews over and over again.  They are a little pricey, but I figure they should last forever.  My goal is to still be using them in 20 years!

Does anyone have any other suggestions for organizational things that they've found helpful?  I've contemplated Lazy Susans, Baskets, Drawers, etc.

Hopefully I can come up with something better than we currently have.  I'm kind of a perfectionist, so I'm trying to adjust my expectations, because what I would really like, is something that looks like this all of the time....

I have a feeling that's not going to happen!

#36: Tile Kitchen Backsplash

We've had this one done for a long time and I kept forgetting about it!   I think we actually started this one over last Christmas and worked on it some into February.  It took awhile until we got everything grouted and the paint retouched, but I think that was done by at least summer.  I can't remember.  We're kind of slow remodelers around here! 

Then I kept forgetting to take a picture.  Or let's be real....I'd keep forgetting to take a picture when the kitchen was actually clean!

BEFORE:

This is how the kitchen looked in the realtor's pictures when we bought the house:

Take special note of the horrid countertops and the single sink.  That is, if you can take your eyes off of the lovely curtains and flower sticker things they put on the walls (which were a bear to get off!).

One of the first things we did when we moved in was to demo the backsplash and the countertops. 

We then replaced the countertops almost immediately and while we were at it we changed to a double stainless steel sink.  We also changed out all the hardware on the cupboards.

Then we got new appliances...We had also painted the kitchen red and all the trim white in the meantime, as you can see above.  Until last Christmas though, we lived with the attractive yellow "backsplash" that was left when we tore down the tile.   It was during this time that I made this 101 in 1001 list and decided it needed to be a priority to get it done!

Here's how it all looked just before we started...

And here it is in process:

I even helped do one wall as well.  Ok...so the real story is, I actually made requested Trevor re-do this wall because it was crooked.  So I felt guilty and told him I would do it.   Then I showed him how it was done. :)

The "re-do" might be what caused me to get this look:

Here it is ready to be grouted:  (For the life of me I can't figure out what is on that plate in the picture above....yuck.  I think it is some kind of meat thawing.  I should be more aware of  what is in my pictures!) 

AFTER:

Here's what the kitchen looks like now!

I really like it!  It's simple and not that amazing (sometimes I wish we'd done something more fun like glass tiles), but we did it ourselves and we did it cheap!  What could be better?!

So the kitchen is pretty much complete now, except for the curtains I am "working" on (for the past year!) for the breakfast area (see #38) and the crown molding we plan to put up in the whole house.  We are contemplating doing something with the kitchen cabinets.  They are old and dated, but we definitely don't want to lay down the money to replace them.  I've thought of painting them white or a really dark brown, but I just can't decide.  Does anyone have any advice or opinions on painting your cabinets?  I've heard good and bad things.