Ok guys, I’m guilty.  Guilty of keeping dry goods way too long.  Guilty of organizing once and then not keeping up with it.  Guilty of shoving things I don’t like into the far corners of the shelves instead of throwing them away.  Guilty, guilty, guilty…all of it.  But I was determined to turn it around!  A little embarrassed to show the Before pic, wouldn’t you be?? But yes.  We needed something simpler, more open, better shelving, and less clutter!  Before we decided to do away with the whole left side of shelving, making it a true walk in pantry, I was so worried.  I thought “How could LESS space possibly make more sense when it seems we barely have enough at it is?”  This project was finished over a month ago and I am happy to report that contrary to my initial fears, this IS enough space for us and is highly functional.

Before *shields self*:

So much junk, so much stuff that shouldn’t even be in the pantry, just ick.

Also, you like that effort on the bottom right where I put the popcorn supplies in a container?  DANG, organization queeeeeeen!!! (praise emoji) 

Purge process:

1.

Throw away expired dry goods, be honest with yourself about what is likely to be eaten in the foreseeable future, and what is collecting dust.  Donate if you can!

2.

Create separate “areas” on your shelves for different things.  We now have a cans area, breakfast area, fruit area, carbs area…lol, you get the picture.  I like placing items that we use every day at eye level, cooking/baking items on lower shelves, and snacks/indulgences on higher ones.

3.

Use clear plastic storage only if it works for you! We tried this years ago and ended up with a ton of hodge podge and just extra stuff to clean.  While I aspire to be the woman who has every last oat and noodle in a clearly labeled container on the shelf, it just ain’t happening.  I DO, however, love these pantry organizers from Amazon, and am slowly transitioning into figuring out what works best for being in an organizer and sitting by itself.

I love the farmhouse pantry look and spent weeks on Pinterest in a whirlwind of shiplap and wire baskets.  After a while I realized the “all out” farmhouse look just doesn’t jive with our kitchen or the rest of our home.  So I compromised!  Wooden shelving, and we will eventually put some spice racks and maybe some hooks on the left wall if we need more space.  I am calling this “modern farmhouse” style because it’s pretty minimal, but really it’s just kind of a half-a** farmhouse style.  Sue me.

Sidenote: you know how Pinterest memorizes your searches and pretty much takes over your homepage with what it thinks you want to see?  Well, a couple years ago I was looking into Cruella de Ville makeup for Halloween, and Pinterest showed me nothing but Halloween makeup for mmm a good 712 days straight after that.  Drove me mad.  Then once I got pregnant and was doing searches for….ya know, all of that stuff, Pinterest assumed it’s all I want to see.  So long Halloween makeup!!  Anyway – now my Pinterest homepage is an endless feed of farmhouse pantries…please, someone save me from this hell.  What ever happened to moderation?  It’s like when you buy a vacuum on Amazon and then for the next year it’s recommending different vacuums to you.  I am a normal person who lives in a home and prefers clean carpets a couple times a week,  I am not a vacuum collector.  I digress.

After! *flutters eyelashes*

We decided on the Minwax Jacobean stain.  It is tried and true for us because in our last home we finished our entire staircase with this stain. It’s a deep, beautiful espresso color with grey tones.

I am so happy with how it turned out!

Stay tuned for our basement gym reno and of course a nursery reveal sometime in the next couple of months 😉