So That's Why It's Called a Pantry

 I'm in the process of re-organizing every cupboard and closet in our apartment. I didn't realize how un-organized everything had gotten in the past two years that we've been living here until I started organizing it again! Yesterday I gave our pantry a makeover and it took forever! The rest of the house got neglected yesterday, but at least the pantry is clean. :) 

I should have done this sooner, but I sometimes use the excuse that I'll get more organized once we move into a house. After some inspiration from Pinterest, I decided that no matter how much longer we end up living here, life will be much easier and more enjoyable if our entire apartment is re-organized. 

Here's some before and after pictures:

BEFORE:

Yikes, I know. 

AFTER:

It's not perfect, but it looks much better. 

Close-up of the bottom BEFORE:

We buy a lot of stuff in bulk at Costco, which isn't exactly the best thing when you have a tiny pantry.  

This cupboard is going to be our food storage cupboard now, and we'll keep bulk things like cereal and crackers in food containeres, or the drawers at the bottom of the pantry. 

We took and afternoon break to walk to the stores near our house so I could buy some food containers, a can organizer, a lazy susan for the big spices, and a few shelves for the laundry area, which is the next thing that needs a makeover.  

Close-up of the bottom AFTER

Pan Cupboard BEFORE:

This cupboard probably bugged me the most. That shelf made it so we couldn't store the cookie sheets on their sides which meant every time I went to get a pan I had to take all the top pans out to get to the bottom pans. It was so annoying. Don't ask me why I didn't fix this a year ago. 

Pan Shelf (in our pantry)AFTER:

This will be MUCH easier to get to the pans I need. After we put the pans on the top shelf of our pantry I told Scott, "Now I know why they call it a PANtry." :)

Here's the pans in context:

Here's a few pictures of the giant mess I made during this whole process yesterday. The reason why it took so long was because I would take everything out, put it somewhere else, and then decide I didn't like it in that spot. Then I would stand there staring at my mess and feel overwhelmed. Ha ha. I wished I had someone there to ask opinions from. I was so happy when Scott got home so I could ask his opinion on things. You might think he wouldn't have any good opinions since he's a guy, but he had the best ideas. This project would have been done in half the time if he were home all day. 

DURING

Boston did really well entertaining himself for the most part while I was consumed by my mess all day. Here he is being a boy and graciously posing in front of my picture. (He also dressed himself. Gotta love bright orange with blue plaid.;))  Thursday mornings we usually meet friends at Sea World, but I decided I'll have to skip a morning activity every once in awhile, or our apartment will never get re-organized. We've been running around like crazy going to all sorts of places, so I think Boston actually enjoyed staying home and not having to rush off anywhere in the morning.

I found some expired corn starch while I was cleaning the pantry, so I added some water to it and made a gooey paste for Boston to play with. 

He made a huge mess with it, but he had fun, and it kept him busy for awhile. I've learned that if one area of my house is going to get cleaned while Boston is awake, the rest will get very messy. 

I was just happy that he kept his messes in the living room and on the porch, and didn't try to "help" me with my mess in the kitchen. 

Well, hopefully I'll have some more before and after pictures coming soon of the rest of our apartment. Our DVD/TV cabinet is almost done, but I think I'm going to take today off from organizing projects.