Although I finished my pantry organization project, my plan was originally to organize my Craft Room / Home Office combo room, and I sorted enough to clear a space on the floor and began working on the closet. I knew a lot needed to be removed, like a bookcase that I wanted to put into the pantry. So, after unloading half of my closet, I transported the bookcase to the pantry, and took on the pantry organization project.
This is the “before” pic.
My pantry is in a closet off the kitchen, and I like to simply turn off the light and shut the door, ignoring the mess within. For the past few months, I’ve been keeping my new groceries in the kitchen where I can find them rather than deal with the full pantry. Obviously, I managed to cram all my bulk purchases in here from my last Costco visit.
I measured the bookcase and the space available for it. The bookcase is 25.5″ wide, and the space available is 27″. I unloaded all the stuff from the main area, scrubbed the floor with Lysol wipes, and then moved in the bookcase. It was a very tight fit.
Over the weekend, I reloaded the pantry. Pulling out what does not belong, throwing away expired food (seriously, if I haven’t used it yet and it’s expired, I don’t need it), and then putting it all back. And I even put away the foods (canned goods) that I had setting on my counters because I didn’t want to lose them in the pantry.
This is how it looks now.
In addition to the bookcase, I added a red rug from my bathroom. (I have new items for my bathroom that I’ve been procrastinating using – and I’m glad I did, otherwise I may not have had this rug available!) My hope is that with a pretty rug there, I won’t load up the pantry floor with stuff.
I placed an order for a tiered expandable shelf for the canned goods on the top shelf of the bookcase. Right now, the middle shelf of the bookcase is holding my Tupperware cake taker, a thermal casserole carrier and my Godiva hot chocolate set from Christmas (gift to myself).
The bottom shelf of the bookcase is holding my boxes of cereal. And the lowest shelf on the right is holding quite a bit of stuff. In the back corner next to the bookcase, I have my stock of paper products – boxes of tissue, paper towels, napkins, etc., to the right (if you were in the pantry), I have my bulk food items, and then closer to the door, I have my unopened plastic wrap, aluminum foil wrap, and other things in that size box inside that drawer. On top of the drawer, I have a basket with my vacuum cleaner bags and attachments. The shelf above that is mostly food. I guess I could have done some more rearranging before taking the picture, but I was anxious to get moving.
Finally, here is a picture taken after the tiered shelf for the canned goods arrived and I had the chance to use it and rearrange things again.
Thanks for reading! Have a good week!
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