November 1, 2011

{ Open Pantry }

Apartment living, after many years of home ownership, has been a great experience in a lot of ways. In other ways, it's been a little tough. We've certainly had to think outside the box. Our kitchen is TINY! and our pantry is only two and a half feet wide. We're talkin' the door is half the width of a standard door. Ouch! Remember my old kitchen?
{Sigh} at times like this I really miss her. 

We needed to improvise big time. The postage stamp size pantry was called into service to hold our dishes, so we used my office bookcases as our pantry in our little dining nook. this isn't really a "decorator worthy" picture, but this is more about practicality over style.

That being said, I tried to keep it as attractive as possible since it takes up a big amount of visual space in our little home. Organization was key.

These containers are my favorite. Granted their plastic, but I'm good with that. There are tons of pantries out there with glass containers holding all sorts of goods, but I have four kids for crying out loud. Glass would be chipped and broken in no time. And at $3 for the big containers, and $2 for the little ones, they were also very budget friendly. I spruced them up a bit by adding vinyl labels and lettering. It has been a huge space saver, and it got rid of most of the random bags and boxes on our shelves. I've been loving them!

A few other organizing containers: 
Baskets (on sale for $4 at Hobby Lobby) to hold microwave popcorn and oatmeal packets. 
More container to dump bags of cereal in, yes they are almost all empty right now, I guess I better go shopping!
Wire baskets to manage bottles of oils and vinegar, sandwich makings etc.
My Sweet Hubby likes it so much he wants to keep them in our next house. Not gonna happen, but my new pantry should be really organized!

7 comments:

Jessica @ This Blessed Life said...

wow - i am so impressed! all those labels and containers make my heart go pitter-patter! lol

Jamie said...

You always have the best organizing ideas!

A Thrifted Market said...

I love the organization! So where did you get the plastic containers and the wire baskets?? Looks great!

Becky said...

Love the clear jars with labels. Looks great!

April said...

The plastic cereal containers came from Walmart a while back. They came in three packs with varying sizes. I'm pretty sure I got the wire baskets at Lowes ages ago. I have a lot of baskets and such laying around and I'm always moving them around for different purposes.

Comeca Jones said...

I love the look and Im with your husband they are keepers!

Unknown said...

Where did you buy the $2 and $3 dollar clear containers??