Our Organized Pantry ...

I don't know why this didn't post on Friday ... but here you are!  Sometimes planning ahead and scheduling things just doesn't work as planned!  😘

As you read yesterday we enlisted Carrie Peeples to organize our rather small but very disorganized pantry.  Since it was simply a cabinet with shelves it had no definition at all and over time became a clustered mess on each shelf. With all of us home during Covid we were overbuying due to the fact we had no idea what was on each shelf and there was quite a bit that was expired and needed to go.  Carrie was amazing.  She took every single item out, disposed of what was expired, donated what we had too much of, and then organized the rest. It was truly magical. 

With items from both Container Store and Target she whipped our pantry into a magical space in just a few hours.  We spoke on the phone prior to her coming and spoke about preferences and needs and the measurements of the space.  I simply told her I would like to have like things together and gave her my requests for categories, but she easily could have made these suggestions for me.  I am very type A so I had my own ideas and she was so good making suggestions and ideas.  She emailed me three options and we chose her first one which is what you see installed in these images.  I am telling you, it was a phone call, two emails, and one day with her installing it.  I can not recommend the process more, it was painless and easy and my only regret is waiting as long as I did. 

From the Container Store she purchased some clear bins, the largest lazy susan I have ever seen and a variety of clear bins with handles. I already had the wood lazy susan the peanut butter is on which she mixed in with her items.  We also considered these bins for the doors, but ended up not needing them.  I do love that she suggested them, as I could use them to house my spices. She labeled each of the bins and then organized them for us.  When she left every single item in each bin was alphabetized, which I am sure no longer exists since we all have used the pantry since then. But ... it would be easy to put back together.  What I love most about the organization is how the grocery list, and bill, has decreased since we can see and immediately know where all of our items are.  I have seen my husband looking through items before using Instacart, which is the whole purpose of organization.  👍

For the bottom shelf I found these bins at Target which work perfectly. The left one contains the crackers, chips, and snacks and the right one holds bread items.  Our backup bread is in the freezer in the basement, so I do not need much space. 

I am not sure which label maker she uses, but I use this one with these refills.  I love having a label maker, it is so useful and makes finding things in clear bins so easy.  For this project Carrie used a clear label with black letters. 

I would call Carrie again and again for a number of reasons.  First, she is more oganized than me which is huge.  I love how detailed she was for every single step.  Second, she came up great ideas that I did not think of.  What I was sure I wanted was the exact opposite of what we did and I love it way more than my own ideas.  She was also ruthless, in the best way, of getting rid of items with questionable dates.  I would have waivered and there was no need to do that, they simply had to go and she had no attachments so it was easy to do so. 

I give her my full and complete recommendation and referral.  I will use her again and am already planning to do so in the fall with our garage.  You will see her again on the blog and lots of the before and afters which should be incredible.  Make sure you check out her website for her other projects and for more images and videos of this one!

Until then I am happily enjoying my pantry!  💗

Have the very best weekend ... 

Images by Angie Webb Photography