Day 7 - This is how it all started

It's a SNOW DAY! I'm loving not having to get kids up and ready. It was fun sneaking into their rooms to shut off the alarms. I felt like the Tooth Fairy! There's sledding, and hot cocoa and all sorts of fun snow stuff going on today!

I've been working on this pantry for a few weeks now. A Google search for "Closet turned pantry" led me all over the web and finally I landed on Toni's little slice of it . Little did I know I would then be sucked into an entire Organization Challenge. I am glad though. No, really I am.

So we have a kitchen that's a bit awkward. It's not exactly small, it's just laid out really strange. It's not very user friendly. This is the 3rd time in 7 months that I've rearranged it. The original pantry has lots of room but it's so deep that things keep getting pushed to the back and lost in there and I end up buying something at the store that I don't need.

That's when I decided to turn our hall coat closet into our new pantry. I'm so glad I did. It works really well.

Before held dog food...

...and coats and other misc stuff.

I put all the misc stuff where it belonged, and hung the coats in a different area of the house.

I didn't ever take a before picture of the original pantry. I did remember to take a picture of the spice drawer though.

Messy little guys all scattered about.

I'm almost finished with it. I hope to get all matching bins eventually, but this will definitely do for now. It's much more user friendly and I can easily see everything we have or what we are almost out of.

Spices, candles, tea, baking supplies.

 The wicker basket holds the spare blades to my food processor

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Needs some shuffling around but works for now.

I love a stocked pantry.

I'm not kidding about the stocked pantry. I remember some very lean days in my past. We were lucky to have peanut butter and canned tuna. There were many days that I made sure my kids ate but there wasn't enough for me. Not a good feeling. Anywhoo...

Lunch boxes and rags. Hey hangers, you're not supposed to be there anymore!

More spices, snacks and misc stuff.

Have you tried these Roasted garlic and black bean Tostitos? yum!

The closet is at such an awkward angle it's hard for me to get a good picture of the entire thing. I have to back all the way to the wall just to get these shots. It looks fabulous and works so much better. I just pull out the spice baskets when I'm cooking and put them back afterward. The only downside I've noticed is that my 2 year old has easy access to snacks now. Oh well, not a big deal.

Thanks Toni for the inspiration for this!