Wednesday, June 26, 2013

A Cry for Organization and Design Help!

This post is a little different than the recipes I usually post. It's a cry for help!

Let's be honest. It's going to be slightly hard to press 'publish' on this one. My organization skills are seriously lacking and after a while I stop noticing how bad things really are. I didn't touch anything before taking these photos, and it made me look twice. The scary part is I know exactly where everything is! Which means I've been living with this for way too long...

So, here's the deal: Any ideas you have for organizing this place are welcome. Extra points for cheap/free inspiration. Feel free to comment with descriptions or links here in the comment section or on Facebook.

My kitchen cupboards are pretty stuffed, so I can't imagine being able to move many things out of this pantry, but if even one shelf looked nicer, I'd be smiling.

The good thing is, there's lots of space!

Starting from top to bottom...

2nd and 3rd shelves...

4th and 5th shelves...

bottom...

Another view of the top...

And the bottom...
 
 
At least I have this...
 All these spices used to be on those shelves too!

Almost everything needs to stay in the pantry. Although now that I think of it, I could probably move the coolers and free up TONS of space. 

What other suggestions do you have for me?

Comment here, on Facebook, or even leave links to blogs, Pinterest boards, etc.

Thanks everyone! I hope someone out there knows more than me :)

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22 comments:

  1. Heather @ Post RoadJun 26, 2013, 10:52:00 AM

    can't wait to hear ideas :) y'know I need em worse than you!!!

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    1. Me too! I hope someone out there can help...

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  • Love your spice rack - I keep mine in a drawer and that isn't as workable.

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    1. Thanks! My hubby recently made that for me. Before, I had spices in multiple places and I was the only one who knew where everything was! What a disaster that was...

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  • Eva @ 1 Big BiteJun 26, 2013, 4:26:00 PM

    I should be the last one to give any advise...
    Maybe this will help: http://homefries.com/category/high-straightenence/
    May the Fourth be with you... :)

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    1. Just checked out your link and it gave me a few ideas, so thanks!

      May the fourth also be with you ;)!

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  • Well - I'll be the first to say that I have no organization at all, but I'm addicted to Pinterest... :) So: If you have room on the walls on the side of your pantry, you can stick a pushpin through the cardboard on your plastic bags and have them hanging instead of on the shelf. Diaper boxes (or any other boxes) covered with fabric or duct tape would help contain some of the smaller items. A lazy susan in the pantry for smaller items, so you can turn it and get what you need from the back. Big baskets on the floor to contain some of the medium size things. And I will also recommend a book called "It's All Too Much". Although its more about getting rid of stuff than organization, maybe you could free up some space in the pantry or other spaces.
    Good luck! :)

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    1. I do have a few diaper boxes...And I was just at Joann's last night! Should have picked up some cute fabric while I was there! I like the lazy Susan idea. There's some things that would work on that.

      Thanks for the book recommendation as well! Hopefully my library has it!

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  • I seriously need to do some organizing in my pantry. I did a few months ago but now it's a mess again. LOL

    Have a good weekend!

    Julie @ This Gal Cooks

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    1. Isn't it the worst when you spend a lot of time on something, but it goes downhill so quickly? Mine has never been done, so I don't know if that's better or worse...

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    2. I just reorganized my pantry and I found a lot of great, inexpensive storage boxes at Wal-Mart and open storage bins at Container Store (in the office section...multi-purpose bins). I put small snacks in in one bin, crackers in another, paper products, grouping like products by bin. Turntables work great on two-wall shelves (those with a 90 degree turn), but your shelves are straight-line, so you would lose too much space. The plastic boxes at WM would be good for grouping oils, mixes, etc.
      Put your appliances and things that aren't used often on the top shelf. Can the boxes of canning jars go elsewhere? How about the recycling? Maybe have a daily collection point for the recycling and at the end of the day take it out to the garage? Same with the coolers, unless you use them daily. Flip the lids on the crock pots, so the handle is inside, and you can stack something on top of the pot.
      I also have a rolling crate that I keep things in on the floor of the pantry. It is parked under the shelf and I just pull it out when I need something. If your recycling needs to stay inside, this might work to contain everything...or use the dog food storage containers that have wheels.
      Hope this helps!

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    3. So many good ideas, Barb! I hardly know where to start. I love the idea of getting a bunch of containers from Wal-Mart because I know they're dirt cheap. And I absolutely want to get the recycling out of the pantry, and I have a little recycling project in line for my hubby to make, but I don't know when he's going to get to it...But, in the meantime, I really like the idea of a rolling crate. That way I can keep the floor clear, but still not be too annoyed at the stuff way in the back.

      Also, genius on turning the crock pot lid over :)

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  • I wish I could help Loretta, but I don't even have a pantry. I stuff all of my dry goods into bottom cupboards, the sauces are in top cupboards, and I recently had my husband surprise me with a fitted spice rack in the hallway (as there's no more room in the kitchen - haha, we've created a 'feature wall' out of my billions of spice containers) but the spice jars were previously randomly shoved in wherever I could find a space!
    This might sound weird, but I actually think your storage arrangement makes a lot of sense. Things are grouped by category, and if you know exactly where everything is, why change it? :) But.. one of my friends has open shelves like you and she's tidied them by transferring all of her ingredients (other than sauce bottles/jars) into stackable plastic containers with labels at the front. As they're all uniform it all looks very neat.
    Good luck lovely! xx

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    1. Laura, I love that you made a feature wall out of your spices. Reminds me of that cliche saying about lemons and lemonade...! I like the pantry because there's lots of room and I know where everything is. But the looks....blah. It needs work so the uniform containers would totally clean that up I know.

      Thanks for the boost!

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  • Reba- Not So Perfect LifeJun 27, 2013, 10:30:00 AM

    Looks like you need to take a trip to the container store!

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    1. Haha! I know! Unfortunately I don't know if they have one around here, but I do need something to contain all the random odds and ends...

      Thanks Reba!

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  • Join A Bowl Full of Lemons organization group on Facebook. LOTS of ideas and encouragement there and TONS of folks iwth spots like this in their houses.

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    1. Thanks for the great tip! I had never heard of them before, so I have lots of reading and ideas to go through!

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  • I don't know what the top of your cabinets are like, but there is space on top of our that we use to store jars and bottles that we aren't using. We even use that space for small kitchen appliances when we need a little extra counter space.

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    1. Thanks for that idea, but unfortunately ours go all the way to the ceiling...

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  • Look for cute containers at garage sales,or cover diaper boxes with old calender pictures or scrap paper. Good luck on that I'm still struggling...tmj

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    1. Thanks for the diaper cover tip. I only have one diaper box right now, but I do have a few other boxes that might work as well. Plus, any excuse to head to another garage sale... :0

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