PIMP MY PANTRY

To be honest, I never gave my pantry much thought...except to make sure it had food in it. That all changed though when I saw the fantastic pantry makeovers by Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick and Melaine at My Sweet Savannah. Seriously, amazing. These makeovers stuck in my head and taunted me every time I opened my pantry door. So I decided to do something about it this weekend.

Here's my pantry before:

Yeah, seeing it in a photo, it's pretty darn bad.

I was determined to organize my pantry while spending as little as possible. I checked the local Big Lots, the Dollar Tree, etc., but I ended up finding the best deals at Walmart. I bought 2 canvas baskets at 2 for $10, a set of two wicker baskets for $14, three glass canisters at $3-something each, and two tall plastic canisters at $3-something each (how's that for specific..lol).

Here's how the pantry looks after:

Finally, everything has a place! The floppy chip bags now have a home in canvas baskets. I kept a few plastic bags and housed them in a cute green basket that had been in the garage (the other bags are in the car to take to a recycling place).

My favorite part? I put all of the cans of commonly used ingredients (like cream of chicken soup, canned beans, tomato sauce, etc.) in the wire shelves that the previous owners had installed on the inside of the pantry door. I can't tell you how many times I bought extra cans of something at the grocery store because I had no idea I already had some at home. Not anymore!

Buuuut....While the pantry was better organized, it didn't really look pretty yet. I knew deep down there was something else I could do that would make it look prettier...and it kept pestering me every time I walked into the garage.

Yep, paint. Can you hear them saying "Oh, c'mon! You know you want to use us. We make things pretty. Use us....use us..." ?

So, of course, I gave in. Afterall, what else was I going to do all afternoon while waiting for the Superbowl to start? I took everything out of the pantry...again....and I painted the back wall of the pantry Sherwin Williams Quiver Tan and then I painted the front edge of the shelves black.

And, voila!...we have pretty (well, as pretty as a pantry can be while also being functional and not costing a lot of money).