Wednesday, May 23, 2012

33 Reader Space: Pantry Label Love

What can I say?  I am a sucker for labels!  Today's reader space is another example as to why iheart them oh so much!


Lucretia wrote:

Hi Jen,

I love your blog and I love organizing.  My cousin, who's also a huge fan of yours, insisted I submit my pantry overhaul to possibly be featured on your Reader Space.  I'd love it if you'd take a quick look, you can see the original post here on my blog .

It was a budget redo and I was limited on what I could do since we rent the house, but it was in desperate need of help.  I had some things on hand, like paint and adhesive vinyl for the labels, but purchased a few organizing things:
  •  $30 on the can organizer at Amazon {similar to this one} 
  • $30 on the coordinating Rubbermaid containers at Target 
  • $40ish on the 4 red boxes, 2 plastic "baskets" on the door, and the spice rack at IKEA
 So for around $100, I feel like I totally revamped my kitchen and eased the prep work for every cooking experience.  In the process, I made myself stop and think about how I was organizing my entire kitchen.  Was I using the right cupboard space for boxed goods, canned goods, spiced goods, etc?  Were the most used items easily accessible?  Did I really need all those gadgets?  {Yes, I do!}  I rearranged a total 3 cupboards plus the pantry and just made things more intuitive.  Now when I open up that pantry to figure out what's for dinner, the cheerful red gives me a boost, the smell of spices gives inspiration, and I grab....the nicely organized and tightly sealed new container for Cheerios for my daughter.  Just kidding, we grab the Cheerios a lot, but not for dinner.  But in all seriousness, it is just fun to use my kitchen now.  I love it!  I hope you do to.

Best,
Lucretia

And I did LOVE it!  But first, lets take a look at what she started with:


She began by removing the contact paper on the shelves and giving everything a quick coat of paint.  Such a difference already!


And adding spice storage to the inside of the pantry door:


She used a Silhouette to create oodles of lovely vinyl labels for everything.  I am swooning!



She used the red boxes to conceal all of random packet and snack item packaging, which gives it a simplified feeling!



I love all of the space the can organizer creates!  It is such a smart piece of pantry storage!


Making for another before and after happy ending!


 

  • If you read her blog post, you will learn that her before picture is actually after she finished her first try at organizing the pantry.  This is another great example that organizing is a process and if at first you don't succeed, try try again!  I do it all the time, and I love that she did too.  Now, she has a super simplified and lovely pantry that is much more easy to maintain and enjoy, because she didn't get discouraged and give up.
  • She painted the pantry to freshen it up a bit.  It's amazing what a little paint can do to give any space a brand new feeling.
  • I see pantry updates every day, but it's the ones like this, with extra attention to detail, thought out space planning and going the extra mile to create a cohesive look, that really make my heart race.  
  • She didn't just settle for the shelving provided by the closet, she added in her own organizers to make it more functional and to expand her storage even more.  
  • She utilized the door for spices and to hold baskets!  That is a lot of storage gained by using vertical space!  Smart thinking!
  • I adore that she used boxes to conceal all of the mix and matched packaging.  It gives the pantry a streamlined look and keeps like items corralled together.  Win win.
  • I love labels.  Simple as that.  And she did a great job designing pretty labels and using a cohesive style on all of the storage in the pantry to give it a unified look.  Of course the main benefit is that now everyone knows what is what and where everything belongs.
  • I adore the pops of red, it is so unexpected and fun!
  • Just comparing the before and after makes me know that her time in the kitchen has gotten easier and more fun.  The functionality of her pantry has increased by the boatloads.

I am so glad that Lucretia wrote in and shared her great makeover!  It is so inspiring!  I also love that her cousin encouraged her to do so, it is so fab when we can share in excitement over organizing!

Who else has been playing with vinyl labels and loving the result it provided?  Any recent pantry overhauls or closet painting going on?


ATTENTION!!  Want to be featured in a Reader Space edition?  Have an awesome organizing story to share?  I am looking for projects that have made a positive impact to your life.  Please submit your story and photos here and I would heart to feature them right here, on the blog!!  Photos should be high resolution and unedited.  Please include a description of the project, including any costs, inspiration, and how it has changed your life and routine for the better!  Oh, and no worries my friends, we will NEVER judge "before" pictures because that just wouldn't be nice!  Only love goes on at this blog!

33 comments:

  1. Such a great job! I love the can organizer. I have been looking for something like that.

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  2. I love the containers with the nuts...any idea where I can find those?

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    Replies
    1. Those are from IKEA; I can't think of the name. I have several of them for my tea and microwave popcorn and things.

      This looks beautiful!

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    2. You're so right. It's IKEA, called the Krus Jar with Lid. I posted an update with links to all my containers, http://www.ourfamilyunit.com/2012/05/23/pantry-organization-featured-on-i-heart-organizing/ . So glad you enjoy the pantry! Lucretia

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  3. Great jobs!! would you mind come to my house and do it again???

    http://qcomeshoy.blogspot.com.es/

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  4. ahhh its gorgeous!!!!! I need to invest in a vinyl cutter so I can make legit labels for things! I'm so envious =)

    xoxo

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  5. Love her pantry!!! It turned out very nice!! :)

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  6. I am wondering where those red boxes and "baskets" on the door have been hiding at my Ikea. I have never seen them and I am there at least 3 times a month.

    Beautiful job, I am going to attempt something similar, thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. I'm such a label freak and I am having heart palpitations over hers! The containers the nuts were in are OXO brand I believe. This may be happening very soon in our scary pantry :)

    www.welcometomontalvocountry.blogspot.com

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  8. The nuts are in containers from IKEA. I just bought a couple myself....they have dividers too. Awesome.

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  9. I just saw a new show on HGTV that looks right up your alley. It's called Million Dollar Closets. Just thought you might want to check it out.

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  10. What a great organizing project! Kudo's!!
    Thanks for sharing!1
    Tracy

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  11. I love the baskets on the door for holding tortilla chips! I always try to work around our chips so they don't get crushed and that would be so much easier

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  12. I have been wanting a magnetic spice rack forever!! Jen, can you tell me where one would buy the metal "board" and the magnetic canisters for the spice "rack"? Also, I need those silhouette labels!! Where do I find those?

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    Replies
    1. It is from Ikea, in the home organization section, around $12.

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  13. What a difference these small changes made. I definitely want one of those can organizers. Thank you for sharing. : )

    Xoxo,
    Kristin

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  14. Love love love! Love everything about this! It makes me want a Silhouette, but I have a Cricut... I need to figure out if I can make vinyl labels like that! I need an ikea trip! I can't wait to organize my spices! :)

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  15. OH my gosh! LOVE! We have a small narrow pantry in the hall of our apt, but we have a naked particleboard larger one in the kitchen, free standing, that has pots in the bottom and tupperwared food in the middle and cookbooks up top. I definitely need to make alot of changes, though, but if you see my bedroom that I'm about to tackle http://www.flickr.com/photos/strawberrydolphin/sets/72157629867632908/ , you'll see I have a TON of work cut out for me already.

    I'm going to start with combing this blog for ideas, etc. and maybe eventually will be organized enough to feature here. Maybe. Lol. *whistles Seven Dwarfs working tune*

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  16. Woops that's just the photos, the blog post is here http://sarebear.typepad.com/blog/2012/05/what-a-not-so-beautiful-mess-.html Don't worry I'mot going topost any links afis, this is just cause I mentioned it in my comment.

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  17. Love the red! Great idea to hide the product packaging with the red boxes!

    Sandra from www.simpleispretty.com

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  18. OMG......I <3 this too! :) what an awesome job with the labels and container selection!!!

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  19. Just bumped to this inspiring Blog, and I LOVE it so much. I believe there's so much organizing tips&ideas I can apply on, I rather start read your posts from the beginning....Thank you for the wonderfuk Blog,Jen ;D

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  20. It's amazing what one can do to make a small pantry more workable. I have container envy right now! Those glass canisters have been on my "want list" forever.

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  21. Love how she tweaked it until it worked for her physically and emotionally! Way to stick with it Lucretia!

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  22. Wow, that is an organized pantry. Love that can/jar holder and all the pops of read!

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  23. This is amazing! She did such a good job! I'm hoping to convince my mom to let me make over her pantry here at home this summer! Our pantry is JUST like hers, and I think we could do so much more with it to maximize storage and make it look organized! Thanks for sharing! Watch out...I'm heading over to your blog now! :]

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  24. Jen- in honor of your love of labels, when I saw this idea on Pinterest I thought I should share...
    http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/search/label/organizing?updated-max=2012-04-10T00:01:00-04:00&max-results=20&start=3&by-date=false

    She uses those backsplash tiles for little labels! So cute :-)

    Also- I love the pantry and especially the baskets!

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  25. This is a great post. I love the fact that it didn't cost a bundle to do it. The labels of course are AWESOME! ~Heidi

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  26. Beautiful job, Lucretia. I also love that you have 2 'afters'. I often have the same experience. Plan A may look good on paper but sometimes it isn't functional or you come across some brilliant inspiration to improve your system.
    Your pantry should provide inspiration to many.

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  27. I really like how much cleaner and simpler it looks now, awesome! One question though, how do you get to the soups cans in the back of that roller?

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  28. where did you get the can holder? I NEED a FEW of those :)

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    Replies
    1. Did anyone Find out where to get this can organizer? I really want one.

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