Ok – In my last blog I showed the Before & After for my pantry. I took a disorganized space and poorly laid out floor plan and redesigned it using extremely basic tools and a new outlook. Here I want to give everyone the ability to make their spaces work for them with a minimal amount of time and money.
Design Stage: Take out you measuring tape and lets take a look. Start at one corner of the space and measure around consecutively so that you include all the walls of the space. Be sure to measure the inside dimension of baseboards if you are trying to create a built in a cabinet look. After you have sketched all the dimensions on a scrap piece of paper use a simple graph paper to transfer the floor plan so that it is to scale. I usually use four boxes for 1 foot so that it is easy to divide (yes I could draw it up on AutoCAD, but believe it or not it’s too involved for me at this stage). This is no problem for a small space like a pantry, but far larger rooms you might have to use one or two boxes for 1 foot. Once the space is drawn in a visual form it is much easier to analyze. This is where you can play with ideas and see what actually fits in your space.
I have seen lots of organizational shows where they suggest measuring your stuff and counting the number of items that you are looking to organize. Great idea, but I don’t have the time or inclination. Therefore, I took a quick overview of what I had to organize, I am sorry I didn’t photograph it. It did take up my whole dining room table. But, I did notice that there were numerous items that were non food items and could be stored somewhere else. So I started with that. I then eyed how many item I had of a certain type, how many cereal boxes and so on. I realized I had put spices and cookie decorating sugars in a prime location, but rarely used them. I also noticed that there were two types of items I was organizing. Those used to cook and use everyday and those used to store for future use (thank you Costco, BJ’s and Sam’s Club and any others I forgot). I noticed I was using/misusing the space and that helped me make better decisions about my new design.
Shopping: Who doesn’t like to shop, right? Well, I’ll tell you who. A woman on an extremely tight budget that who. That’s me. So I started in my basement and I found an old can of California Paints:Midnight Garden. Great, a starting point and it’s free (my husband would say, “No not free already spent!”) then I started looking for products to fulfill my design. I started at IKEA because I thought a base cabinet from their kitchen department would fit my purposes. After a moderate amount of effort describing my idea to the sales person they came up with what they thought I was talking about and what they thought would fit. To their credit they didn’t look at my crossed eyed as some people have, but their interpretation was not going to work for me, so I bowed out gracefully. Left that day empty handed. And believe it or not left my pantry on the dining room table for I think two weeks. I was still looking everywhere I went for something that would work, even considering building it myself when I spotted an IKEA 2009 Wardrobes mini catalog I had picked up previously. That is where I noticed that the PAX Wardrobes came in a 13 3/4″ depth and a 30 3/8″ Height. I think that would work and because the KOMPLEMENT interior fitting work with it I thought I could design whatever I needed shelves and drawers. So off to IKEA once again. Thank goodness they are fully set up with food, rest rooms, play areas because it always turns into a long affair (longer with two children along). I do try to always bring my husband, though I have gone once or twice to buy a large item and I ended up pushing around a stroller and a monstrous cart. Not my best idea. Anyway here is how I spent the money at IKEA
Pax Wardrobe Frames (3)$18.00 (they happened to be on sale) -$54.00
The pictures below shows the larger PAX Frames, but it gives a great idea about the flexibility of the system. Unfortunately, by using the 13 3/4″ depth I limited by options for the interior fittings, but I was still able to make it fit. I just want people to be aware. There are also mini brochures at the store for kitchens, wardrobe and others that give far more detail then the main catalog.
Shelves (2)$10.00 -$20.00
Wire Basket – $5.00 (I had to use just one interior fitting b/c that was the only one that fit with the 13 3/4″ depth)
44 oz IKEA 365+ Jar with Lid (4) -$15.96
2 qt. IKEA 365+ Jar with Lid (4) -$11.96
Rustoleum Spray paint (2) $7.94
Wooden Shelf Supports (9) -$80.73
These shelf supports are in the closet shelving aisle in Lowes Home Center. They are packages individually.
Laminate Shelf (3)$11.27 -$33.81
The laminate shelves are a separate area in Home Depot. They are made by Closetmaid and come in numerous colors and sizes.
Total -$229.40 +tax+gas
Other boxes and storage containers were the ones I had found around my house here and there. I use mostly square and rectangular storage containers because there is far less waste. I love the bamboo ones that stack. They are a great weight and whatever I seem to put inside fits great. I also use canisters and tins left over from Williams-Sonoma pancake batter. Again Square and they look so cute on the shelf and remind me of the Holidays. I have been trying to find clear containers so that it is easy to see what’s on the shelf and things are kept fresh.
My favorite places to shop for storage containers are Homegoods, Target, Marshalls, and tag sales. If I have left any great places to shop out please add them to the comments.
Organization: Finally after everything is bought I worked on putting everything back in so that it was easily accessible. One of the major problems I had with the earlier pantry was that I bought items, lost them in the pantry, and bought them again. Such a waste of money and space.
Well that’s it and my pantry has stayed worked neat and organized for over a month now. I’d say it works! Nothing like finding what you need without stepping over the food on the pantry floor.
Now I’m on to my next project. Around here there’s always something doing!
