The Less Mess Project: Pantry Reveal!

(If you missed the first part of this post you can read about it HERE and you can read about the Less Mess Project HERE).

My pantry is finished and I'm totally in love with it! 

As a reminder as to how totally disorganized I am, here is my pantry before...

Nice right? It stressed me out just to look in there. I'm already not a fan of cooking and this made it even worse. It's too bad that I'm not one of those people that thinks cooking is the bees knees, since I have to do it everyday. Wouldn't it be awesome if your hobby was also something that you had to do? I don't need to have a creatively decorated house, but I do need to cook healthy meals for my family. And to add insult to injury, after you cook then you have to clean it all up. Double suck.

 Anyway, rabbit trail. What I meant to say was that cooking it a little more fun now that my pantry is awesome.

So as a quick recap of the last post...

After emptying it out, painting it white, and stenciling, my pantry looked like this...

And here, ladies and gentleman,  is my organized masterpeice!

It makes me smile just to look in there.

I even managed to take the rack off the back of my door. That was probably the hardest part, finding a new place for all that rack stuff.  I plan on taking the door off completely and replacing it with old wooden screen door. I've gotta show off all that beautiful organization, you know? Plus it's a great way to add some personality to the kitchen. I plan on painting it the same color as the kitchen cabinets (which is the same color as the stencil...Sherwin Williams Harbor Grey). I just need to get my hands on a door first....and I don't care if its No Spend February or not, if I find the perfect door I WILL buy it.

Let's take a closer look shall we? On the top shelf we have baking supplies and a basket full of to go toddler snacks.

Below that we have more baking supplies in Tupperware canisters (that I've had forever). The labels are just  cheapo scrap booking stickers from Hobby Lobby - I don't think a dollar has ever made me feel so fancy before!
 Then we have crackers and pastas. The pasta is stacked two deep - we eat a lot of pasta.

 The clear canisters are OXO POP Canisters. I originally wanted pretty circular glass ones, but I could't find any that were airtight. Plus my pantry isn't very big and circular canisters aren't the best use of space. I love these OXO ones though, they have a button on top that you press to take the lid off, then you press it again to seal it closed. Plus they're stackable and the seal matches my stencil color (very important!) I bought mine HERE on Amazon...

They're not the cheapest, but they're the nicest canisters I found by far. (If you want big ones to hold flour you'll have to buy the big 5.5 quart ones separately.) I also found a few randomly at HomeGoods, they were way cheaper but only had a few at a time.
(Update - A reader recommended these Lock and Lock containers, said they're awesome and they're WAY cheaper. Wishing I'd have seen them first...) 

Next shelf down we have rice, beans, etc and cereals. The 'MIX' cereal is for me...I like my cereals mixed - the more the merrier! I used to just pull out every cereal in the morning and put a little of each in my bowl. Now the plan is to pour the cereal remnants from the other canisters onto mine so I only have to pour one cereal in the morning. I great idea if I may say so myself.

The lowest shelf is canned goods. I found some risers at Target and they work great - now I can see everything. Next to the risers is our supply of Costco tomato bisque soup. Have ya'll had this stuff? I don't recommend you try it unless you never want to be able to eat another brand of tomato soup ever again. It's that good. 

On the floor we have some bins (from The Container Store- the shelf baskets are from there too) that holds unopened condiments on the top and onions and potatoes on the bottom. Next to that is my old onion and potato holder which now holds tea bags for sweet tea. It wasn't quite big enough for potatoes... plus I'm pretty sure it didn't get enough airflow because my potatoes grew sprouts like it was their job in there.

I didn't wan't to waste any valuable space, so I the sides of the pantry I put little wire baskets to hold my spices and whatnot. They're actually pencil holder drawer thingys - most normal sized ones were too long for this space so they took forever to find. Guess where I found these? Yup, The Container Store.

Hubby just screwed them into the wall like so...

The other side is a little deeper so I found wider ones to hold other (ugly) stuff). These side baskets are the only reason I was able to take the rack off the back of the door, otherwise my screen door dreams might have been squandered.

Here is a picture so you can see how many there are...

(Gosh it's hard to take pictures of the inside of a tiny pantry!)

That's the grand tour! Do you love it as much as I do? I'm pretty confident that I can keep it this organized for the long haul, everything we use is in there and it all has a place. Here is a side by side before and after shot, looking at that after makes me feel so calm and happy! 

Next I'm moving on to organizing the craft closet, that ones going to be a doozy!

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Linked to:Thrifty Decor Chick, Addicted 2 Decorating, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Savvy Southern Style, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Tatertots & Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring, Miss Mustard Seed, Southern Hospitality, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, The Thrifty Home,  Beyond the Picket Fence, Oops I Craft My Pants, Between Naps on the Porch, Not Just A Housewife, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, I Heart Nap Time, Serenity Now, French Country Cottage, Remodelaholic, Creations By Kara, Homework, The 36th Avenue, Freckled Laundry, Coastal Charm, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Keeping It Simple,  Blue Cricket Design, Be Colorful, Craft O Maniac, Skip to my Lou, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Dittle Dattle, Polly Want A Crafter?, Whipperberry, Sassy Sites, DIY By Design, The Girl Creative, It's Overflowing, A Girl ans a Glue Gun, Delightful Order, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Southern Lovely, Sew Much Ado, Young & Crafty, Homemaker on a Dime, Be Different Act Normal, Primitive & Proper, Lolly Jane, DIY Home Sweet Home, Lines Across My Face, Making the World Cuter, Fun to Craft, Nifty Thrifty Things, The Crafty Nest, Running with Glitter, Designer Garden, Cherished Bliss, CRAFT, Lil Luna, All Thingz Related, House of Hepworths, Oopsy Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Ginger Snap Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, Vintage Wanna Bee, It's So Very Cheri, Two Yellow Birds, A Turtles Life for Me, Along for the Ride, Crafty Texas Girls, Beneath My Heart

Glazed Frame - Learning By Doing

Have you ever noticed that the pricing of frames at Goodwill seems a little off? Old broken Wal-Mart frame with a 59 cent clearance sticker on it - $2.99. Awesome, chunky, carved oval frame - $2.99.  So when I spotted this lil' lady lying amongst the heaps of crappy gold frames, I snached it up and felt like a won the (very tiny) frame lottery. 

Now I know what your thinking - that it would be a crime paint a hand carved wooden frame. I agree, but  rest assured... it's not real wood. It may look like it, but I'm pretty sure real wood doesn't peel apart in paper-like flakes to reveal a black mystery material underneath. So...out came the spray paint.

I thought it looked pretty good like that, but I wanted to try my glaze and this is the perfect piece. Remember when I wanted to glaze my crappy $5 table but couldn't because I bought the wrong glaze?

As it turns out I didn't buy the wrong glaze, your just supposed to mix it with paint. A reader pointed that out to me...and sure enough it says it right there on the back of the can. So Tim the Tool Man Taylor of me to not read the directions. 

So I went to mix up my glaze and realized that I don't own any black paint. I also don't own any brown or grey paint...closest thing I had was the blue/grey that I used for the kitchen cabinets. I figured that was good enough and threw an unknown amount of paint into an unknown amount of glaze. Measure...who measures? Measurings for losers ...or people that have more than a few scared minutes of naptime to work with.

I mixed it up and rubbed it into all the nooks and crannies. BTW, I didn't read any tutorials on this process...I'm just winging it. Like I said, naptime is too short to spend it reading tutorials.

Anyway, I had to put it on pretty thick to get it all up in there. 

Then I got my rag and started wiping it off, till it looked like this...

I was feeling like the contrast was a little much, so I had the brilliant idea to just put on a layer of plain glaze to dull it down a bit.

 It was working great until it dried and looked the exact same. You know, cause the glaze is clear and all. Whatever, it was worth a shot.

 I needed the instant gratification of putting a photo in it, so I went on the hunt for an 8X10 I already had. Then I spotted this...

That white envelope (on my super messy bedroom bookshelf) is a family photo from our church directly. It's been sitting there for about six months or so - which is a long time, though not as long as that container of bubbles has been sitting there.

So there we have it...two birds with one stone. Family photo off the shelf- check. Teach myself how to glaze by trial and error - check.

Funny story about that photo...Elijah and I had a bad day where he didn't nap at all (I think he was about 16 months in this picture). On the car ride to the church he passed out and we could NOT wake him up. He would open his eyes for a second, then they would roll back into his head and he would crash on Adams chest. So we went with it and I think the final product turned out pretty sweet & hilarious. 

Linked to:Thrifty Decor Chick, Addicted 2 Decorating, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Savvy Southern Style, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Tatertots & Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring, Miss Mustard Seed, Southern Hospitality, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, The Thrifty Home,  Beyond the Picket Fence, Oops I Craft My Pants, Between Naps on the Porch, Not Just A Housewife, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, I Heart Nap Time, Serenity Now, French Country Cottage, Remodelaholic, Creations By Kara, Homework, The 36th Avenue, Freckled Laundry, Coastal Charm, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Keeping It Simple,  Blue Cricket Design, Be Colorful, Craft O Maniac, Skip to my Lou, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Dittle Dattle, Polly Want A Crafter?, Whipperberry, Sassy Sites, DIY By Design, The Girl Creative, It's Overflowing, A Girl ans a Glue Gun, Delightful Order, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Southern Lovely, Sew Much Ado, Young & Crafty, Homemaker on a Dime, Be Different Act Normal, Primitive & Proper, Lolly Jane, DIY Home Sweet Home, Lines Across My Face, Making the World Cuter, Fun to Craft, Nifty Thrifty Things, The Crafty Nest, Running with Glitter, Designer Garden, Cherished Bliss, CRAFT, Lil Luna, All Thingz Related, House of Hepworths, Oopsy Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Ginger Snap Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, Vintage Wanna Bee, The CSI Project

Ugly Duckling Table

The debrowning of my living room continues with another table redo. This ones a lot simpler than the last one and it's a table that's been sitting in our living room for awhile. And yes, its brown...how did you guess?

Here is the before picture...

 

Here is the conversation between me and my husband when he caught me starting to sand it..

Adam: "Still trying to save that table, eh?"

Me: "I just don't want to to be brown anymore"

Adam: "It doesn't matter what color it is, it'll still be an ugly table. Wait...you aren't going to put that on your blog are you?"

Me: "Of course, that's how it works. I do stuff and then I write about it."

Adam: "If post that you'll loose peoples respect and no one will read your blog anymore"

So to say the least, it's  not my husbands favorite table :)

It was free to us though and it's the right size, so it stays. Plus I don't think it's that bad. The wheat tile on the top is a little funky, but I can make it work.

Besides, Elijah loves it. He thinks it's great for climbing.

Don't worry, I set him straight.

When I took over sanding (I kinda wanted to finish this decade) I realized that A LOT of people have tried to save this table..

  I decided to sand the top down to the wood and stain it. Hmm, choices choices...Dark Walnut, English Chestnut or Red Chestnut? I went with English Chestnut (I didn't want it to be too dark or too red) and did three coats. 

I though about possibly maybe leaving it like this...  

but I really didn't like the red and decided that a crisp white would look better. 
Here is the finished product...and I don't know, I think I saved it. 

 Here it is in it's rightful place. I forgot to take a before pic of it here, but I'm sure you can imagine. 

So what say you? Is it the most horrific thing you've ever seen or do you think it's kinda cute?(It's okay to say it's the superbly ugly, you'll earn brownie points from the hubs.)

Linked to:My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, At Home With K, Vintage Wanna Bee, Sassy Sites!, Coastal Charm, Sugar Bee Crafts, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Topsy, Homework, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Not Just A Houdewife, Confessions, Primitive & Proper, Savvy Southern Style, Domestically Speaking, Blue Cricket Design, The Thrifty Home, Creations by Kara, Someday Crafts, Shabby Creek Cottage, Fireflies & Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Beyond the Picket Fence, Delightful Order, 504 Main, Shabby Nest, Miss Mustard Seed, Blissful & Domestic, French Country Cottage, delicateCONSTRUCTION, Bacon Time, 30 Days, Chic on a Shoestring, Whipperberry, Addicted 2 Decorating, Tatertots & Jello, Lolly Jane, Along for the Ride, Be Different Act Normal, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, CRAFT

The Debrowning of the Living Room

I love my living room. It's big, open and bright. I like the style (afterall, I did it) and the way it's coming along.

However, despite the fact that it looks a bazillion times better than before... it's still very brown. Sure it has green walls, but the overall feel is brown. Allow me to prove my point...
I have brown furniture

brown floors (you can read about them here)

brown coffee table

brown rug

brown shelves

brown chair complete with brown blanket rack and brown blanket

brown blinds

brown decorations (this is starting to get embarrassing)

brown fans 

brown bar stools

brown table, magazine rack and even brown CD/movie holders

 I'll stop there, but believe me, there's more.

This isn't another room project I'm going to start and and take forever to finish, moving to ten different things in the meantime. (I know, I have the worst project ADD ever). This is just a pledge. 

I, Ashley, pledge not to add anything else brown to my living room. I will work to reverse some of the brown damage and bring some color into the space.

I've already started a bit, switching out this table

for this one.

I have a few other things planned (such as redoing the bar stools and adding brownless curtains), but overall I'm just going to let if come along naturally. I do think I'll start on the curtains now though, because picking out fabric is always fun!

Linked to:Sugar Bee Crafts, A bowl full of lemons, Confessions, Someday Crafts, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Shabby Creek Cottage, French Country Cottage, Sassy Sites, The Shabby Nest, Serenity Now, Bacon Time, Chic on a Shoestring, Tatertots & Jello, Lolly Jane, Along for the Ride, Be Different Act Normal, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Craft, Skip to my Lou, Coastal Charm, Homework, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Lil Luna, delicateCONSTRUCTION