A coat closet turned… pantry!

December 23, 2010
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Thank you so much! Now on to todays post…

My kitchen pantry is about 1.5 ft wide… so not a lot of room to fit anything.  I had to do something, but wasn’t sure what.  After I thought about it, I figured we could hang our coats in the other coat closet (closer to our garage)… and free up space to make a pantry in our hall.  Its on the other side of our kitchen.

My husband converted this to a pantry a couple of years ago, and we love it!  It fits so much more than we could have ever fit in our kitchen pantry.  Again, this is a bare pantry to us. I really need to go grocery shopping, but it was easier to organize while bare. 

This make do pantry isnt really that big either, but way better than before.


 I took everything out and cleaned the shelving. Then placed everything back into categories & containers.


I containerized everything I could, to get control of chaos.


This isn’t half of my cookbook collection. 🙂 Im a sucker for cookbooks.



My baskets hold my cherished vintage table cloths and aprons.



I picked these Rubbermaid containers up at Big Lots. Yes, they are BPA free!!


I had to label anything that a label could stick to!! 😉



My favorite part of the pantry are these plastic drawers.  They hold so much and are so easy to get to.  The left side of the pantry holds household items…

1. Batteries
2. Tape/glue/scissors
3. Lightbulbs
4.  Candles
5. Paper products (napkins,plates,etc)
6. Tools
7. Lunch Boxes


and the right side holds…

1. Popcorn
2. Breakfast (oatmeal, poptarts, grits)
3. Seasoning packets
4. Chips
5. Taco kits
6. Packets (pizza, muffins)

These are great if you dont have a lot of space but want control of the clutter!










Thats my little pantry makeover. Its not very pretty but works great for us! 


Linked to these parties today…

29 comments on “A coat closet turned… pantry!

  1. Colleen says:

    I am so glad I found your blog! I need this inspiration as I am planning a huge re-organization in my home. I never go to Big Lots. Do they really have a ton of cheap bins?

  2. Toni says:

    Colleen, Yes! I LOVE Big Lots. They have Martha Stewart, Attic Heirlooms by Broyhill, Real Simple brand, etc… Lots of name brand stuff there. And, LOTS of cheap organizing bins. You gotta go there! 😉

  3. Meg says:

    Nice! Organization makes me a happy camper. I love how you organized and used those clear drawers. I have a ton of those I could put to this use! Thanks for sharing!

    I hope you can join my vintage tag giveaway and link party, going on now! alittleknickknack.blogspot.com

  4. Toni says:

    Meg… .I linked up to your party! Thanks for visiting. 😉

  5. con-tain-it says:

    Just voted 😉 Lovely pantry and I’m a cookbook collector as well and I still print a million off the internet…lol Oh well…there could be worse hobbies than cooking, cleaning and organizing…right? Have a wonderful Christmas if I don’t get a chance to talk to you before than. Fondly, Roberta

  6. You have just inspired me. Just last night I was telling my husband how horrible our pantry is! It’s total chaos in there. Now I need to go buy some tupperware containers and I love the idea of the drawers!

    ~Allison @ House of Hepworths

  7. Lizzie Ann says:

    Will you please come and organize my house?? You do such a wonderful job at organizing! I never thought a closet could be beautiful! 🙂

  8. Amie says:

    I just love your site! Your oven post inspired me to get going, and now I’m eyeing my pantry. Thanks for the beautiful pictures!

  9. Toni says:

    Thank you so much ladies. Im so glad I can be an inspiration. Thats what this blog is all about! 🙂 Toni

  10. Donnie says:

    That was great. I don’t have a closet that I can use but I sure got a lot of tips to make my kitchen shelves work better. Have a Merry Christmas.

  11. What a fab idea!!! I’d love to make ours into a craft storage closet….wheels are a turning!!
    *hugs*deb

  12. Looks great Toni!
    thanks for linking to my Organizing Mission Monday Link party!

  13. You did a beautiful job organizing this space.

  14. Seriously girl, you are AMAZING! I can’t get enough of your blog or your projects, so glad we found one another!

    The closet looks incredible, and all of your organizational projects are just divine!

    xoxo,
    Jen

  15. Toni says:

    Thank you!!! Im totally inspired by your blog too!! Im glad I found you as well. Too bad we dont live close to each other, we could do some organization shopping damage!

    ~Toni

  16. Carly says:

    What a wonderful blog! I love an organized pantry…and pretty much everything else. I”m a little OCD too. 🙂

  17. Marie says:

    Followed the link on House of Hepworths here and I’m so glad I did! Wow! I really struggle with organization. We are moving in a couple months and I really want to start fresh so this pantry idea is definitely going to use! Your blog is just what I need when I’m totally lost on how to organize a space. Can you just make a visit to my house and tell me what to do?? lol

  18. Toni… I am featuring you on my Organizing Mission Monday tomorrow on Organizewithsandy.com I am planning on using a couple pictures from this post, and will be linking back to it. Be sure to stop by and pick up the Featured button!!

  19. Kristin says:

    Just came across your blog the other day, and I love what you did with your pantry. I have a pantry with only a few deep shelves and a tall space on the floor. The drawer sets are a great idea, and I’m going to pick some up this week and get my pantry done! Thanks!

  20. OMG! Where has this blog been? Thanks for the inspirations. New follower, and I may become a stalker! You make me just want to get up and ORGANIZE! LOL

  21. Pammy pam says:

    Thank you! I will be using this as inspiration for my pantry project this weekend. Woot!

  22. Nadia says:

    Oh my god this is great! I hope I can find these bins at big lots how much were they???

  23. thopler says:

    I have a pantry that is HUGE and I can’t even begin to tame that tiger! Your post is giving me inspiration though 🙂

  24. This challenge changed my life – seriously!! haha

    Staci

  25. Becca says:

    I enjoyed looking at your pictures and your way of organizing your pantry space. Unfortunately I have yet to see anyone’s pantry that looks like mine. I would gladly share a picture of it with you to tell me what you think? My blog for cleaning up/organizing my house is http://good-byeclutterhellohome.blogspot.com/ . I have not posted anything yet because I want to take pictures and upload them as I blog. I may need to borrow some of your ideas. I especially like the containers that hold the sugar, flour etc. I have wanted a solution for the items for some time. The long term investment for such possible expensive items seem like a good idea. I might can find some a Big Lots or yard/garage sales as well. Thanks:)!

  26. englandofoz says:

    Thanks so much for the organisational advice in the kitchen pantry! Your containers look fabulous (although your before picture wasn’t bad either!)

    You’ve definitely got me inspired to tidy up my pantry!

    Thanks so much!

    Kate
    engLandofOz.wordpress.com

  27. trooppetrie says:

    I keep 90% of my food in the garage and would love to have a pantry inside to make look like this

  28. Abby Bunn says:

    I love your labels – simple and effective. I got a labelmaker for Christmas and am super excited to tackle my pantry in a similar way.

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