MIHM #3 - Under the Stairs FOOD PANTRY?

Welcome to another week of MIHM.
Did you miss last week? Go check it out now :)
Make it Happen Mondays

This week I'm working on something, that I really have no idea how to make happen!
UNDER THE STAIRS - FOOD PANTRY

My mom used this space for SHOE storage before we moved in, with some extra pickle bottles, or soda cans roaming around in between. Again it was a horrible waste of space, and considering that our upstairs pantry is SO SMALL, I need all the room I can get!

This WOULD be a great addition to my upstairs pantry, if only I could figure out how to make this area work for me. Clearly the shape of the room makes  it challenging!

Plus there is another small door, that leads to another small area for storage. Not that I want to use that, but I can't exactly cover it off completely, my brother has stuff in there! See it in the picture below?

Obviously I've already removed the shoes, and added more food, but this extra pantry is a LONG way from finished. I also added those black shelves in there, because I had them on hand, and I needed to add more food to that side of the wall too. 

These pictures were taken when I first moved in, so since then I've added more food, but the space is so tight, it is impossible to bend over to see what is actually on those shelves, it's hard to get to anything, and there is yet so much unused vertical space. 

I know there just HAS to be a better way. I've been trying to design a practical solution to this space, mostly in my head, lol, and I think I've got it. 

HOPEFULLY things work out like I imagine them too, and when you come back on Friday, you will be as shocked as me, IF I can pull this project off. 

WISH ME LUCK!!!

Don't forget to leave me some feedback. I'm trying all kinds of new things here, in case you haven't noticed. I'd love to see what you think of it all. If you still don't know what I'm talking about you can start by catching up on a few posts.

MIHM - Make it Happen Mondays

FFF- Finally Finished Fridays

The Hairstyle Games

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Pantry Makeover Part TWO

**Edited** I have linked this up to A Bowl Full of Lemons.

This is an old pantry makeover, and while I work on my new one, this is what I am sharing!!

Yesterday I gave you guys a quick peek at my work in progress, and last night I think I pretty much finished organizing my pantry. At least it's acceptable and so much roomier than before. Now don't expect incredible before and after pictures, because my Pantry/Laundry room is SUPER small, I could barely take a decent picture to do my makeover justice.

You will also get an idea of what I usually have on hand to whip up meals with. I rarely buy pre made food, so if you want eat in this house, you either cook it from scratch or eat a bowl of cereal. jk.

I've become very creative in my inventions and can usually come up with something, so no need to panic. If you've ever had the pleasure of coming to eat at my home, you will know that you will probably NEVER eat the same thing twice, (well not exactly the same thing). I'm always adjusting my meals, according to what I have on hand. Which is the beauty of having some basic staples in your pantry.

My favorite thing to add to almost anything, and it's cheap, and full of protein and fiber, and what is there not to love about it, BEANS. They are my friend.

Ok so lets see this pantry already, you say, I say right this way!!

Before and After
I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me when I say, it made a HUGE difference. I can actually walk in my pantry
now, granted it's literally just stepping win there, but before I was leaning over all the stuff on the floor,
ad always moving it out of my way if I needed to get to the bottom shelf. I even created so much room, that I still
have empty shelf space, and I eliminated an entire shelf, so I could bring in my big pots, out of my kitchen. :)

Before the inside storage of my door in the pantry. Those yogurt containers store extra batteries. Yes I know its a pathetic attempt at organizing, but I did this a LONG time ago, and so far it's served it's purpose. I also had those containers storing small quantities of rice and lentils, for a LONG time too, way before I started just using my
rubber band method. Spices from the 3rd shelf were removed too add to my spice cabinet.

After I put candy and chocolate on the top. Remember my HUGE candy container,  now it's all in that SMALL metal tin. At least I have a good use for it now. More room on second shelf to get more couscous. I normally do not buy pre-seasoned rice, or pasta kits. BUT I love garlic couscous. :)
The bottom half stores cream of wheat a breakfast STAPLE in our home. My kids love it. Of course top ramen, and on the bottom I have lemon poppy muffin, and various other special flours. 

Remember this from yesterday, that wall was completely unused. After cutting a door organizer  that was all torn up on the bottom this is what I did. 

I know you are probably thinking, you are so weird Bella.  That looks so tacky, and I agree it might, but you would not believe how useful it is. I simply hooked the clips to the small nail, and walla they are up out of the way, and more storage space for me. The pouches are perfect for all our opened cereal, crackers, chips etc. Notice how EVERYTHING is rubberbanded. I love this system of storing things. Granted cute little containers, all labeled, look completely CUTE, and I often think I would like that. But if you know anything about me, it should be that I HATE to spend money on things that I don't really find necessary. Also, I really wish I could not buy any more plastic or non renewable things, but since I already had everything for this, I recycled it. Now it has a second life, and  Im happy. 

Other side of the small pantry, lol, After pic is on the left.
I added another strip of that nifty door organizer here, and now I can add yet more extra snacks, like 100% fruit leather, or organic cereal bars :).....I've also added syrup with pancake mix. That bottle is also from forever ago, and found it while cleaning out my pantry. I bought bulk from sams, but since have been getting REAL maple syrup. Not to waste it though I suppose we can finish it off before going back to my other expensive stuff (but dang its soooo much better).

This wall was naked when I bought my home. I realized VERY quick that I needed more space, so I added these bad boys up real fast. The right side houses all my beloved Indian staples. (right side in both pics, remember I had to break it up for lack of space to take a proper pic). Misc stuff on the left, basically extra things, I just out there. No method at all. 

After pretty amazing. Yet more door organizers, cut in two, and I have way more use out of that wall. (I ended up cutting 2 organizers, which was an incredible solution to my problem of finding a place for everything that makes sense. The bottom pics are actually the top of the shelfs (sorry but I still am learning how to make collages easily as this was soooo time consuming as it was and it still didn't turn out the way I wanted). So all of my Indian stuff is still on the right, and now I have opened bags in the pouches to the right, while the pouches to the left now are home to all our nuts, and dried fruit. Yes this is what we snack on, no junk food here. :) I also put all my past bottles here, along with all extra condiment bottles, and pasta right below the sauce. On the very bottom, I have all my organic chicken, and veggie stock. Always good to add to anything for some yummy flavor, or make a quick soup. If you guys have a TRADER JOES near by, these are so cheap there, probably cheaper than regular, non organic stuff at the store. 

Ha Ha, pretty crazy hugh. This is my laundry area. Right in my pantry. I know lovely design, these home builders had.
It was a wreck to say the least. I had that top shelf overflowing with junk, and my dryer was full of stuff too on top.

Wow much better hugh. By putting those things in the proper spots, for the most part I  was able to clean it. I took lids to old storage containers that I didn't need (a green one, and white) and placed them in between my makeshift shelves. Which by the way were not there when I moved in. I attached 4 of the hanging shelves from home depot, with little hooks, and instant storage. I didn't want to deal with screws, or anything. This was the fastest thing I came up with. I used to have a trash can between my washing machine and dryer so I needed to come up with a really ghetto way of putting trash. Yeah, the bottom to one of my door organizers, this was the only one not torn, well after clipping it to the wall, and placing a bag in it, GUESS what, it serves its purpose, and thats what Im all about. I also attached that small organizer to the wall, for all things small. Perfect! Now I have towel storage too,,, yeay,,, much needed. Oh also you will notice my battery storage yogurt containers, yeah they are on the top shelf of my medicine, first aid shelf. 

Just a peak in the boxes, I put paint stuff in with extra pens, and I'll deal with that later. Oh check out my kitchen area, this was dumping ground for all things, that did not belong in the pantry anymore. Remember those white storage container, I can't believe I actually thought those were ever a good idea. Man what a difference without them. 

Quick peak under my kitchen sink. What in the world do you store under a kitchen sink. With all those pipes, its no wonder I managed anything at all. Gosh I really need to put some contact paper on the bottom, or something. Yuck. Btw, that is cascade my hubby bought ( he is still learning to make better choices at the store). I really am trying to not buy things that are harmful to the environment. It's a process for sure, but at least I've been on that path for a while now, always trying to make better choices every day.
All my trays, and towels were moved to their new homes in the pantry, and I put small appliances, under there instead. Another problem solved. 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I've even added my grocery list here, that I made like 2 years ago. Hopefully I can somehow use this too.  At least I can EASILY see what I have now, no doubt about it. 

I really hoped you got an idea of how my pantry makeover went. I know I had a ton of pics, but I can't help it. I am so glad I go this done, and am REALLY happy with how it turned out, even all my ghetto inventions. The fact that I didn't spend an extra penny on organizing this place is awesome and I couldn't be happier. Now for future project purposes, I would like to make it more esthetically pleasing, buy painting, and wrapping my yogurt containers, so they look better. But for now, everything has a purpose, and my pantry is CLEAN!!!

If you enjoyed seeing this, please consider following me up above with google follower, or even subscribing your email. Also for all you bloggers, I have a party going on called  Amaze me August, its new, and I would love for you too link up anything you'd like. There are no rules to this party, except you should LINK back here, and be my friend. Read more about it by clicking on the link above. It's ongoing until the end of the month, so get your groove on, and Amaze me already!! 



As always ENJOY!

Special requests, or mad love always welcome:)
bellabeforeandafter@gmail.com

I am linking this post to the following, check them out for even more AMAZING projects.

Bargain Hunting with Laurie
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Remodelaholic
Fireflies and Jellybeans

Pantry Makeover part 1

**Edited** I have linked this up to A Bowl Full of Lemons.

This is an old pantry makeover, and while I work on my new one, this is what I am sharing!!

As promised I have started my challenge. I hope you all have started something as well, after all for the rest of the month we can be working on not only amazing ourselves, but hopefully inspiring others with some amazing transformations.

My first thing to tackle on my pretty huge list here, is of course my pantry. Betty over at Frugal Mom x3, did a post the other day about Pantry makeovers, she highlighted some pretty amazing pantry makeovers. I wanted in, and so I came up with my very own challenge, to not only clean out the pantry but the whole house. Alright then, lets dig in and see what's been happening in my world. 


I got a late start on doing this and while I thought I would get it done 2 nights ago, I will be lucky to get it done by tonight. Follow along and you will see why.

My pantry/laundry room is soooooo small, that I have nowhere to stand and take a proper picture
of THE BIG PICTURE, so everything will be top half, bottom half pics, sorry, but I have no choice.
Anyway, this is my pantry, very stuffed, and as you will see with a lot of things that are not required.

The floor of my pantry, overflowing with bottles and containers.
I store my rice, and atta flour (wheat flour for chappati) in big containers, as I buy this in bulk.
I will write up another post soon, on bugs in your pantry, until then feel free to have flashbacks of your own.
Onions and potatoes I store in this lovely huge container, and in the bottom half, wasted space.
Just huge bottles hiding leftover halloween candy, my kids RARELY eat candy. 

See what I mean, now WHY do I have such a HUGE container holding only a few lollipops?
Nice choice to store it though right, kids would never think to look in that, hmm, now I need to figure out
an actual good use for these containers, as I saved them to be put to good use, just hasn't come to me yet.

Onions I also usually buy in bulk at the farmers market, HUGE bags. I share a little with mom, and then store the rest.
I just lined the bottom with paper bags, I know it doesn't look pretty but, all I have to do is shake it clean.

You can get a really good idea of my floor from the top left pic. It's crowded to say the least.
My big rice, and flour container, hold another container on top that I store all my cereal in.
Now Just to show you a few pics, on how much space cereal boxes, or ANY box takes up.
Notice after one serving of cereal the bags are nearly half empty. I have been wrapping them
in rubber bands for years now. It saves space, and it helps keep it fresh better than any clip.
I store mostly all my bags of cereal, chips, cookies, crackers, you name it, just like this.
Again just to give you an idea of how much space you can save by getting rid of boxes. 

I knew I wanted to store these trays, and baking stuff, somewhere other than where they were. 

So after cleaning up the top shelf, Before pic is on the bottom left, I decided to put them up there.
The top right pic, is more stuff that I just threw up on that shelf. Not very good use of space.
I also took down the 2 huge containers, as they were only holding 2 small bags of chips.
The drinks,  I had all on my floor, you can see in the above pics. We could never really get to them easily.
With the exception of two bottles, they are now up on the shelf. I added one container back to hold these.
Those really yucky dirty jars, are on my bench for a later project, if I can figure out something really useful for them.

This is one of my many door organizer things. Since it was torn up on the bottom, I cut that off.
Then I took this ridiculous waste of a hook off my wall, and after cutting the organizer in half, I will
hopefully have more usefulness out of that wall. Come back to see what I've come up with.

I know this may not look like alot, but if you read carefully about the bugs in your pantry up above, you will understand why this took so long. I must have spent over 2 hours getting rid of some bugs. I promise to post all about it later.

Now that I've started, I can't wait to finish. Please come back to see more of my pantry makeover.
Don't forget you can still add ANY project you are working on here at Amaze me August , this is
my new party. It is a Tuesday party, but for this one time, I have made it ongoing for the next 2 weeks, to give everyone plenty of time, to link up anything they might want to share.


As always ENJOY!

Special requests, or mad love always welcome:)
bellabeforeandafter@gmail.com