THE TINY WALK IN PANTRY TRANSFORMATION

I owe a huge thank you to my sweet friends Nguyen Vu and Desiree for allowing me to help them find much needed space and organization in their over crowded pantry. They are couple that is passionate about couponing, buying in bulk and a tremendous love for sparking water; I wanted to help them find space for it all!

AFTER!

Before

In our first meeting Desiree and I discussed her dream for the pantry, "I want to be able to see everything.". I loved that quote because it gave me real vision, no pun intended, for what she had in mind. I also determined that they needed more appropriate bulk food storage and vessels that allows them to use every inch of space in their pantry. After curating the perfect vessels for their space, I designed a plan that would allow all the bulk and back stock items to be appropriately stored AND allow them line of sight to see everything. We also made better use of the corners with turntables for spices. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, we labelled everything. I do find it so helpful to have the homeowner around for this process because it's far more meaningful if it's in their own words. For example, Desiree wanted to label a bin of food storage items "storage" where as I would have put "food storage". It's THEIR pantry, all of it should be meaningful to them.

“I want to be able to see everything.”

The first step of an installation is to remove everything from the space and start categorizing them. Then a deep clean of the space to give us a fresh start! During the consultation I take pictures- while this helpful for "before" images it's also so I can reference and inventory the items that need to be stored. I already have categories in mind before I get there and what I picture will go inside each vessel or storage bin. Then comes the fun part- putting it all back together.

Categorize. Contain. Create.

I can't even begin to describe how exciting this part of the process is. You and the homeowner are beginning to see the end result and how their new space is going to look and function. I placed back stock items up high and down low- they can still be accessed but won't be accessed daily so it's not important for them to be at eye level. The levels in between contained all the items they use on a daily basis. We put the kids items on the first shelf so they could reach their snacks and beverages. I also incorporated behind the door storage for their backpacks and lunchboxes since those were hanging off the pantry shelves before. Pantry's rarely hold JUST food. It can be a catch-all for cleaning supplies, housewares such as light bulbs, pet food, entertaining items, paper goods, crafts, emergency supplies, first aid, etc. Every family is unique and if there is truly no a more appropriate place for the items, then we make it fit.

Probably the coolest part of this pantry coming together was that we only removed ONE item which was a silver beverage holder for parties. Everything else that was pictured before was stored, AND there is still space! If you look closely there is an empty bin, an empty turntable in the corner and even some open shelving! This pantry truly shows how the appropriate vessels make ALL the difference and leaves the homeowner best prepared to have lasting change in their newly organized space. Most importantly, Desiree and Nguyen Vu love their new pantry.