After a long carefree kid-filled summer, I typically receive several “refresh me” requests. This post-summer season has been filled with pantry refresh appointments and we’ve had the best time revisiting our sweet families to hear their summer chronicles!

As a professional organizer who designs and individualizes each and every space for the family / their habits, a refresh is the perfect opportunity to find out where I can improve my work. It’s also a good time to inspect containers, bins, baskets, hangers and more – did they hold up to multiple hands grabbing them? Anything broken or did the container scratch the shelves? How did the overall system hold up? Can we edit the space now that kids have grown or food contents have changed? I take a full-on deep-dive into the details and walk away having learned something to improve upon.

In general, our spaces have held up VERY well, which is a great feeling. But a refresh is the perfect time to update or upgrade containment. With 3 kids – 2 of them being growing boys – in the case of this pantry, we definitely needed more room for food.

Hard to believe this pantry was organized nearly 3 years ago…seriously?!?! WHERE has the time gone?!…

( view the pantry in November 2016 )

Also hard to believe how much the kids have grown / changed in that amount of time. Makes me so sad…but excited to see them flourishing.

THE PANTRY BEFORE

Anyway, all that said, we had an incredible time decluttering and reorganizing this beautiful pantry. Here was the before, which isn’t too bad…

THE PANTRY AFTER

Repurposing the existing containment, I just added a few of my favorite $5 bins to really pack in a ton more storage. All while keeping mom’s wish of a clean, crisp yet (for the most part) concealed pantry space. Here’s the after…

( white bin | glass jar | cereal container )

 

Mom wanted a few items hidden in white bins up high – out of sight, out of reach…fellow moms reading along, you know the drill.

IN PROCESS & BEHIND THE SCENES

In a few weeks we’ve been invited to takeover the Tastemade Home Instagram account. So excited about this! The day we were organizing this pantry, I was also shooting the footage for the takeover. Since I have a few snapshots of the day, I thought I’d share a little BTS for you guys. Overall we were here about 5 hours – from decluttering to cleaning to organizing and then labeling…and then cleaning the floors on the way out and removing the trash. These are big projects and we pay attention to every last detail. We also work hard to leave the surrounding yet connected areas in better shape than before we arrived too.

Getting to this after took some serious space planning. While it appears as if this is a huge walk-in pantry, it’s actually modest and poses several challenges.

There is shelving behind the door which requires stepping inside and closing the door to access. You’ll also notice the shelves have supports underneath that required planning for containers that would fit well. Not a big deal and I worked around it  – but it was a puzzle for sure.

First up, as always…everything out. Going…

Going…

Gone…

Well, not totally gone. It was now all out here on the kitchen counter…ha!…

While the team inspected expiration dates, I cleaned the pantry top to bottom…

This is my time to think through space planning / the overall design of the space before food returns.

Once the pantry was clean, I space planned every last inch using existing and new containment…

Then it’s little fine tunes and the labeling begins…

And suddenly we have our beautifully refreshed pantry…

Tried to get a shot behind the door – it’s a tight one…

Turned out so well and she definitely wanted to leave the door wide open!…

SHOP THIS PANTRY

Spy a container you loved in this space? You can shop the pantry right here or linked throughout the post:

White Bin

White Tapered Bin

Glass Jars

Turntable

Canned Food Riser

Cereal Container

My Favorite Label Maker

My Favorite Work Pants & Top

Similar Pendant Light

Hope you enjoyed this pantry refresh and a peek behind the scenes. I’ll be sure to let you know when the takeover is live so you can take a look – it’s going to be very fun!!

I’m having a productive start of the school year and will be back soon sharing some of my best tips for boosting productivity and getting more done.

Back soon guys!

xx,

Sam

*this post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. you never pay more by clicking any link anywhere on my site. i promise! thank you for supporting this blog so i can continue delivering excellent content!