Sneak Peek

We are officially moved in and starting to get settled! I know you will be surprised by this, but my pantry and kitchen were the first areas I worked on and honestly, the only areas completely finished.  They were actually what sold me on this floor plan and I am quite pleased with the way things turned out.

I know people are anxious to see and you won’t find me posting pictures elsewhere, so here is your very own sneak peek of some of the projects in those areas. I want to apologize in advance, there is no natural light in my pantry and I SUCK at taking pictures if there is no natural light.

From the moment the house was started, my mind was flooded with ideas, visions. All. The. Time. It was exhausting, but I was okay with it, because it helped me see the completed house and make our selections, really knowing what we wanted our end result to be. With that, came me constantly thinking about the projects I wanted to complete. Pinterest has changed me. I am a new person. It has inspired me to be creative, so much that I even bought my own big girl glue gun - and I have used it!!

Additionally, spending money on this house made me realize more than ever that I wanted to try to save money decorating it.  We were going to have much more space to fill, so I knew I had to be conscious of how I was going to do it. Yes, I could find a way to be more frugal than I already was and I was determined to do so. My goal was to start repurposing. Repurposing to me is not what it might mean to others. I am not repurposing furniture per say, just reusing things I was tired of and bringing a fresh look to them. I couldn’t do that with everything, so when I bought stuff, my goal was to buy 98% of what I wanted on sale or with a coupon. I am proud to say, I think I fulfilled that goal.

With those goals in mind, I started these projects long before the house was done. I needed to have the time to watch ads for sales and collect coupons. This brings me to my love hate relationship with Hobby Lobby. I swore once our wedding was complete I would not shop there anymore. I can’t stand the store. I am not sure they realize what decade we are in. The poor cashiers have to memorize the entire ad each week and manually enter sales prices.  Once you make a purchase you better make sure you write down on the receipt what you bought or you will have tons of receipts with only the department listed and no clue which one you need if you ever have to make a return.  Speaking of returns, they manually scan a copy and cut a new receipt if you need it back - what?! Also, they have a manager that’s sole responsibility is to just stand there and enter a few keys every time there is a code three. So why do I keep going there if they drive me this crazy? You can’t find better deals. If you are willing to watch ads and be patient, you can most likely get your item(s) 50% off. If you don’t want to wait or you never find it is going on sale, they have a 40% off coupon every single week that you can print or show on your phone. Never pay full price for anything - that is my reason!

Anyway, let the tour begin. Lets start in the pantry.

It is a dream come true that I have a walk in pantry. When you first walk in, you will see my ahhhh ORGANIZATION WALL! 

I took an old criss cross picture cork board from college and added some new chevron fabric to it. On the left side of the chevron wall is an old dry erase board surrounded by a frame (without the glass). I use this to share lunch ideas with my husband. Silly, sort of. We try really hard to eat well and not eat out during the week, because our weekends are usually spent doing the opposite. Well I am not the nice wife that some of you are and don’t pack my husband’s lunch. I will package up dinner leftovers into containers, but it is his job to decide what he wants and put it in his lunch bag. To be quite honest, I was tired of him asking me what there was to eat, so I now right ideas down for him. To the right, the little black box, is a used heavy cream pint container. I cut off the top and used my handy dandy glue gun to add cardstock to the outside. This holds my dry erase markers and other writing utensils.

Hanging from the bottom of the chevron wall are two clipboards with templates - one for a shopping list (general errand running) and one for groceries (separated out by categories).

To the right of the board, is an old fame I use for my meal planning. I made matching templates for each day of the week to back the frame and then write directly on the glass with my dry erase marker.

To the left of the organization wall are a few shelves that I use for all my entertaining stuff. I love to entertain and love my entertaining dishes. Prior to this move, it was all jam packed into my china cabinet and to be quite honest I am surprised I hadn’t broken anything.

I have old bar glasses, holding mini appetizer silverware and serving utensils.

Old wine bottles, I gladly drank, and then washed and removed the labels to fill with water when we have guests over. And tons and tons of different dishes.

Now onto the food section. Wait for it...

the most ridiculous wall. 

The first two rows are jars filled with all of my grains. The top are my pastas and the one below contains other grains, such as rice, couscous, quinoa, etc. Each jar is labeled with chevron card stock and chalkboard labels....all from where else, hobby lobby (HL).  I have not used chalk since I was in elementary school, so I am looking for volunteers to come rewrite all my labels, since it looks like a fifth grader wrote them:). 

Since I buy from bulk bins when I can and the pastas, etc that I can’t aren’t in their package anymore, I made a cooking cheat sheet that is backed using the same card stock and hanging on a clipboard right next to the grains.

Below the grains are my spices, that I believe I have shared with you before. I used another old bar glass as a holder for some scoops for the grains and a mini spoon for my spices.

Then, tons and tons of pyrex containers and a basket to hold our reusable lunch wear. 

On the bottom shelf are two laundry baskets and a trash can that I filled and labeled with the same chevron card stock for what is in each one.

Finally, the food - ever so organized.

I added liner for the shelf that contained my oil, vinegar, etc - sticky stuff.

One of the shelfs had a plug in, so I thought it was a great place for my smoothie - right next to my oats, which are added in each morning. 

Okay, lots on the pantry. I have done tons of other projects throughout the entire house, but since this is a kitchen/food/cooking blog, thought I better stick with those topics. Here are a couple other things I did in the kitchen.

My smoothie frozen fruit was previously stored in those pyrex jars you saw in the picture up earlier. Well the lids were starting to break because I opened them so much straight from the freezer, so I switched to some snap (glass) jars. Additionally in the freezer, I filled mason jars with all of our nuts for snacking, granola, trail mix - you name it - and my ground flaxseed for my smoothies. 

I also took an old vodka bottle (did you know the 360 brand is made in Weston, Missouri - support local!) and used some etching cream from HL to make a nice dish soap holder. Next to that are two bottles I plan to put hand soap and lotion in. They are mason jars with holes in the top (using a screw and hammer), old soap dispenser lids inserted and then spray painted bronze to look nicer.

To nicely display my friend’s and family's pictures, I took a cork board, wrapped it in burlap, backed it with posterboard and stapled two pieces of string to each side. Now I can hang pictures using mini clothes pins. Hey friends and family, you may notice most of these pictures are old. Hoping to get some new ones for the holidays:).

Finally, I took a frame, layered some fabric underneath the glass and attached some left over cabinet hardware to the sides for a nice tray to set on my kitchen table.

There is your sneak peek of what I have been doing to get my kitchen and pantry in order. I am absolutely in love.

Feel free to think I am crazy or take inspiration - your choice. I will be back next week with a new recipe to share.

~Ashley