As I do these articles, I’m coming to appreciate my home more and more because of spaces like my hard working pantry. I showed you how to organize any pantry in a recent post. Now I’ll give you a peek at mine. I’ll warn you head of time that it does get a little ugly.

My pantry is nearly 4’x4′. Not huge, but generous. It has four built-in shelves that run all the way around, 7″ deep on the sides, and 12″ deep in the back. We use the space on the floor for the vacuum and a step stool. This, in my opinion, is the perfect layout.

(before)

But it does have some problems. I’m not sure how, exactly, I ended up with a nearly empty canister and a bag of flour right next to it.

I do label some things, but obviously was in a crunch for clean mason jars when I was packaging up these white beans.

And although this unsightly painted-then-peeled wallpaper almost doesn’t bother me hardly at all in real life, I knew it was going to drive me crazy in these pictures.

So I unloaded everything, took the easy way out, and tacked up some cute wrapping paper from Target using…wait for it…poster putty. How cute! Lining the shelves would be a waste here, so I just did the back walls.

I’ve done a few things over the years that help keep things tidy. Like putting paper muffin cups in a tall spaghetti holder. What a space and sanity saver!

The muffin cups hang out with the other baking supplies. You can see in the background the tall rolls of parchment paper that don’t fit where the other wraps are stored.

We put straws in a flower vase. I think this might actually be a crystal, or at least high-end glass vase, but who cares? This is the phase of life I’m in, it works well, and makes the pantry prettier.

Most people store their bag clips in a drawer, but we just clip them to the top of a basket, right next to where the chips are. Saves us from having to leave the pantry to look for a clip.

I have a small shopping bag perched on the top shelf to catch dead batteries, so they can be recycled later.

The little basket you see here is a dollar store Easter basket from a few years ago, but it works wonderfully to catch small mommy snacks (chocolate) high up on the shelf.

I have been known to leave little notes like this one on certain foods, so hubby doesn’t foil some grand plan that I am hatching.

My pantry has been set up roughly this way since 2011. Here’s a shot I took for a class I was teaching back then. You can just see the case of baby food hanging under the shelf, above the slow cooker, which has since gone to slow cooker heaven.

I’ve started to spray paint the tops on the recycled mason jars for a cleaner look. I have a new Crock-Pot. But mostly, it’s pretty much the same, just a tad bit cuter on the back wall.

That’s the nickel tour of my organized pantry. Did you take away any ideas that you could use to organize your own pantry?