An Eclectic Pantry Makeover

Our home is very open concept and in our kitchen, we have a smaller butler’s pantry right off the side of it. Since we’re literally in and out of the pantry 100 times a day (kids = snacks always) we just keep the door open. I honestly think we’ve only closed it like once or twice in the few years we’ve lived here lol. It was due for a little sprucing up and I have been dying to put up some wallpaper or tiled trim in here for ages. So before this little babe is born, I did a serious deep cleaning, revamped the shelves and put up a fun, patterned wallpaper!

Now, because I am who I am,

I can’t just use the shelving for haphazard food storage lol and throw cereal boxes or cans up there. I’m just not that person, don’t judge me lol. I like things to look nice and I don’t *love* a ton of visual clutter, so it’s always felt like a bit of wasted space with the upper shelving in our pantry. I’ve been planning this mini makeover since December basically. After the holidays our pantry is always a disaster (who else can relate?) where the counter is completely full of things and I don’t know where to put them and the cupboards are in disarray. Here was the state of our pantry in the weeks/months following the holidays because I don’t want y’all to be fooled thinking it’s always tidy lol.

^^ I didn’t have a pic of it at it’s worst, but this was how the counter was looking everyday & this corner cupboard was the bane of my existence lol

My organization process in the pantry:

My plan was to go through the cupboards and reorganize them. I had started to notice that certain areas just weren’t working with our family and when I can’t stay on top of mess or clutter in an area, it usually means I need to go in and rework it. So our baking cupboard was becoming a pain in my ass, always messy, too much stuffed into too small of a cupboard plus I hated having to get anything out of that cabinet because it was all piled in there! I moved it to a different space so alllll the baking items could fit nicely together and be easily accessible. Then I made that full cupboard a snack/lunch item/overflow cupboard. Much more spacious and organized for our family.

I tidied up the corner cupboard which desperately needed it as well (are corner cabinets not the worst though, such an awkward space). This started with reorganizing the spices in these beautiful glass spice jars and I used some spice jar racks from Ikea to store them on the pantry wall. I have to put up one more I have, and then I’m waiting on an Ikea order of 4 to complete it. I ended up tossing a bunch of super expired spices too which, wow lol. I took a mental note to check those more often.

The remaining cabinets were fine, I just tidied them up, went through and checked for expired food and gave the shelves a wipe down.

Already it’s feeling soooo much better in here!

I’m telling you, organize your pantry seasonally or after the holidays and it immediately refreshes it!

I also took down the essential oil shelf I had (it was where the spice rack is now) and my DIY peg hooks, wallpapered the pantry (while 8 months pregnant LOL – it took me around 4 days, doing a little bit every day) and hung up a smaller wood hanger for my oven mitts and apron. Much better!

Now for the pantry reveal!

I adore how the wallpaper makes this space pop and adds such a fun pattern in here. You can see it throughout the main level too because we have such an open concept home. Like I mentioned, we leave the pocket door wide open in here, so I’ve always liked to try and keep it an extension of the kitchen with tidy counters and things put away for the most part.

The shelves look AMAZING now and with that pop of pattern they really shine! Because I organized our pantry cupboards below, I had a ton of extra space in here and was able to use the shelving for some decor, cookbooks, my recipe tin and the coffee canisters.

The very top has baskets that hold some party extras and one basket is actually empty. Tbh with me rearranging the cabinets and shuffling things around, I don’t actually need these baskets up there anymore because I’ve made a space for the items I had in there so I’m not sure if they’ll stay or not now.

And my favourite part, a before and after of the pantry:

And now for the sake of real life, here’s how the shelves look everyday. Pretty much the same, except I have my favourite cereal containers on the shelf, less plants and a sprinkling of too-ripe bananas that are waiting to be turned into banana bread at some point 🙂

I can’t tell you how much I love this little room now – it feels so luxe in here and I’m so happy whenever I catch a glimpse of this cute space. The wallpaper was a fun choice and I adore our new spice storage (well, once it’s all finished and I can get the remaining spice racks installed!) I feel like everything is more streamlined now. This is exactly what I wanted before the baby was born, just simplifying our home and making things flow better.

Thanks for stopping by and lmk if you have any questions!
x Megan