Behind these doors in our renovated basement is my pantry…

I have a small broom closet in our kitchen which I converted into a pantry upstairs but being that it is about 12 inches wide and 12 inches deep, it doesn’t hold all that much. It is constantly being refilled from the pantry downstairs. I don’t mind this system at the moment since my children have a habit of raiding the pantry and eating items I rather they hadn’t. I actually have a child proof lock on the pantry downstairs because on more than one occasion I’ve found wrappers stashed under cushions and in toy bins! Over the weekend I discovered wrappers everywhere and was told by my proud six year old that he knows how to get into the closet.  Foiled again!

Just to keep it real, here is the inspiration photo for my pantry. 

Yes, I have a lot of work to do!

The pantry has not been completed on the inside. To save money on our renovation we just painted the walls of the pantry which are basically the cinder block of our original basement walls. Most of our wiring and plumbing was run through here so it is not the prettiest closet to look at. I put double doors with dummy knobs and an automatic light which goes on when the doors are open. I love that feature! We have some basic shelves in there which are adjustable. When the door are closed it is easy to forgot all that mess is behind there. This pantry is obviously on my list of things to do. 

It has stayed pretty neat. I keep all the school snacks and drink boxes down there and just grab a bunch of items when I’m making the kids lunches every night. 

I eventually plan on some sort of organization with bins or boxes. I’m not ready to buy those yet but I was getting tired of all the little boxes containing the snacks. You know the ones…

I decided to put some old diaper boxes to use for me. I sprayed three coats of chalkboard spray paint, added some labels with my favorite chalk pen and dumped everything inside.

One bin for all the snacks. No going through various tiny boxes. Once I buy new snacks I empty the contents into the snack bin. Since everything in there is something my kids will enjoy I just grab and go!

I can write whatever I want on this so these types of boxes can work anywhere for temporary storage. Garage, laundry room, bathroom, linen closet, etc. I’ve been looking for bins but now I don’t feel as rushed which means I won’t go out and make a decision I’ll regret. If I could only figure how to keep the kids from ransacking it!