Pantry Update

 So the pantry is a great size.  I love that the shelves aren't too deep.  The highest shelf is a bit high, but there's always things you don't use as often, right?  That being said, we also have the 9 foot ceilings, so I feel like there's a lot of wasted space up there.  I have things stacked a bit higher than I'd like on the top shelf.  I'm considering hanging another shelf up there.  Anyway, I had purchased a bunch of red baskets at our local Dollar Tree that I was using in the laundry room at the old house. At the time I bought extra and I'm so glad I did; I used every one of them in the pantry.  I really like having things organized.  In a pantry this big I feel like things need to be in a specific place or you'll never find it.  I probably lose a bit of space by using the baskets, but it's ok; I probably have more than I need and it keeps me from stocking up on things I don't need.  









































If I lived by myself I probably wouldn't need labels on everything; I'd know where everything is, right??? Since I don't, this helps everyone else find things so they're not asking me every time they need something.  I got the idea from Pinterest to hang some baskets from the bottom using shower hooks.  I keeps stuff for the kids down there as well as extra plastic bags.  It works wonderfully.

Since we built on a basement, we have a big closet upstairs between two of the extra bedrooms.  It is gigantic.  It currently has an old bakers rack in there to store extra sheets and towels for the kids room, as well as some totes and our vacuum.  This closet is desperately in need of some organization and I hope to tackle that this summer.  

Getting Moved In

We are getting closer to being moved in.  The bedrooms and guest room are unpacked. The kitchen is unpacked, but I'm still moving stuff around. Living and dining room have new furniture.  I haven't put any pictures up throughout the house, so it doesn't feel quite complete yet.  Basically, we have the office and the 5th bedroom (studio) that haven't been unpacked at all.  The basement is even mostly put together with the exception of the stuff in the storage part of the basement.  Here's a few pictures of how things are coming.  Other pictures are on my phone, so I'll upload those in another post.

Kitchen: we haven't yet decided how to cover the sliding doors. I also would eventually like a new, coordinating table for the dinette.

The area to the left of the fridge has become my catch all. A rare clean moment here.

I haven't yet organized the pantry; but there's food in it!

Mudroom: I look forward to being able to build something to better organize coats and shoes. The closet in the mudroom is still a disaster.

Master Bedroom: complete with kitty cats.  The dresser/desk in the corner was my grandmothers. I've recently refinished it. I may post some pictures of that in progress at some point.

Master bath

Master Shower.  Not sure why my husband put the scale there. Lord knows I don't want to step on it right now.

Master closet, my half. This is remarkably cleaner than it was. I can't wait to get a better shelving system.  It's not quite working for me yet.

It's hard to believe we have our 30 day walk through scheduled for next week.  We have a large memorial day party each year, so that's been our motivation to get so much done so far. 

My Lucky 13, part 1

Since we are 18 days away from closing, I've decided to post on the things I'm most looking forward to in our new house.  I've got 13 things so far, so I'm calling it my lucky 13.  Our new home will have more than twice the living area of our current home. There are so many things I'm looking forward to, these aren't necessarily in order. 

Bigger kitchen

Here's my kitchen now.  We've recently updated this kitchen.  We stained the existing cabinets and replaced and stained the doors.  The colors are actually very similar to the cabinets we chose for the new house. We put the microwave exhaust up and put the wine rack above it. We also tiled the backsplash. The cabinet next to the pantry was also added, giving me an extra cabinet.  

With the addition of that cabinet, I have 10 usable cabinets.  (I have two above my fridge that are small and basically unusable.)  My kitchen cabinets are filled to the brim right now and some of my kitchen items are in my laundry closet.  I think I will have roughly 19 cabinets in the new house. I can't wait to have everything in the kitchen with more space so we aren't so crowded. You can walk into the new pantry.  Our current pantry is deep, but the shelves are so deep, it's easy to 'lose' things in the back.  Things will be more organizable in the new pantry. I also can't wait for more counter space. I like to cook and I like to host gatherings, and the current kitchen just isn't conducive to that.