Aaaah!.... Organization!

We are getting ready to sell our house (to build one in our backyard-lol....on a lot) Anyway- We have done a lot...A LOT... to this house since we have moved in. New carpet, new countertops and backsplash, painted every room in the house, added curbing and grass to the backyyard ...the list goes on and on. However, there are a handful of projects that we really didn't do a lot to. Our pantry is one of them. Jonny put down linolium tiles soon after we moved in- and primed the wood- but that was as far as we got. I realized (dreaded) that we would have to re-paint the pantry to sell the house.

Here are some befores:

In hiding things fron the kids- I also hide them from myself. I seriously forgot all that was in there.

Then- I was looking at some of my favorite decorating blogs and came across THIS. At first, I just looked at it over and over. Then it became an obsession. I HAD to re do it. I wanted...no needed... a pantry that cute and organized. So we made some changes. I bought the same gray that she did (Flagstone by Olympic) and knowing that I wasn't gonna do vinyl (because of cost and time) I set out to find a stencil. I went to Hobby Lobby and found a cute one. I still liked the design of her vinyl more- but I would get the same look with my stencil. I was excited!


Unfortunetly- I didn't get many "during" pics cuz I lost my camera- (It is still lost- I am using one that I bought to replace my old one the last time I lost it- but I don't like the replacement very much - and neither does my computer, when uploading)

The hard part was when I decided to use a paint pen to trace the stencil on with. It worked tons better than putting the paint on but.....it was SUPER time consuming. I had helpers (heck- even Jack "helped" me trace with the paint pen) but it still took about 10-15 minutes per stencil to trace it on. It took me 2 weeks to complete my project. And in the middle of each self, I would realize that I didn't have enough baskets and organizers. I made many runs to Goodwill, Walmart, Target and Fred Meyer. Some organizers were for show (Fred Meyer)- some were just plainly to get organized (Walmart).

Jonny said..."Did you find things you didn't know you had?" Oh yeah Baby!

It was a neat experience- but I don't wanna do it again for about 10 years please!

I also did the laundry room the same way- but since it is still cluttered- you will have to wait- we are getting there though!