Hello CSI readers – I am Diane from InMyOwnStyle where I blog about affordable decorating and craft ideas for your home. In the current economy I have been forced to use my creativity to decorate my house instead of my pocketbook and share it all with you. I am happy to be here posting on CSI for the first time and am going to show you how I created a pantry in my house and then added some pretty to it for $10.00. Welcome to my mudroom – it is right off my kitchen and it is where my pantry is located. When we first moved into this house the double doors you see here used to be half this wide – it used to be a single door coat closet. 
The house we lived in previously had a walk-in pantry – it was an entire room. I was pantry spoiled! The kitchen in this house had a pantry cabinet – it was small and I could never find anything as it was cramped and deep. I was frustrated until I finally came up with the idea to move the contents of this coat closet out to the garage and extend the closet to make a double door pantry. 
The double doors allow you to see everything in one full swoop when you open them. Big things are easy to move in and out. Makes it easy to organize, restock, create a shopping list by just glancing, and keep like things together. 
I like being able to see everything at a glance, but it did take some work. This is what I did. 1.Planned You can see where the old wall used to be in the photo below. We filled in the space with some scrap flooring pieces we had leftover from a previous project. As with most DIY projects -we ran into a a few problems. One was the new door I bought for the left side of the expanded closet at Home Depot. When we hung it up the recessed panels didn’t match up with the existing right side door. Ugghhh! I went to Lowes to see if they had one that would match – they didn’t. Darn, Darn, Darn – so close to getting a real pantry. Then I had a brainstorm and it worked. Since the new door was the same overall size as the existing door and all the other closet doors that came with the house. We took the door from our bedroom closet – that matched and hung it here in the pantry and put the new door on the bedroom closet. Easy! Just took some “brain time” to come up with that fix. 
We also ran into the problem of how to keep the doors closed since there would no longer be a door jam for the doorknobs to latch. What we came up with was to add these “male” push ball latches on the top of each door 
and their “female” counterparts at the center top of the door jam. The doors stay closed perfectly. 
The latch function on the two doorknobs that came on the doors were no longer needed so I hot glued them in so they would not pop out anymore. 
2. Customize Since we were constructing this pantry we could customize it to fit our needs. I measured the width and height of everything I wanted to store in here. I figured out the space that would be needed between the shelves to accommodate all different heights of items and packages. The shelves were made with pine boards that are 12” deep. They sit on 1 x 2 supports that are mounted along the back and side walls. We painted everything white. I covered each shelf with freezer paper with the shiny side up. It is inexpensive and lasts a long time. It can also be wiped clean which is an added benefit. 
Note: The “Various” shelf. It used to hold a lot more junk food when my daughters were still living at home. Now it looks a little empty. 3. Organize – Group items by size. It is the best way to use the space efficiently. Big items go on the floor. Bulk items from Costco, pet food containers and two baskets that hold cleaning and utility supplies. ( Sneak peak at how I made this pantry prettier – more on how I did that coming up.) 
– I use baskets for smaller items and organize them by category – Baking, Snacks, Etc. The baskets act as drawers that I can pull in/out to easily find what I need. They also make it easier to move things when I need to re-organize the shelves when something new comes in. 
–I re-use plastic bags and store them in cardboard tubes of all sizes to keep them under control. I use mailing tubes to store plastic grocery bags and paper towel tubes to hold smaller produce size bags. The big basket on the floor is for large bags. -I only transfer long term dry goods in containers – flour, sugar, dog treats, etc. Everything else stays in it’s own box. I found that some containers didn’t hold the entire box and I would end up with a storage container and a half filled box – that was just too complicated. I like simple. 
-I hung three racks on one side wall to hold foil and sandwich bags. 
-On the other side I added hooks to hang a few cleaning items. 
4. Label I label all baskets and containers. That way everybody can easily find them. Some are tied on tags.
Others are attached with brass fasteners or glued on. I make them on my computer using Microsoft Word and a favorite font. I then laminate them with self laminating sheets that I buy at the office supply store. This way they last longer and can be wiped clean. To learn more on how I made my laminate labels, click here. 
And yes, I do have an entire basket filled with colored sprinkles. Ya never know when you are going to need a certain color. 
To see the tutorial on how I made the Dog and Cat Food Containers, click here. 
5. Pretty: Budget Update Now that my pantry is customized, organized, and labeled I wanted to make it pretty, but had no budget to do it. I like the white walls, but wanted to show you an easy way to add some color without the time and expense it would take to paint or wallpaper. This could be permanent or as temporary as you want it to be. I went to Walmart and bought 2 rolls of giftwrap and found 3 marked down rolls of black ribbon – exactly the amount I needed to add to the edge of the shelves with silver tacks that I had. When that happens I always say to myself that is was meant to be. Cost: Under $10 I attached giftwrap to the back wall for a pop of pattern and color. I would have loved to have added trim molding to the edge of each shelf, but I am thrilled with my budget ribbon version. 
I trimmed the edge of each shelf with ribbon and silver tacks. Ribbon can be added to any shelf in your home for a little luxe. Look around your home – bookshelves, linen closets, any shelf. It makes a nice inexpensive option in place of decorative molding. 
Glams it up a bit. 
When I tire of it and want it back to white walls, I can easily remove the giftwrap as I simply attached each section with GlueDots that scrapbookers use. It was very easy! I store mostly food and party supplies in my pantry, but I also store extra dinnerware, trays, cookbooks, candles, and all of my pitchers. I also always keep a bottle of wine wrapped and ready to go to give as a hostess gift when my hubby and I are invited to an impromptu get-together. Just a plain bag that I gussied up with some ribbon and a vintage earring. Ready to grab and go. 
So I may not have a big walk-in room pantry anymore, but after planning, organizing, labeling , and adding a touch of pattern – I do have a pantry that I am very happy with. 
I want to thank the CSI Girls for the opportunity to post here this week. I come often to read and link up, but this is the first time as a poster. Thanks Beckie, and Jen.
