A Perfectly Imperfect Pantry

I wasn’t going to write about this pantry. It’s just too . . . too . . . um . . . grungy. But I decided to go ahead and share it. After all, this is my life and my home right now. Even though there’s a TON of work to do, what good are “After” pictures if you don’t see the “Before’s”?

The title of the post stumped me for a while too. All told, I spent a couple of hours on the pantry yesterday – between taking all the old junk out, cleaning, cutting shelf liner, cleaning, unpacking, more cleaning – well, you get the idea.

Then it hit me -

It’s a perfectly imperfect pantry. I love that phrase. I’m “borrowing” it from one of my favorite blogs, Perfectly Imperfect. If you’ve never visited Shaunna, take a few minutes and prepare to be dazzled. She’s a whiz in a lot of areas, but her refinished furniture projects are to-die-for.

Anyway, our pantry will eventually be lovely. Eventually. Right now, it’s . . . functional. And clean. And very, very necessary.

The kitchen is small. Tiny. Dinky.

Translation = no storage.

Now, if you’ve ever lived in the country, you know there are certain, uh, issues that go along with country living.

Issues. Translation = rodents.

Ewwww.

Let me introduce you to my new best friend.

This little sucker (pardon the pun) is by my side morning, noon and night. Every time I say, “Ewww”, I fire this little guy up.

Bye-Bye Spiderwebs and Mouse Unmentionables.

Oh, how I wish I could’ve rolled some fresh paint on the shelves. But if I start yet one more project, I’ll never get all the boxes unpacked.

And have I mentioned this house has a basement off the pantry?

HEL-LOOOO DOWN THERE! You have to be a brave soul to meander down there. It’s been about 15 years since I mustered up any courage.

I guess I’ll have to put on my big-girl-pants and get down there. At some point.

Not today.

Or tomorrow.

Ewwww.

Back to the perfectly imperfect pantry.

It now looks like this. Not perfect, but functional.

Note: we can only put canned goods or food in glass jars in there. And even that is a bit risky. Even with rat poison. One year, the little buggers ate all the labels off the cans.

Try figuring out what is in a can without the label. Country living.

Note: We’re really not alcoholics. In fact, most of that wine is probably vinegar by now.

Last note: I’m kind of a weirdo when it comes to organizing canned goods.

It comes from my childhood when I used to help stock our little store. “Facing” cans (turning the labels to the front) makes me a very happy girl.

I bet some of you are like me, right? Like in the shower – your shampoo and conditioner alway have the labels facing forward?

And the rest of you are going, “Huh?”

It’s okay. BBH & my mother are with you in the latter group.

But people like me NEED people like them so we can run around turning labels to the front.

It makes me happy. And perfectly imperfect.