I have a what?

One evening we were hanging out in our yard with some neighbors and the subject of the lack of space in our homes came up. Two of my girlfriends have the same layout in their house and they were saying they have no cabinet space and how they wish they had a pantry.

I chimed in 'YEA! I wish I had a pantry too!'

They both looked at me and said, you do!

I was thinking, where the heck do I have a pantry, did they see my kitchen? It took my neighbors to

 point out my panty!

 OOH DUH! I guess I kinda do have one!

Ok so in my defense... when we moved in there was ONE shelf and it is small. I assumed it was a broom closet. And I used it for well, a broom and other junk. It became my junk closet. Everything I didnt know what to do with went into the junk closet and most times just got lost and forgotten. It was like a black hole.

Slowly by slowly I added a few more shelves, which was just so I could stuff more suff into the black hole.

Remember this post where I showed a sneek peek. Allison over at HOH shared her pantry makeover

Photo from House of Hepworths

and I dont know anyone who wouldnt be jealous of Shelley's pantry over at the House of Smiths.

(I can hear a chorus of angels)

Photo from House of Smiths

And most recently Emily over at Thrifty Decor Chick showed off her lazy susans

 in her great pantry makeover.

Photo from Thrifty Decor Chick

I loved all those projects... problem is, my pantry is about 1/3 the size of all these womens'. THAT makes me even more envious.

Ok, Ok brace yourselves, here is my broom closet   my pantry before

Quite scary huh!

I cringe everytime I open the door.

So after reading about Allison's new spice rack, I made a stop at my Home Depot. I saw a rack just like it, for $40! I dont need that much storage, of course I'll change my mind later.

So I picked up some of these suckers at $7

and this one too (I think it was $3)

The hubs hung it on the inside door

 (thank goodness hes better at that then hanging the screen door !LOL)

I immediately starting putting things in it.

Well I couldnt very well stop there! I had to keep going.

And that I did. I finally saw the back and bottom of the black hole!

Here I am starting to make progress.

I didnt take everything out and make a mess in my kitchen cause I knew that would just end up in disaster.

Ok here it is...

Those baskets fit my small baking spices and sprinkles and pastry bags perfectly.

And the hanging one for all my packaged spices and gravys!

Think I have enough pasta? hahaha

No fancy wall paper or vinyl or paint projects... but I finally have a pantry and I dont cringe everytime I open the closet door. I guess its still a work in progess. I would like to get some containers and baskets.

It would actually be nice to paint the back wall something bright. Slowly but surely...

This is the leftover canned veggies/soups, misc that didnt fit in the pantry.

(YES! I told you guys I have OCD)

When i get more organized and maybe another shelf and some baskets these will find their new home in there, then I can turn this into a wine cabinet ;-)

The best thing about it is since I've moved everything in there I now freed up 2 entire cabinets in my kitchen!! Yay! More storage!

Now I can do something about this unsightly mess above my cabinets

my roasting pan and crockpot

extra foil pans and serving bowls.

Now they have new homes and the tops of my cabinets are CLEAN! sooo... now, how to decorate them? Ideas? Suggestions? I would really like to get one of these:

So cute from L'alfabeto

Are fake plants still a No No?