Coffee and Steamcleaners vs. Sippy Cups and Yogurt Puffs

I admit... this one scared me a bit.  I do love a good pantry, but this pantry was huge... and full... and well, two families were sharing it.

The original pantry of this big home was too small, so the family extended it to the under the stairs dumb wasted space area.  Good idea!

The pantry had  A LOT of stuff in it - canned goods, etc.  It also had some good ideas and good tools, just none of them seemed in sync.

This pantry was temporarily being used by two families - a mother and father and their son, wife, and two pre-school children.  Eventually said son, wife, and children are to move, but in the meantime, all their stuff (from coffee and steam cleaners to sippy cups and yogurt puffs) had to work in harmony.

I should also explain how I got this job.  I met the daughter-in-law at a speaking event.  She purchased a gift certificate for her mother in law.  Now that's a great relationship.  :-)

We should start at the beginning. When I got there, the client had GREAT tools. She had some shelving, great handled containers, and some lazy susans. I'm not a fan, per say, of the lazy susans, but they were helping her for the time being.



She also had a bag of bags... there's a simple solution to that that I was anxious to show her.

I left the client with just a little homework - the day I came, I needed everything out of the pantry. Move it to tables, counters, whatever: We just needed to start with a clean shelf!

She did exactly as I had asked, and when I got there, it was a blank slate... ready to go!

I'm sure that this client thought I was a phony... I moved stuff in, moved stuff out, laid stuff sideways, and then took it out again.  You see, organizing can sometimes be like a puzzle, and I was just trying to fit it in in a usable manner.

She was great - carrying stuff in - telling me how she used stuff (i.e. Do you eat the golden raisins, or bake with them?) and generally being patient.

An hour into the project, I had a good idea where everything would go.  Cans were being placed (in rows... not on lazy Susan's) back on the back shallower shelf.  I used the metal shelving she had purchased to make a second helpful row to stack items.  I put all the non-can/quick to expire consumables together (bread, chips, cookies, etc.) and used her shelf system to keep these delicate items from being squished and ruined.

And then, we got to the coffee.  Now, I'm not a huge fan of coffee, and if I do drink it, it's fine to Folgers (gasp... I even like the freeze dried instant!), but this client and family were into their coffee.  They had a Keuring and many many coffees.  I'm a fan of the idea - no wasted coffee and everyone gets what they want!  However, we had to figure a way to organize the little K-Cups.  The first thing I noticed is that there are flavored and non-flavored varieties.  I also noticed decaf vs. regular.  (I mentioned this and got a big laugh that nobody here drinks the decaf... okay, maybe at night or if there is a guest.)  So we sorted the decafs out and put them in the "special box" and then sorted the remainder flavored vs. not.  All is happy in the families coffee world now.  :-)

After everything was in it's place, and the client approved (I had to move some baskets because the cool handles on them prevented the drawers from pulling out - buggers!!) I sat down to a cool 40 minutes of labeling.  And thus... the results: