Pantry Clean Up

Pantry....what a laugh. I am sure you have heard me complain or mention on my blog or perhaps commenting on your blog; I have a very small house. I recently had a small group over and wanted to use certain plates. I had to pull out over 38 other dinner plates just to get to the plates I wanted. It made me rethink some things. I will NEVER (EVER) say or admit that I have too many things. I can see my mother smirking as I type this. It did occur to me that.........maybe. Perhaps. Possibly, I have too many things for the size of THIS house. THIS house will most likely be the only house we have. It's 1,200 square feet for a family of four. Tight squeeze. When we moved back from France prices were on the rise....going up tens of thousands of dollars each month by 2003. Not to mention this is California. SO, we bought quickly, worried we would never get our foot in the door if we waited. We did all the right things, 30 year fixed. Put a lot of cash down (bye bye cash.....all gone) and now, of course, it's worth about half. So, we'll be here for a long long time. When I told my mom that I have just the right amount of stuff for the house I WANT she just laughed.

Whatever the reason, whatever the excuse........I have do something with my collection. My kitchen has become totally overcrowded and therefore even smaller and more frustrating to deal with. I have decided to not fully purged....small steps. I have relinquished some control and agreed with myself to put some things in the garage. It was an instant decision on a Saturday morning that Stan had gone to work with a friend.

Here is where I started:

Embarrassing, but it gets worse.

Just shoving things it......gross. This is supposed to be all dishes, however cereal ends up here (no other shelf in the kitchen big enough for it....that will be my excuse???)

I had to move all the dishes above to get to the checkered dishes I thought I had to have one evening.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A totally empty box of cereal. Thanks.

Two shelves out. Overwhelming already. I am joking and poking fun of myself, but I am not going to lie. There were tears in this process.

Wahhhh wahhhh. It's like I have done nothing. So gross.

Hee.

Table is getting full.

I love these, but like the checkered dishes, it would take forever just to get these out to use. I have four deliciously big mugs that match.....in another cupboard. These are now in the garage until a butlers pantry magically appears.

Believe it not a lot of these are in the machine as I am piling everything up.  I collect bits and pieces as I go on this one. It does look cute on the table.

This is what started it all.......William's Sonoma garage sale :)

Sick. Two bags of trash........so far!

The dishes I use every day.....maybe because I can get to them???

Pulling the platters out now.........oh my.

Some of my platters.

They match nothing. I love them. I will not let go. Help.

Stupid cupboard in a tight area. Had all the pots and pans and baking dishes here.........such a hassle to get to all of it. I NEED pull out drawers. Someday.

Progress. I'll keep all the platters here. The pasta set is to the right.

My 1950s Descoware, Belgium. Finally off the stove top.  6 perfect pieces.....$14.  $9 for 5 pieces at a garage sale and then later found the matching smaller casserole (inside the large one) at GW for $5.99 Score.

The rest of my pots and pans next to it. Easy access. That's the point of all of this!

One set of dishes. Pots and pans an some goodies on top!!!!!! Much better.

Sprinkle in a bowl I didn't want to give up....cupcake wrappers in a jar...and some staples that only fit in here. Don't  you love chalkboard contact paper...cut, peel label. Wanted to print a nice template, but was too impatient.

So, I have cleaned up my act and got rid of some Martini glasses, a Margarita set, that salt and pepper shaker with brown grapes...lame.

I will not put my wedding dishes in the garage. It would free up a lot of space, but I want them in the house, I can't let go. So, they continue to take up two big shelves. Can you believe that I only have four more shelves like this? For all the food and glasses, etc.

It's messy too. I usually hide good snacks up here. See the box next to the wine glasses? Those are marron glaces (Candied chestnuts) from France......I'll clean this up next. Can you imagine though? two other shelves like this and three on the bottom like the one I ended up putting the platters in and that's it!!!!!!!!! Not a lot of space. Can you believe I had these dishes shipped over from France? I got really lucky......someone moving home had them shipped with their things. Their company paid for it.

I tackled my spice cabinet too before Stan got home......finally broke down and bought the goofy plastic spice steps........It did help and I had a tin of expired spices. So I am feeling better.

Didn't get a before...but believe me. It's better. See my goodies up above? More things I can't let go of. The blue depression glass candy dish......love it! Too bad I have nothing blue in my house. :)


Okay. I have aired my dirty laundry. I feel better. I have accepted that I do have too much for this house. That's a huge step for me. I am coming to terms with it and trying to accept that we will probably be here for the long haul. By the time we can afford to move I'll be close to old and would rather get a small place in France to retire 6 months here 6 months there........we'll see.

That's enough for today. I'll another small project that came out of this that same day!