Small Spaces: Creating More Pantry Space

Our old house had a huge pantry. It was great for storing not only our non-perishable foods but also other necessities including kitchen appliances, paper bags, plastic bags and recycling.

Now that we are in our new home, a cozy 869 square foot apartment, I am learning to be a bit more creative when it comes to utilizing every inch of our smaller space. Our current pantry is a tall but deep floor to ceiling cabinet. Since we have very little shelf space I knew I needed to use the door of the pantry to optimize the pantry space. 

So I began scouring the internet for an over the door cabinet, like this, but quickly realized the over the door hook would only fit a traditional door, not my thin pantry door. That's when I resorted to purchasing one of these to install on the inside of the cabinet, but the frame around the inside of my cabinet door didn't allow for the tiny screws to attach properly. Frustrated that nothing seemed to be working, I almost gave up.

That's when I stumbled across these lovlies on a random trip to Target. They are new Rubbermaid Stick and Store Baskets. And the best part, they stick to surfaces using Command Strips. No over the door hanger and no screws to create holes in our cabinet doors. Genious, I tell you!!

I scooped up two of them, took them home and gave them a good coat of fun colored spray paint (we can't have boring organization, that wouldn't make it nearly as beautiful or fun). And voila! Oh my heart, I love them!

The packaging said the baskets would hold about 3 lbs. each; however, I decided to remove the existing Command Strips and attached the heavy duty Velcro Command Strips instead to give it a little extra strength and I'll tell you there is a noticeable difference in the strength. I still won't be putting too much weight on them as I don't want to risk a jar of peanut butter or honey shattering and leaving an awful mess on our beautiful wood floors.

Aren't they just perfect?! 

Our family typically eats more fresh food than processed, so thankfully the pantry isn't quite as packed, but we still need to maximize every inch of space in our apartment. I'll be sharing another post on our fully organized pantry soon.

Tuesday {In the Kitchen}

This week's {In the Kitchen} I decided it would be fun to share with you a few of inspirational coastal/vacation home kitchens and a few of the recipes I am dying to try on vacay!

The image above is from Coastal Living, funny thing is I met this lovely woman and her three adorable children at a friends wedding this past New Year's Eve on Amelia Island in Florida. That town is to die for! If you want a quaint, beachy getaway that is definitely a place worth visiting! It's a quintessential, quiet beach town. Complete with farmer's markets and the neatest antique stores.

 Aside from Amelia Island, this kitchen is the perfect vacation home kitchen. It's clean, simple and lovely! And I heart floating shelves with a beautiful display of white dishes! I die, they are my fav!

These lime squares, from Eat Live Run blog, look fantastic! My goal...see if we can manage to make a very similar recipe, but g-free! 

Nothing says vacation to me like a good mimosa. I can guarantee we will having several of these!

The hubby and I do our best to still eat well on vacation, paleo if we can, but we at the least we try to eat gluten free. We'll see though, it can often be difficult if you don't have family that understands your dietary needs, fortunately, our families try to be as helpful as possible. We'll let you know if we come up with any paleo/g-free family secrets that we can share.

I also always carry a few snacks on the plane and some extra for during the week. I like to bring Justin's almond butter, some kind of protein bar (ours right now are Detour, but Think Thin has some great g-free peanut butter bars), raw almonds and E-mergen C!!! They just a few helpful snacks to keep us going, especially when traveling through an airport full of pricey, packaged foods.

What do you foods do you like to enjoy on vacation?

{Image Credit: Coastal Living, lime bars, mimosa}