Oh Pinterest!

We have a good sized apartment, but the kitchen is tiny.  Teeny tiny.  Like, we're in a 3 bedroom & it's about half the size of the kitchen we had in a one bedroom.  And what our friends think is a pantry next to our kitchen is actually a laundry area.  Most of our kitchen appliances are in our hall closet, and some of the food items are stored above our washing machine!

I. hate. that.  How gross?  I keep it to items that are well packaged, but still.

So last night I saw a pin on Pinterest & it got me to thinking.  It suggested using an old armoire as a pantry.  And that's when it hit me... we have a china cabinet that we don't even use!  It's just sitting in the dining room, abandoned from when we decided to start painting it 3 years ago (I didn't get very far at all).

And after moving this last time, I refused to unpack the China again until we buy a house.  That leaves a bunch of awkward pictures in our cabinet & my Willow Tree items that have to be kept away from Hazelnut.

Here's the before & after:

Much better, right?  Obviously, with the glass doors, using it as a pantry is out of the question, but our plates, cups & bowls fit perfectly in there!  And now we have an entire 2nd cabinet in our kitchen dedicated to... food!  No more storing food above the washing machine.

And I now have extra storage room in the laundry area!

I think I'm going to clean out the bottom shelves (not pictured above) & make it a kid-friendly area.  Currently I'm storing baby bottles & candles in there.  The bottles have to go, & I'll find another place for the candles.  The knobs on the doors are very widely spaced, so there are a few extra steps to baby-proofing it.  I'd rather just skip that & let her enjoy the area!