Day 7 of 21: the Pantry...only the second most dreaded spot

Oh the shame

This is my pantry.  I have never thought it was big enough or set up properly.  I think I have used those as excuses for long enough.  I have no plans of moving or remodeling any time soon so it's time to just make this pantry my bitch!

here are my before shots

apparently when things fall off the shelves the plan is to just leave them there...same as taking the last of something out of the box.

Pretty bad huh!?!?

I took everything out...washed all the shelves, walls, etc...  I will even admit the higher shelves had dust and spiderwebs towards the back.  So gross.

I threw out 4 large black bags of expired food or stuff that was just gross and we never ate.  The majority of the expired stuff was up in 09!!!  

Lots of breaks for snacking....in fact I ate this all day

half a day later....done!  I was very tempted to paint in here.  It's very rough looking but I didn't want all the crap sitting around for a week so I went with contact paper.  I had plenty leftover from the drawer challenges.  Quick question:  is contact paper white trash-esque??  My husband swears contact paper is white trashy but I beg to differ!!!

Now I was super proud of this before/after challenge until I saw this one at House of Smiths

It is AMAZING!!  She did paint, bonus points for her...and all those adorable vinyl labeled jars have further convinced me of my need for a Silhouette machine!

Linking up for the 21 Day Challenge at A Bowl Full of Lemons

Day 12 of 21: the spice cabinet

I sort of did my spice cabinet ahead of time sort of by accident.  You see my pantry spilled over into my cabinets when I ran out of pantry space.  So when my pantry was getting cleaned I decided to get the pantry stuff out of the spice cabinet.  Being in the purge moment I didn't snap a picture of it in the cabinet but all this was in it (watching The View while cleaning lol)

Before

I was quite surprised at how much crap we had!  I threw out a trash bag full of expired stuff, scuzzy stuff, stuff we hadn't used in forever.  I found tons of duplicates which means that I couldn't find it, assumed I was out and bought more (Christmas baking stuff!)  In all honesty though...my husband is a spice feign...not me!

and After!

Linking up to A Bowl Full of Lemons

Day 8 of 21: the Coat Closet

Another easy one because I was attacked during nesting.  It actually still looked perfect so all I had to do was snap a picture :)

I wish I would have thought to take before pictures because this closet was AWFUL!  The tupperware is full of blankets that were spilling all over the place, we had a ton of empty boxes shoved in here and those dvds were all over the floor!  It was ridiculous!  Our dvd collection is pretty small after our house was burglarized.  After having hundreds stolen it makes you not want to buy any more!  I put those shelves in all by myself and it makes it soooo much better in there!  Should have done it months before!

again, linking up to A Bowl Full of Lemons

Day 6 of 21: Dresser Drawers

Day 6 was Dressers...I am a super slob but I actually keep my drawers very tidy...not sure how or why but they always look good.  The top of my dresser is obviously another story!  I hate this dresser.  I have had it since I was 16 and truly the only thing I keep in it is pajamas and shorts.  It has an empty drawer at the moment actually.  

Before

 Yes, that is a tooth :) found it on top of the dresser!

and after!

I didn't bother with the boy's dresser since Sawyer has decided that taking everything out of it is a total blast so I typically refold and put everything back in every few days keeping it VERY tidy.  

Linking to A Bowl Full of Lemons...head on over if you want to join in the 21 day challenge or to see other entries!

Day 4 of 21: Linen Closets

I actually had this in the bag!  It was another area that I tackled during nesting!  It just so happened that our cousin's church was wanting donations for a church sale so it motivated me to get rid of my stuff.  I packed up 4 bags of linens!  It was truly unreal and ridiculous how much I have accumulated.  I kept a back up set of sheets for each bed and probably more blankets than need be but I did get rid of a lot.  

Before...could use a little tidying but not too bad!

and after...I did laundry so more kids blankets.  The tupperware holds sheets and blankets.  Moved the baby tub to the cabinet below.

more blankets in tupperware, sleeping bag and the baby tub

Linking up to A Bowl Full of Lemons

Day 9 & 10 of 21: the dungeon...I mean laundry room!

So I am obviously really far behind!  Fret not I am not all that far behind on the challenges...2 or 3 days I did miss...I think.  I am far behind on the blog side which I suppose is the better to be behind on!

Day 10 was the laundry room...Day 9 was your kid's toys or your toys so I knew I would need to do my toys over the kids but I put it off...then Day 10 popped up with Laundry Room...which also happens to double as my toy room so I couldn't put it off any longer.

Without further ado...

This room is my catch all.  No where to put something?  Just toss it in the laundry room.  The before pictures are are so embarrassing!  This room has actually been a work in progress since the great nesting of October 2010 and got about 3/4 done before Dex made his debut.  Now that he is here I need to get it finished up.  

The view walking in....sweet baby Jesus that is bad.  What you can't see is the closet is open because there is so much yarn falling out it won't close!

Can you even see the floor??? ummm nope, yeah I didn't think so!

  Good thing I was in such a rush to install those shelves only for everything to get tossed on the floor.

The only part left that needs to get painted!  The washer was too heavy to move when I was pregnant and I was too fat to stretch any further than you see.  

Check out the top of the washing machine!  Do I really need all 2,341 bottles of soap?  The front of the washer is really lovely as well.  Why didn't I just wipe off that soap months ago?

Top of the dryer

and 2.5 hours later....TADA!!  that hideous green carpet is visible!  

Yes I washed ALL of that laundry on the floor!  and if I am being honest I had done about 8-10 loads before that before picture was taken!

 Before Project Makeover Craft Room began I had a desk in here but I donated it to a church sale thinking I'd be getting my countertop in here sooner.  The stuff on the floor was in/on the desk.

Top of washer...yes that is a melted chocolate bar

 and after...oooh so clean 

 closet!  I put these shelves in (yep...by myself) when I was nesting like crazy!  This seriously gave me so much more storage space!  

and the yarn...I love that it is all tucked away...I hate that some of  the cubbies are 2 deep and I can't see the back stuff!

Sooooo for those of you that have been around since October-ish know I have been battling this room for some time!  I obviously went with blue paint which surprises me because I had originally totally thought I would go with green but I bought both in case (ouch $30 I didn't need to spend) as you can see I didn't even open the green!  I am still torn on my secondary storage.  Part of me says I clearly have enough crap just stick with what I have and stop shopping.  The other part of me says let's be realistic, I still have the stuff on the floor and I might have another 10 or so skeins of yarn littered around the house.  I just can't decide if I should get another cupboard type thing like I already have or something else.  I do love that the doors shut containing the mess and keeping my yarn dust free or do I want something like this?

Decisions, decisions!  On a positive note I have a $100 gift card and also a $75 Home Depot card soooo I am off to order my countertop this week!  Can't wait to get it in there!  The washer and dryer are going to get dropped down on the floor and the counter will be over the tops of them.  I will only have chair space in between the 2 which sort of sucks but it'll be ok!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my scuz!

Day 5 of 21: Under the Kitchen Sink....the dread sinks in

Yes I missed Day 4.  

I actually did my linen closets about 2 months ago but they could use a little tidying so I'll be making mine up on a day I already did the task or Sunday.

I was really hoping and dreading this would be one of the challenges.  Mine is so bad and I have had great intentions to get to it, but like many other things well...it never happened.  A few months back I talked about switching to green cleaners in this post here.  I did end up making my own but wasn’t thrilled with them.  I felt they did ok with the upkeep, but couldn’t handle the scuz that is my house.  That followed with the Oxford Plague Fall 2010 I started to wonder if maybe it wasn’t killing the germs.  That being said I went back to the toxic stuff and store bought green cleaners.  Is it just me or do the natural cleaners stink....like, literally?  First I went with the greener versions of the normal Windex, bathroom cleaners, etc...wasn’t thrilled.  I tried Seventh Generation and it smells like a dog groomers.  Then I tried J.Watkins and it smells like a moist towelette.  Neither smells are very appealing to me though I am using the toilette smell since it's better than PetsMart.  So here I am with a ton of nasty cleaners fighting with myself because those carcinogens just clean so much better.  Not any more.  I cleaned my bathrooms today for the last time with the carcinogens and tossed them.  I will keep up with the natural cleaners that stink until I find something else.  I am torn between trying melaleuca and shaklee.  Have you tried either of them??  I am not thrilled with the upfront cost but I am assuming it lasts long enough that the price balances out and my family isn't breathing and absorbing toxins.  My fear I spend $100 and it stinks and doesn’t work well!  So what’s your opinion?  

Onto the challenge....here is my before.  

so much crap!  I seriously couldn't tell you what was beyond the very first row of stuff.  I had to put the trash bags on top of the dishwasher tabs so annoying every time I needed one!

if you really want to get the full scuz click the pics for larger size...you know so you can see that movie ticket stub under the cupboard ;)

NASTY and what a mess!  This cupboard goes about 3-4 feet over to the right where no one could ever reach.  I seriously found the weirdest stuff under here.  I have never cleaned under here.  I mean NEVER.  The previous owner had wiped it down and left some stuff and when we moved in I just tossed mine under there to.  I ripped that solid piece of linoleum (or whatever it’s called) out.  I had 2 rolls of that weird smooshy liner under the sink so I used it.  I used 2 rows It was the perfect width side by side.  I have seen people use the sticky linoleum/laminate squares under their sinks and in cupboards and it looks really nice and doesn't shift like this smooshy stuff does a little.  Maybe someday I’ll do that.  For now this works!  I will admit that I was shocked how much stuff was under and how much toxic stuff.  We have baby gates to keep the little ones out of the kitchen, but they won’t be up forever and I really wanted to get the bad stuff out of there.  The chemicals that I needed to keep (lighter fluid, carpet cleaner, bug killer, etc...) I moved to the pool chemical cupboard where it is nice and high.

not even sure why an empty tide container was under there...or the gatorade bottle of clear liquid?  I have no clue what it was and didn't bother trying to figure it out.

more stuff that was under there

and the after!  Seriously sooo much better!  I can get to everything.  All of the toxic nasty baby killing cleaner is gone!  I can even get a trash bag or dishwasher tablet!  Oh and I found an entire box of swiffer pads!  Woo Hoo!  Yes, I am still using Swiffer and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers...love that bald man!  Hate the swiffer but haven't found a good substitute for it yet.

I even removed that door organizer thing and scrubbed all side of the cupboard doors.  So disgusting.

Day 5 DONE!  It took me about 45 minutes and looks a million times better!  I am glad I tackled it!  Now what will Day 6 be???  Head over to A Full Bowl of Lemons if you want to join in or to see other nasty people like me :)