Friday, November 6, 2009

I Can't Believe This Took ALL Day!

Hi there! Happy Friday to you!

I decided to tackle my "pantry" today. I thought for sure it would be relatively quick and easy given its small size. Um....nope. I decided to get brave and show you what it looked like before and after. Hopefully you won't think less of me after you see the before shots. LOL

This space is in our big room (the converted two car garage portion of our house). The previous owners created this little space, probably for storage. It's kind of an L shape and it also houses the water heater. The door goes out to our back yard, but we never use it. After we moved in, we added the wire shelving. Oh and Steve added texture to the walls and ceiling. What a joy that was to try to clean (not).

So here's what it looked like as you look into the space.
Turning to your left is more shelving with who knows what stashed here and there. Oh there's Steve's jimson weed plant. He brought it inside, I think to try to preserve the seeds in case it doesn't grow next year. The silver vent tube is Steve's jerry-rigged "pipe" to get the heat to go into the big room and not just warm up the pantry.
Oh my gosh...what all is up there?!!!
And what is down here??
Brace yourself. Here's what what actually IN that space!
Can you believe it? I think I said holy cr*p, I can't believe that all came out of that little space!

At 9:05am this morning I had everything pulled out of the space and the cleaning began. First, I vacuumed off the spider webs. Then I started washing down the walls. That door took some effort. Then I started washing the baseboards and the floor. E-gads, THAT took forever! I think I finally got done about 1:00 and I took a break to eat lunch and take a shower. I started putting the shelves back into place. And adjusting them because I forgot where they originally were. LOL I had to fight some of the braces to get them in place. By then it was time to head out to get the girls from school. And I STILL had to go through all the items before I could put them back. Sigh...

I started that about 3:00. And at 5:00 I had finished vacuuming the big room and took the last garbage bag out to the trash. At 5:05 or so, Steve walked up the driveway from work. I had a bag for Goodwill and oh about 3 large bags full of expired food. Ugh. I definitely won't let THAT happen again.

Here's what it looks like now...


Look, there's open space!! I plan on cleaning out cupboards in the kitchen and putting things I don't use very often up there.


I discovered that the mice we had earlier found the Top Ramen soup packages and ate into a couple of them....ewwwww. But I'm pretty confident that they are all gone now because I didn't see any "evidence" of them yesterday when I was moving couches to finish up the cleaning of the big room. (whew)
I have to say I'm absolutely pooped right now. My whole body is sore, actually. But I'm SO glad to have this done!

Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoyed this little "tour" of my pantry. Just a couple more rooms to go and I'll be done with this major part of my deep clean. Then I'll move on to the stuff behind closed doors (oh my).
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12 comments:

Barb said...

WOW! Jeanne...you are really cleaning up! You've done a fantastic job! Keep up the good work...I'm almost inspired to clean up around here... ;-)

hugs,
Barb

Sarah said...

Ummm when are you coming over here???? You are on a roll Jeanne. Loved the before and after pics. Don't you hate all that expired food!
Your pantry looks cleaner than mine in the before shot ha ha.

Kathi Carlson said...

We're both going to bed tonight with some empty shelves. LOL. While my projects (so far) have been small, it feels so good. And lucky you - you're on the home stretch!

On the weekend, take some time for yourself! That's an order. LOL.

Hugs!

Laurel said...

Wow, doesn't that feel good to have done!

Sharli Schaitberger said...

Congratulations Jeanne! Looks like you did the job and did it the right way! I'm very impressed!

It is truly amazing to me how many items in my own pantry were expired when I cleaned it last time. I've been VERY careful to not buy bulk now - and I actually check expiration dates in the store, too! Never did that before. I do believe your day was well invested, friend!

Kim Burmeister said...

Jeanne, GREAT JOB! I am glad you showed us before and after. My closets need organized too. I should organize them. Notice I wrote "should"...ha ha!

gloria in Utah said...

Well, I know how you feel, but my project took me 2 months!! MY OFFICE!! I can't believe how bad it was before I started. My husband would walk in and trip over stuff every time. I finally got IN THE MOOD, and took everything off the floor and put it in the living room. ( I know, out of sight....) Anyway, yesterday, I went through the LAST BOX!! YIPPEE!! I even labeled everything. A friend that comes over pretty often walked in and went WOW! That alone was worth it. LOL LOL LOL Now I have 2 drawers to empty that I have my containers and lids in. Nothing matches!! I see sorting in my future for quite awhile. Sure is nice when it's done tho. And our mouse seems to be gone too. THANK GOODNESS!!

gloria in Utah :)

Jackie said...

wow looks like you expended quite a bit of energy :) good for you and I bet you feel darn good every time you see your handiwork of the day :)

mE said...

Go Jeanne... get your groove on! What a difference! ! When can you come clear out my pantry? LOL! I think that's next week's project for me, you've inspired me... LOL!

I did tackle my bedroom closet and under the bed on Thursday... What a nightmare. Who knew dustbunnies and dog fur could multiply so fast?

Carolyn said...

WOW it's amazing what we find stashed away when we can's see it. Nice job!!
I'm painting today! Ugh

Anke said...

Oh no, she did it again!!!! You are setting such a bad example here, how are we supposed to keep up with you? Lovely space you created though, you busy bee. Go make some pretty cards now, so that I won't have to feel so guilty :)

Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs said...

WHEW! Good for you! This really is a very inspiring post!! (Not that I'm about to show you my "before"s or anything.)