Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Do-Over

A few months ago, I reorganized my pantry. We spent a Saturday afternoon driving around to different Walgreens stores so I could get enough of the baskets I wanted.

The thing is, even at the time I had a little feeling in the back of my head that the baskets weren’t right for the job. I suppressed it, though, because I had seen lots of pantries with baskets around the blogs, and I wanted my pantry to look pretty like ya’ll’s. And I wanted it to be blog-worthy. I wanted to impress you.

Act like a high-schooler much? Um, yah.

So here’s the basket-ed pantry. It looks nice, but as I suspected, these baskets weren’t practical. They didn’t slide well on the wire shelves (the wicker sometimes snagged), and they were too tall to easily get things in and out of without sliding. You also couldn’t easily see what was in them, and in reality, they weren’t quite big enough. Are you impressed?

So, a couple weeks ago I sucked it up and went back to Walmart and got the Sterilite bins that I originally rejected. Today I got around to redoing the whole thing.

Here it is now, much more functional, and you know, it still looks pretty good. Plus, I still have all those baskets to do other things with. Tomorrow I will tell you about how I labeled them; I think it helped cute-ify it.

IMG_4257

The moral of this story is this: in your home, do what works for you (do not apply this to moral decisions about life in general). Don’t do something just because you think the bloggers will like it. For the most part, none of them will ever be in your home anyway, and none of them will have to live with it on a daily basis. And you'll be happier in the end.

Here endeth the lesson. I’m probably the only one who needed to learn it.

13 comments:

Amy@theredheaddiaries.blogspot.com said...

That looks amazing!!! No you are not the only one who needs to learn that lesson :) Why is it that we put so much pressure on ourselves to be like others???? I so thought I would outgrow that.

Good job on the pantry!! I can't wait to see what you do with the baskets :)

Breathing In Grace said...

I love your honesty. I've seen several blogs that give tips to bloggers...and I just have to laugh at myself and wonder who those women think they are, trying to tell the rest of us how to do our blogs..when it's ours...our home, our lives, our families...our blog!!! Good for you for doing what's right...for you!!!

dixie said...

Wow!! I like it better this way. I think it looks way cute. I can't wait to hear about the labels.

Jocelyn said...

I really like the Walmart bins so much better. It's looking great!

Jocelyn
http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/

Jennifer said...

It looks awesome now! And yeah, I have to learn that it is ok to be different as well. I am having a hard time with this issue as well. I feel that I have been called to do things differently with my kiddos, but family want me to do the same as every other parent. I feel sick to my tummy over doing things different tonight. So thanks for the post! :)

Dianna said...

I think we all can be too concerned about public opinion. Holds us back from being creative and expressing ourselves.

Unknown said...

Hey Holly. As much as I love the brown baskets I do think the white actually look better. Very clean and practical. Your honesty is refreshing ~ thanks for just being a regular good ole' girl.
Hugs...Tracy :)

Lucy Marie said...

Good lesson. I love the brown baskets, but the white sterilites seem to be more "Pantry" like. I don't know... the brown ones just seem to be more like linen closet, bathroom, or coffee table type baskets anyway. The white ones are perfect for a pantry!!

Anonymous said...

You're absolutely right!

I attempted a small project that I'd seen in several places in "blog-land" and afterwards decided that I hated it.

I like the white baskets much better than the wicker. Plus they're probably much easier to clean :)

Beth said...

Nope, I needed to learn this lesson too! I sometimes catch myself thinking I'll do something or buy something because it will be blog worthy, LOL

I like the baskets, but I'm w/you on them being too tall and not sliding easy. I have those same plastic bins in my small hall closet and love them. I wanted baskets, but couldn't find any that fit on the shelves.

Anyhoo....your pantry looks great!

Michelle said...

I really like your white baskets...looking forward to hearing about the labels! Your pantry looks wonderful :)

~Michelle :)

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

I think I actually like version #2 better for some reason. You did a great job both ways. I would LOVE to have a large pantry like that. :) Doesn't it feel so much better after everything's in its place? :)

Christina said...

Looks great, Holly. I actually like the plastic bins better than the baskets. Now you can enjoy all of the baskets elsewhere too.

Love the honesty of your post. I want things to look nice, but often I realize that some things that look nice are too impractical. You made it look wonderful and practical. A great balance. The fact that the basket wouldn't slide would drive me crazy too.

BTW, I like your wide, but not too deep pantry. I have two pantries, but they have very narrow door and are deep. It is very hard to see thing and easy for things to disappear in the back.