Pantry Makeover

Beautifying the pantry has been on my to do list since January's fit of organization. Six months later, I finally got around to it! Remarkably, once I went through the most time-consuming portion-- gathering glass jars and enamel containers while on a budget-- the rest was accomplished in just a single afternoon.

I started with a rather ordinary collection of baking supplies, cereals and the remains of my non-staple food storage.

I cleared everything out, {and should have taken a picture of it all on my countertops! I had no idea so much stuff could fit in a small pantry!} washed all the shelves with a damp rag, and painted the walls with some paint I had on hand. {Martha Stewart's Beach Glass, from her old Sherwin Williams line}

Next, I sorted everything according to what I use nearly every day for cooking, baking or snacking, and the rest went in to our longer-term food storage pantry. Most dry goods were put into jars, while boxed goods and packages of pasta hid out in enamel file boxes.

Voila! Relatively instantaneous improvement. There is still plenty of room to add jars as I need them, and the floor space is perfect for my step stool from Ikea, also painted Beach Glass. I have plans to add a cork board or something to the back of the door for my menus and shopping list, but that's for another post. :)

In the meantime, I need your help! I used cork shelf liner for one of the shelves. Though it's expensive {about $10 a roll, and I'd need three more rolls to complete the pantry} I like the 'cushioning' effect it has under all the heavy glass jars.

However, J thinks the cork isn't as clean looking as plain white painted shelves:

What do you think? Worth the expense or an eyesore?