May 03, 2022

Transformation Tuesday #69

Unfortunately, I didn't have any readers' transformations in my inbox for today. So, I figured I would walk around the house and find a few quick things I could transform (organizing or cleaning or something). I thought this was going to be the shortest Transformation Tuesday I've ever done, considering it was just mine and only something quick and easy.

However, it ended up being the longest one ever (not the post itself, but the content for this post). I picked something to transform, and now, six hours later, I'm just starting to write the post for it. Haha!

Since I worked so hard cleaning the pantry to get rid of the pantry moths, I figured I'd tackle my spices today. My spices were all in sealed jars and nothing was contaminated, thankfully. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this post first.) However, I had a bunch of spice jars on the shelves above my stove and I knew I need to clean the jars and get rid of those old spices. Jerry and I have said to each other at least a dozen times that we "need to do that"; and it became one of those things that we put off.

Being above the stove, the jars accumulated a layer of grime (oil from cooking) and I really didn't like to use them. I have to stand on a stool to be able to reach up there, so I just started using spices from the pantry. The ones above the stove sat there getting bleached by the sun for a long time. (They lost color because they were in clear jars in the daylight.)

I decided to take all the jars down and dump the spices, then wash the jars, refill them with spices from the cupboard and organize the spice shelf in the pantry. Cleaning the jars and shelves actually didn't take very long--maybe an hour. But then I started refilling them and it turned into a big project.

Here is the before and after of the spice shelf in my pantry:


Since mine is the only transformation on this post, I'll share some progress photos, too. Here are the shelves above the stove... yes, they look gross! Even grosser when I stood on a stool to take the picture. Yikes.


I pulled all of the spices out and then cleaned the shelves to get the grease and grime off. That part was easy.


Next came the spice jars. I dumped out all the spices (I had extras in the pantry, which is what I've been using for a while now anyway). Then I put each jar and lid into a container with hot water and dish soap. I washed each one and the grime came off so easily! I am always taken aback with how well dish soap cuts through grease.




I wanted to make sure they were super dry, so I got out the hair dryer and that worked perfectly to dry the insides really well. Then I moved all of my spices from the pantry to the island in the kitchen in order to refill the jars. I cut out ovals from sticker paper, wrote the names of the spices on them, and put the labels on the jars as I filled them.



Naturally, I had a helper ;)


The leftover spices (some of the containers were very big, so I could only put a small amount in the jar) went in an airtight container and I'll just refill the jars as needed.

I wasn't sure how to put them back on the shelf; I don't have a spice rack, but I wanted to be able to see the labels to keep it organized. I could make a spice rack (and I will) but I didn't have time to do that for this post, obviously. I walked around the house looking for anything I could use. Then it hit me to just use some scrap wood for now.

I grabbed some small oak boards and laid them across the shelf like this:



Then I was able to put spices on top of that and also put spices in front; that way, I could see all the labels.


This ended up being MUCH more work than I anticipated. I hadn't planned to clean out all of the spices--I just wanted to clean the jars above the stove--but I'm glad I did this. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time! 

Okay, please send me some transformations. Or don't, and maybe I'll tackle another big project next Tuesday, haha. To submit a transformation, just send a before picture and an after picture to me at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Please include your name and a description of your transformation!

5 comments:

  1. Holy smokes woman! That's a ton of work. And I love how you thought to just use some wood you had to make that back self so you could see the labels. Brilliant!

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  2. Amazing! This is an awesome transformation!! My spices get totally out of hand, this might just inspire me to organize mine! I'll definitely have some pictures for you this summer, my husband and I are determined to fix up our yard. But it has been soooo cold in Wisconsin! :( Still waiting for a warm up so we can get started!

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  3. So satisfying! Looks great

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  4. Oh my goodness! I can't stop thinking about your pantry moth story. I look for them every time I get something out of my pantry now!! And weirdly, I just started following this new person on Instagram and she had a pantry moth story as well. You should watch her pantry moth highlight, she had a cocoon in the lids of unopened jars of salsa, infested mason jars, and in containers she thought were airtight. UGGG! This is the person with the pantry moth highlight: https://www.instagram.com/detoxinista/

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