Behind closed doors

16 Mar Behind closed doors

I never thought I’d have a walk-in pantry. Frankly, I never thought I’d have a large kitchen but now I do. I grew up in a house with a galley style kitchen that was so charming and still is, plus convenient since you can reach anything from almost one spot! But with my husband and all his pots, pans, spices, tupperware, gadgets, etc., that was not an option when we built our house five years ago.

Here’s what it looks like when you walk in the back door. The space really makes sense. We have a butler’s pantry (no butler) which is wonderful for our nice crystal, china and platter storage, etc. It’s kind of a catch-all frankly. I still wonder where we kept all this stuff in our old house but we did!

So, the pantry has pocket doors with a light that goes on every time you open the doors which is great.

But here’s the deal. We are totally unorganized in this space. Keith built the shelves and I painted them with a friend’s help. We were so proud of ourselves. But it was only a matter of time until it got pretty messy. My stepson has been after us to rearrange it for convenience but we’d rather do anything else!!! But then I met Mollie Gray. She has her own hospitality and concierge service called Nashville Housemom. Her services include tidying things up for people like us! Here’s how it looked before Mollie got started. Not awful I guess, but a mish mash of things without much thought as to what we use each day. I’m not showing you the pots and pans area. That’s another mess which we haven’t addressed yet.

Not that I really need to point it out, but the mismatched tupperware shelves were really bad. And some small appliances mixed on shelves with food, etc. and take a look at all those spices!!! But what can I say when the chef can find what he needs in here……but still……

Mollie started by asking us what we use daily and what we love so she understood our preferences. She organizes based on functionality, so it helps to start with a clean slate. She started by clearing off shelves and building from there.

In just two and a half hours Mollie cleaned and moved things around in a way that makes sense. No supplies like baskets used, just quick sorting.

I love her tags on her instagram post about this small project; #ocd #ocdcleaning!!! Nashville Housemom’s services range from packing and unpacking to closet organization and tackling those spaces she calls forgotten ones or lingering projects. But she does so much more, like private chef services and event planning. Check her out. We are happy and Jack enjoyed having her around too.

You may be thinking why couldn’t you do this yourself? My answer; sometimes it takes an outsider to see things you don’t and it was worth it to get it where we have a bit of a blueprint for other spaces in our house that need better organization. And now our tupperware isn’t falling on top of my head when I’m looking for something! But I still prefer the doors stay closed!

Thanks for following Stylish Retreats. Mollie Gray is the Nashville Housemom, a hospitality and concierge service. Her number is 615-498-0741.