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Spice up your spice cabinet with this DIY spice organization using tins and chalkboard paint
I promise this isn’t turning into a DIY blog! I know I’ve had two DIY posts in less than a week but they’re all food related :) This next one was also a project that I wanted to do for a while but didn’t want to do it while we were still in the apartment. This was one of the first things I said I’d complete once we moved to a house.
I wanted to organize all my spices! I know it sounds OCD but I hate the containers they come in and how I could never find the spice I’m looking for. I wanted to SPICE UP my pantry. Oh, I’m hilarious. No, but seriously, we buy our spices in bulk sometimes at Costco and they come in those ugly plastic containers. You also buy the ones at the grocery store too that just end up being stacked on top of each other with red lids (you know which ones I’m talking about!) and you have no clue what spice is what. You go fiddle with one, the rest come tumbling down.
So this is where this spice project came into play. I wanted a CLEAR way of seeing every spice I had. I didn’t want to fumble around while cooking.
This was actually a pretty fun project. My MOH and I did this after wedding dress shopping on Saturday and it didn’t take long. The only “long” part was spray painting the chalkboard paint a few nights before to ensure it was dry.
Supplies you’ll need:
- Chalkboard spray paint
- Chalk Ink, extra fine point
- Any kind of sticky labels, we used these from Martha Stewart
- Tins, we ordered these from Specialty Bottle
- Your spices!
- First, you’ll want to go outside and spray paint your labels. A very thin coat will do. Don’t over-spray it or it’ll start dripping and you’ll be left with ugly drip marks.
- Let them dry overnight.
- Once you’re ready for assembly, grab all your spices from your pantry. One by one, start writing the spices on the label. Make sure you let the ink dry completely before putting on the tins. They smear easily!
- Once they’re dry, you can put them on the tins and dump the respective spices into their tins!
See how easy that was? Oh, want to know the best part of using chalkboard paint & ink?! YOU CAN ERASE THEM WITH WATER!! If you change up the tin with a different spice, if you write it wrong, you just take a wet paper towel, wipe and start over!! So awesome, huh?!
The way I have them now (shown above) doesn’t really help if I accumulate more spices as I’ll have to end up stacking them in front of the rows I have now, defeating the purpose of the labeling system. I found these which will help elevate the spices on different levels or this. Not sure which I’ll do yet but at least I have options :)
Happy spice organizing!
My spice cabinet is organized but in an eclectic sort of way. I would LOVE for all of the containers to match and be labeled like this. I buy spices in bulk so I have a mix-match collection of containers and labels! I need these!
Ooooh fabulous. I love this. I can NEVER find quickly what I want, especially if I haven’t used it recently. This would make life easier and prettier! Must do…
These look amazing and super easy! I totally agree with never being able to find the spice you need with all the different kinds of bottles and brands. This way works much better. They are all neatly stacked and labeled for easier finding. Great job!
Those look awesome! Another trick to keeping spices organized (and this really is OCD), is putting them in alphabetical order. That is how I keep track even when I can’t see the labels.
I seriously MUST do this!!! It will save me from 6 am spice catastrophes when I’m trying to “quietly” cook breakfast.
I’m impressed. Love it!
I saw this on pinterest this morning and I am totally going to do it! Did you know that Martha Stewart made a line of chalkboard labels for Avery that you can buy at Staples? They even come with chalk and are sticky.
Our Staples didn’t have the small chalkboard labels, they only had the large ones so that’s why we opted to just spray paint her regular ones. Too bad! You should totally go the easy route and just buy them pre-sprayed :)
I just love those jars, chalk, and your hand writing! So cute and a great way to keep organized. Super cool:)
Amazing!
I SUCK at upkeep, so in about 8 days all this effort would turn to poop. Sigh. But this is so fun, I might need to train myself to STAY organized!
I want to see an updated picture of that spice cabinet in a month to see if it’s still as organized and if so, teach me your skills! Love those containers!
hahaha challenge ACCEPTED!