A friend of mine decided to redo her pantry. Good for her, I say! I love remodeling, and love to see the “before-and-after” pics people post on social sites. But her redo makes absolutely no sense to me.

See, she has wire shelving in her pantry, and hates it. Small things fall through, and some things just topple over. I have the same problem. I despise all of the wire shelving in this house, with the possible exception of the linen closet, because I do like air to circulate through the linens. It’s one of my Jones. Anyway, her solution is going to set her back about $4,000. She is ripping out all the shelving and putting in wood shelves and having them painted. All for an area that seldom will be seen by visitors. Now like I said, I’m all for home improvement, but NOT when I can find an easier, more cost effective solution, like this one!

That’s peel and stick tile, which you can get for less than a dollar per square foot. Simply peel the backing, and apply to the wire shelf. That’s it. I did the math, and it hurt my brain, but for my pantry the total cost would be about $40, and I would have enough left over to do a few shelves in the kids’ rooms. Can you imagine what you could buy with the $3, 960???

Even after I told her of my solution, she was undeterred. She wants to make upgrades to her home in case she has to sell it. I can understand that. I remember when she took a wobbly chair in to get the legs shortened. I told her a bit of cork under the short leg would have solved her problem. She replied, “But the cork wouldn’t match the color [of the chair].” She never thought of a Sharpie™.

I must say she is an inspiration to me. She always makes me think of the easiest solution to the problem du jour. It’s a gift, and a curse 😉