About - Pantry Passion

A pantry is a symbol of comfort, support for the kitchen, the heart of the home.

NOTE: PantryPassion.com contains all original content. Any duplication on the Internet has been obtained by malicious means.

A pantry recalls bygone days and the romantic notions of simple self-sufficiency that can still be attained.

I believe in pantries. I am about family, gathering with friends, building traditions, and focusing on what really matters in life. My passion is poured across these pages.

Hi! My name is Renee Matt and I’m a farmwife in northeast Iowa. Food is important to my family. I believe in self-sufficiency and knowing how to grow my own food. I’m lucky to benefit from generations of wisdom covering gardening, food preservation and storage, and practical Iowa common sense.

I bring my love for the home arts and kitchen design experience to the Pantry Passion website. Myself, along with my husband, Rick, have multiple remodeling projects under our DIY belts. Together, we have hosted dozens of hearty meals around our kitchen table surrounded by family and friends.

I’m glad you’re here, because it means that food and home are important to you, too. Thank you for spending time with me and welcome to the website! If you’re interested in hearing a spin on what a farmwife from Iowa (who likes to design things) has to say, join my newsletter.

Hear about my newest thoughts going on in the farmhouse, my challenge to everyone to eat up what’s in the pantry, and some cheering for those thick in home remodeling projects.

Reach me on my contact page.

Kitchen design, home, and elevation perspectives by Renee Matt.

That fun, red kitchen is mine! This farmhouse went through THREE remodels. Take a peek at the “before” red kitchen here. The other drawings are from an architecture class from my college days.

My professional background

I’ve always had the do-it-yourself bug in me. Growing up I dabbled in arts and crafts, sewing, and helping mom can tomatoes from the garden. I remember babysitting for neighbors – after the kids fell asleep, I would redesign their farmhouses in my head! As a teenager, I repainted my own bedroom, did small home improvement projects, and refinished furniture.

Not surprisingly, I attended Iowa State University’s School of Design to major in the interior design program. The required kitchen and bath design programs and lighting classes lived over in the ISU Family and Consumer Sciences College. Most notably, I had the honor to study under the esteemed Prof. Mary Pickett, – her passion for accessibility for all made an indelible life impression on me.

I soon discovered that practical design principles were my wheelhouse.

I enjoyed an internship with a kitchen design firm in Ames, and then found an opening as a kitchen designer upon graduation. Although I had been exposed to the beginning of CAD design software, my kitchen drawings and perspectives were all drawn by hand.

When I started a family, it was time for me to move on to being a farmwife and mother full time. The honest truth is, my most design-inspired clients were the ones who knew their way around a kitchen, and I was about to become one of them.

Along the way, I grew with technology, keeping my skills up. I learned about website design and coding and was soon creating small websites for local businesses. One of those businesses ended up hiring me and I stumbled into the nonprofit world. Here, I grew my skills the most. Only at a nonprofit can one be tech support and the graphic designer at the same time.

Love for design

It was my love for home design that continued to pull me back and I started Everything Pantry dot com in 2007 at which time I sold a popular download named “The Complete Pantry Guide.” The EP site was substantially updated in 2022.

In a strange series of events, my domain was accidentally sold, and all of my content stolen in December of 2022. The week of Christmas, out of necessity, PantryPassion.com was born, bringing my established and original content over to it. Sadly, I expect the new owner to attempt to republish my original content as theirs, and I will continue to dispute it to wherever host the EP site moves to.

One thing that cannot be taken from me is my honest passion for the home environment, my interest in food preparedness, and residential architecture. I absolutely love to write about good design and house ideas. I’m having a ball getting to share all of this with you!