New Pantry - Part 2

Remember these lovable knuckleheads from my post New Pantry - Part 1?

They came for a visit one weekend and transformed this baron space by building me a new pantry to replace that itty-bitty broom closet pantry that my house came with. It was a deep, dark, cave-like pit of despair (yes, it's that narrow door on the right - what a joke, right?).

Here's the initial after photo - still needed to be painted inside and out, and have shelves installed, but the completed project was in sight - Whoo-hoo!

I was going to tackle the painting myself, but I was kind of dreading the thought of painting the inside of the 14-inch deep, 9-foot tall space, when a young man in our church announced that he was starting his own painting business - Yeah!  so I hired him.  BUT, he wasn't interested in installing the shelving.  

So hubby agreed to install the shelves for me. Because this pantry is only 14-inches deep, the selection of shelving I could use is very limited. I couldn't decide between white laminate shelves, or tight mesh wire shelving specifically designed for pantries. I finally decided on the tight mesh wire shelves. We went to buy them yesterday, but we didn't know the 12-inch wire shelving has to be special ordered, so we opted for the white laminate shelves, which were in stock and available.

I'm actually very pleased with them - they're much higher quality than I expected. I wanted to load them up with lots of heavy things, and I didn't want the shelves to ever bend or bow, so hubby installed 5 metal support (one on each stud - such a man thing to do). Then he patiently moved the shelves up and down several times while I played around trying to decide where to put everything. He's such a good guy!

And here it is! I'm so happy!!!

Believe it or not, all of that stuff came out of the itty-bitty pantry... amazing!  Eventually I'm going to transform the old pantry into a storage closet for all my pots and pans... I have a ton of them, so stay tuned!

Update - Here it is, my newly transformed pot/pan storage closet.

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Thanks guys - I LOVE my new pantry!!!!

New Pantry - Part 1

Get a load of these two knuckleheads. Truth be known, they're not really knuckleheads, they're family (aren't they cute?!). They do renovation and construction work, so I asked them if they would come for a visit and build me a pantry.

Guess what... they did!!!

For 4 years, this space was home to my rolltop desk, but from the first day I stepped foot into this kitchen, I envisioned a wide pantry on this wall. See that tiny little broom closet on the right? Well, the contractor who built my house thought it would be a sufficient pantry. It probably would be sufficient for some families, but I cook big for our brood, so I found this broom-closet-in-disguise to be grossly inadequate, not to mention very difficult to get things in and out of because it's so deep and narrow.

So here we go... this project took a weekend, which included spending several hours at the hardware store buying all the supplies, frequently stopping for meals, watching a little TV here and there, taking a nap or two, and going out for dinner one evening because the kitchen was filled with drywall dust (gasping... need air... help.....).

There was no rush. They gave up their weekend to come to my house, so I wanted them to take their time.

First stop, Lowe's. Men aren't supposed to enjoy shopping, but I think these two were having a pretty good time!

Finally, after waiting 4 looooong years, it was really starting to happen... I was giddy with anticipation!

Whoo-hoo... it's coming along... looking good!!!

WIDE doors - happy, happy!!

Hooray - the doors are installed. Now we need drywall.

I like drywall!

Can you see the door knobs? I worried we wouldn't find ones that matched the existing doors, but we did.

Hooray!!! Can you see me doing cartwheels??? All it needs now is a little paint and some shelving. Stay tuned!

Update... the pantry is complete - click here to see.

Okay you two... ya done good!

Hey, while you guys are still here, what do you think about the possibility of maybe installing some beadboard in the guest bathroom...