Pantry Perfection!

It's high time I document some of the projects we've done around the house in the last year and a half. First off, the pantry. I was inspired by the pantry at House of Smith's blog. While most projects around here are my brainchild (um, well, with inspiration from Pinterest) and Brent's brawn, this one was actually executed by me entirely (Brent was busy using his brawn to instal hardwood floors at the time). I started off with wallpaper from Lowes. I love the taupe/champagne colors and the arabesque pattern. Although you can't see the wallpaper very well in the photos, it adds a great element and also protects the walls from scuff marks. 

I bought the wood at a local hardware store. I bought a plywood sheet and had the hardware store cut down into 12" deep strips. I laid out the boards and painted them before cutting down to size and installing. I placed my shelves about 12" apart. The spacing is good--works for everything I have.

After the shelves were installed Brent routed around the front edge that wraps around in a u-shape. Master carpenters might be aghast that we routed the edge of plywood and painted it. Yes, an extra trim piece would have been more professional, or paintable iron-on edging would have worked too. But, truthfully I think the routed edge looks just great.

The door--I love the door! I bought the door, hinges, and crystal knob from an architectural salvage shop located in Rockland, IL for $65 (plus gas to drive out there--about 1-1/2 hours from me). I found the shop on craigslist.com. The shop is huge and has lots of great salvage stuff at much better prices than I saw in the Chicago salvage shops, they'll ship too - Frank 815-964-3785. I purchased the door before we finalized the dimensions of the pantry (we gutted the whole kitchen, so we had the luxury of determining the size of the pantry opening). I knew I wanted a narrow opening so I could have more wrap around shelf space. I also knew I wanted a door with a glass window. Frank sent me photos of the choices he had that met my requirements and low and behold we found one that worked perfectly (he had hundreds to choose from, two of which met my requirements). We finished the pantry opening to meet the dimensions of the door. I refinished the door myself and had frosted tempered glass installed from a glass shop in town for $65. 

I'm happy I went with a narrow door (23-1/2" wide) because a wider door opening would have elminated the wrap around shelving. The wrap around shelving literally doubles my storage space. What would have been a standard smallish pantry, actually has a lot of space because of the wrap around.

The glass jars came from Walmart (about $12 each for the glass lid variety, less for the metal lid variety), the chalkboard stickers and tags were a one-time deal from GroopDealz, but there are a lot of choices on Etsy (I'm also told there might be a Martha Stewart brand at Michaels--but I didn't see them online). The can racks on the lowest shelf are CanRack brand from Amazon ($20 each, I used 3). The baskets and bins were repurposed from other projects around the house.

So there it is! The pantry. Surprisingly it stays fairly well organized and doesn't require a lot of work to keep it looking pretty. Truly one of my favorite rooms in the house.

Kitchen wall color is Restoration Hardware Silver Sage (mixed in Sherwin Williams Superpaint), Cabinet color is Benjamin Moore Linen (with gray detail glaze), floors are Asian Walnut (Acacia), walnut color, from LW Mountain (purchased from Floormart in Lake in the Hills, IL), lights over the bar are from Overstock.com, cabinets are custom made by Heirloom Woodcraft in St Charles, IL, countertops are Bianca Romano from MSI via Newport Designs.