Pantry Overhaul

Here's the thing about dirt: it's gross, and it's much much grosser if it's someone else's. 

Cleaning the house before we moved in was not a fun job, but the previous owners were clearly not dirty people, and relatively speaking, the whole place was already in really good shape.  

Even so, there was no way I was putting my food in here:

PANTRY UPDATES

Step 1: The original plan was to replace the contact paper and call it a day, but the shelves looked even worse underneath.  They were porous, and bowed, and honestly, a little smelly.

So we ripped 'em out.  It was pretty fun.

Step 2: Painted the floor, spontaneously, without priming - oops. It turned into a sticky mess.

Step 3: Spackled and sanded a bunch, and painted the inside of the pantry the same green as the dining room, and primed and repainted the floor.

(This was taken after only one coat on the walls; the second looked perfect, I promise)

Step 4: Replaced the door.

Did you catch how I said that as if it was a simple, quick, easy little task?  It wasn't.

Even though the door was the appropriate size, it didn't close.  After a lot of planing and sanding, it did close, but after repainting the sanded edge, it didn't again.  We were frustrated, so we abandoned the cause for a while.  Then autumn arrived early and the temperature dropped by 25 degrees, so the door now works.  I guess we'll deal with it next summer...

 

Step 5: Installed melamine shelves from Lowe's.  Lesson learned: they will not cut this particular kind of shelf to size for you.  Husband cut them with a circular saw, and yes, he still has all of his fingers.  I know, it's quite impressive.

Step 6: Sealed the floor with two coats of polyurethane to make it super hard and durable.  It was supposedly "clear gloss", but clearly tinted my floor yellow.  I considered getting a rug or something to cover it, but ultimately decided that I don't care that much.

Step 7: Collected some baskets and shelves, threw the food in there, and have since spent many hours trying to figure out the best way to organize it all.  It's still a work in progress, but here we stand at the moment.  Ignore the mess, please.

Project: Pantry reno.

Cost: Low-Moderate

Payoff: Well, we have a place to store food now, so there's nothing to complain about.  I think it's a big improvement!

BEFORE                                                AFTER