Build a pantry

If you want something built, build it yourself....

Growing up in Georgia I was accustomed to pantries, I think every home in Georgia had a pantry.  When I moved to the Bahamas and we built our house it was the one thing I wished for but we never took time to build.  All of my dishes, china, storage containers, seasonings and canned goods were stacked in my kitchen cabinets.

If you’re a Bahamian you'll understand when I explain we built our laundry room on the back patio.  Later we enclosed it and built our family room.  That left some space between the house and the laundry room.

Over the years that little space served as a storage area for "anything you don't know what to do with".  Twice I asked persons to give me a quote on how much it would cost to install some shelves... they never got back with me.  My whole house is an eye sore, but that little spot was a major eye sore.  Then I remembered, I had a bookshelf in the guest bedroom that I wanted to get rid of, what if???  And then I remembered my friend who told me how she had one of the lumber stores cut her wood to size...  So I did some research on building a pantry, looked at pictures and took measurements.

Pictures that inspired me

Satisfied with what I came up with I drove to City Lumber to purchase my wood.  Those guys were very helpful, they also recommended what size screws to use and plugs, I would recommend them anytime.

This was my first attempt at building anything so I was a bit skeptical.  I had some problems getting the shelves leveled, and I used Liquid Nails, along with the screws just to make sure the shelves were sturdy.  The one mistake I made was when painting I thought I was using white paint but it wasn't until after the 3rd shelf I realized I was using light gray paint - but it's a pantry, nobody will notice and I won't tell!  All together it took me about 3 days (about 2-3 hours after work each day) and one weekend.  I did lots of sanding to make sure the ends were smooth.

BEFORE (main house left, laundry room right)

AFTER

  

Pushed to the back is the bookshelf, on the left are the shelves I installed.  I wanted to make sure the shelves were aligned as closely as possible.  My biggest difficulty was leveling; another set of hands would have made things easier.  Because there’s no overhead light I placed battery lights on the wall by each shelf, at nights each shelf can be illuminated.  I love pictures so I hung some pictures on the wall to the right.  Not only is it storage for my can goods it's also good storage for my small electrical appliances saving me lots of kitchen counter space.  It isn’t much, just some wood nailed onto the wall but I feel it’s one of my biggest accomplishments.  After 20+ years I finally got my pantry!

LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!