First thing is first...Thank you!
Everyday a la Mode celebrates its first anniversary in a couple of days! Thank you for your interest and comments! I love seeing the countries of my guests on the Live Traffic Feed. It's amazing to share common interests and connect with people around the world! It really is a very small world!
It's been a fun year and Everyday a la Mode has evolved so much! I have posted a bit about everything. Topics started a bit all over the place, but I have noticed that I have focused on two of my biggest passions over the past twelve months.
Various styles of photography have been covered in Everyday a la Mode over the past year, ranging from landscape to travel, abstracts to portrait, boudoir to wedding, silly to inspirational (I hope)! I love the capturing and creating beauty through photography! My other passion is organization! I never really thought about it at the time, but as a child, I loved to re-organize my closet and shelves. It was just very normal to me. I would move furniture around looking for balance in rooms. I wish that I had realized there are careers in the field of organization! It would be so awesome if my next chapter could be the fields of organization and photography! How sweet that would be!
My goal for Everyday a la Mode in the next twelve months is to continue to post about enjoying life more (please read my About Me, if you haven't had the chance yet). I love writing and sharing photos about what inspires me, so expect to see more photography, in various styles and techniques, and organizational topics.
Cheers to 2013 and more inspirations!
While we are on the topic of organization, on to today's post!
Finally! I have been wanting to update our pantry FOREVER! I have a serious case of pantry-envy-itis. Surfing around on the web, there are amazing pantries! I wanted one too! And, I needed another excuse to use power tools! :) I finally took the plunge!
Here is the reveal if you like to read the end of the book before the engaging plot!....
Pantry ~ Before Makeover
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| Before Makeover |
There is the old pantry that I started with.
The pantry is about 73 inches x 47 inches with one window and a swing-in door.
It had the old builder wire shelving. The shelves were starting to sag under the weight of the cans.
And, there just wasn't enough room! I needed to add on parts....like the hanging basket to hold small packets and hanging shelves at the bottom to hold lunch boxes. Bottles continued to fall over because of the wire.
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| Before Makeover |
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| Before Makeover ~ The support bar for this shelf stopped the door from fully being opened. |
During Makeover
I selected cabinet grade plywood for this project. It was very smooth and didn't require initial sanding and had very very few voids (I know noticed one total).
I had the pieces cut close to size at at the building supply store, so they would fit better into my car.
At home, I cut them to the exact sizes I needed and painted them Behr White with primer in semi-gloss.
Working outside was a challenge. We had AMAZING weather during the prior two weeks, but during this week of this project, we had heavy winds and cold weather. I kept plugging though on the project. I have been told more than once that I'm stubborn. I've decided that being stubborn must be one of the gifts that God gave me otherwise I wouldn't be so good at it. :)
To fit in the side shelf, I used a power baseboard cutter. The baseboard was a bit stubborn too, but the tool is very cool and the cut was very clean!
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| The top shelves are 16x47. The lower cabinet is 24x47. |
The deeper lower cabinet allowed me to install Ikea's Komplement drawers. The Komplement drawers are designed to go with Ikea's cabinets that have
pre-drilled holes. Since my cabinet didn't have pre-drilled holes, I
needed to make measure and drill the holes to hold the slides.
The drawers were easy to install though. I just measured from the front (about
2.5 centimeters) and from the floor (about 3 inches). Pre-drill holes
using the holes in the drawer slides as a guide. Then you can use the
screws that come with the cabinet. For the top drawer, I measured the
same distance (about 2.5 centimeters) from the front. Measure down from
the top enough room to store what you want to store in the drawer. Pre-drill holes using the holes in the drawer slides as a guide. Again, use the screws that come with the cabinet.
Put the drawers into the slides as indicated in the directions that came with the drawers.
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| Details | |
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This above pic shows extra details such as the baseboard around the center brace.
It also shows the trim I used on the end of the plywood. It is Screen molding. It worked perfectly! I used Liquid Nails to attach it with an occasional trim nail to hold it in place when it would slide.
Next, since the lower cabinet is 24 inches deep, I wanted to be able to use it as an extra serving space and wanted to be able to plug in things as needed. In fact, I'm now thinking this area may be a great coffee station!
So, using a hole cutter bit, I drilled a hole. Well, .....I
tried
to drill a hole. I have never used this type of hole cutter, so I just
attached it to my drill. I tried to drill, but the bit kept sliding. No matter how hard I pushed down, it slid and ate up the top surface. ARG!
What did you say? You asked if I read the directions?.....Well, ...not at first.
I found out it needs a pilot bit. So, I drilled a hole using a 1/4 inch bit into the center of the circle. Then, I inserted the 1/4 inch bit in the center hole of the hole cutter (not shown). WOW! That was much easier! Hole was successful! I just needed to repair the damage from the slide.
Another thing I added under the hole area is a multi-plug. I had the wall outlet installed a couple of years ago when we hired an electrician for a separate project. I put the multi-plug in a wire basket that I had around the house and hung it from two cup hooks. The additional outlets are in easy reach from the hole (shown in the upper right). A wine refrigerator will be in this cubby, so no one will over see the basket. Ha!
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| Allow access to plug hole by hanging a multi-plug in a wire basket, hung it from two cup hooks. |
Final Reveal and Details!
Before....
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| Before Makeover - Yuck! |
And After....What a difference!
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| I labeled the baskets using chalkboard labels. They are attached to the
baskets with brass fasteners (from the office supply section). |
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| Trimmed in something called Stop. (I don't know what it is, but it finished off the edges nicely.) |
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| The coffee station. There is a plug hole under the lazy susan. The lazy susan allows easy access to coffee supplies in the small corner. |
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| This angle shows the corner shelves on the left. It also shows the baking pan and tray shelf at the top. |
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| Shelves mounted in the corner utilize "dead" space over the trash can area. The bottom shelf has a 45 degree angle to avoid bumped heads while accessing the trash and recycling cans under the shelves. |
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| "Dead" space behind the door is used for mops and shopping bag storage. |
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| This view shows the drawers in more detail. I added a brace to stabilize the middle brace. A wine cooler is under located under the coffee station. I also store a folding footstool on top of the cooler. It was removed for the pic since it was not photogenic. :) |
Summary
This project took about 2 1/2 days, including drying time for the paint and cost about $300 total, including the drawers, a couple of new baskets, and a couple of food storage containers. I used several organizers and baskets and the shelf brackets that I already had.
A much better price than if I had hired the project out! I also have the satisfaction of knowing I did it myself! And, well, it also fixed my craving for power tools for a little while! :)
List of Sources
Cabinet paint ~ Behr White with primer in semi-gloss (Home Depot)
Wall paint ~ Behr Pale Bamboo in satin (Home Depot)
Drawers - Ikea Komplement
Cabinet wood ~ Cabinet-grade plywood (Home Depot)
Trim on the cut side of the plywood ~ Screen molding (Home Depot)
Trim on top of lower cabinet and under shelves ~ Stop molding (Home Depot)
Chalkboard Labels ~ Martha Stewart collection (Staples)
Shelf brackets ~ They are about 7 years old, salvaged from old shelves I had before this house. I think they were from Lowes.
****Now for the blah-blah-blah..... I did not receive compensation in any way for this blog. I encourage you to read my full disclosure statement if you want the bits and details.
Do you have pantry-envy-itis like I do? What is your favorite organization tip for your pantry?
Enjoy More!
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