Pantry Refresh and a Few Other Small Projects

One would think by now that I'd learn to get my projects done prior to the start of football season.  But no, every year at this time it seems like I have a laundry list of things I want to get done before the end of the year.  So I work 6 days a week and then on my free Saturday I spend it in the garage building something or have a room or two in my house that is a disaster zone.  Poor Janie.  Always having to be jumping over boxes to go outside and potty.  She'll get over it.  

First lets start with something that I did a handful of months ago but just never showed any of you.  Remember in December when my step-dad was making all of those beautiful charcuterie boards?  Well I took home two of them for myself.  They are gorgeous.  I love them.  But they didn't deserve to just lean on the wall on top of the counter.  I wanted to display them.  I just couldn't find a spot that fit or made sense in my kitchen area.  

One day scrolling through FB one of those reels popped up and a woman added a little shelf to the end of her upper cabinets.  I immediately knew that's what I was going to do.  So I went into the garage for some scrap wood.  Literally.  Like this shit had paint all over it and screw holes from some other project.  I measured the space and put together 3 random pieces of wood to see if it'd work.  

That looked like it would work just fine.  I glued it, nailed it, sanded it, painted it the same white as the cabinets and installed it.  

Then I added the boards.  

And there you have it!  

Speaking of scrap wood.... oh my word I have a garage full of it.  All over the place.  Like sometimes I can barely get my car in the garage because there is wood everywhere.  I was talking to my dad one Saturday and sent him a photo of a wood storage cart, asking if we could build it when he was out here later that month.  He didn't seem to object so that was the plan.  Now I'd have something to organize all of this wood laying around.  

Well when he and my aunt arrived at the end of July, I started helping him unload the truck and there lies cut pieces of plywood.  Sneaky little shit went and pre-cut all of the wood in MA so that we'd just have to put it together in IN.  It was his surprise for me- which was awesome!  

I didn't take any during the process photos because we needed 4 hands to hold it and put it together.  But here is the end result.  

It was all cut from 2 full sheets of plywood.  If you are interested in something like this- I just searched wood storage cart on Pinterest.  There are a ton of them and most have step by step instructions, making the process pretty easy.  

Then we went through the entire garage and started stacking the wood in it.  Here is what it ended up looking like when all the wood was in it.  

So much cleaner and way more organized than what it was before.  And it's on wheels!  Hell yeah!

And now for the pantry!  This was just a quick update- changing the wall color and adding some decorative shelves.  

First- here is the before.  

Don't be trying to zoom in on my food, you Nosy Nelly's.  HAH.  Also, yes my pantry is very Sleeping With The Enemy.  After I cleared off the shelves, you'll see the wall color and brackets that were there before.  

The color is called Misty Surf.  It's a very pale and sedate Robin's egg blue.  I had it all throughout the house in various rooms but in the last couple of years started to get rid of all the aqua and teals.  This is one of the last few spaces that has it.  The pantry is right in the middle of the laundry room and powder room, that just got gorgeous makeovers.  {If I do say so myself}  Their walls are white.  Their accent color is black.  It really felt like this room also needed to change and be similar to those rooms.  So white it went.  

Dear god, that light.  It's the same one that was in the laundry room.... that I removed.  You can't see all of those reflecting circles when the room is full.  But it's awful when you are looking at blank walls.  

Then came time to add the brackets.  These are the same brackets I used in the laundry room for the shelves.  I had to remove a piece of the wood brace in order for the bracket to fit the depth of the shelf so rather than removing all of those pieces of wood, I just used my Dremel to cut out the size space I needed.  

I painted them white and then installed the brackets on the back wall.  Yes, in this photo the brackets are definitely NOT center.  However, they are center to the width of the shelf before it butts up to the right side shelves.  You'll see.  There is method to my symmetrical madness.  

And here it is with the shelves re-installed.  

Then came time to clean up my kitchen just a little bit.  The floor, table, and island were covered with the contents of the pantry.  For days.  Again, poor Janie.  

Oh and goodbye light.  Hello, new light.  Which is the same light that is now in the laundry room.  So much better.  The old light hung down about 9-10" and every time I tried to grab the cereal from the top shelf, I always hit the light.  Super annoying.  The poor thing was hanging on by a single wire I think.  This one is 3" from the ceiling.  It's also brighter in there from this light too.  

Next came time for the right side shelves.  Same process: removed the piece of wood for the bracket, installed the brackets, re-installed the shelves.  Now you can see how the back wall brackets are evenly spaced with the boards.

  

Anyone notice a door missing?  The door swung in to the left and behind it (to the left of the water panel) was where I hung my broom, mops, Swiffer, dust pan, etc.  The room is pretty tight to being with, but having the door not go all the way to the wall made it even worse.  It's so much easier to maneuver in there now without feeling like you are going to knock into something.  The door will not be going back up in the same capacity.  I've got some fun plans for it.  Might take me a little bit but I'll have another fun reveal.  I also plan to do something with a pullout draw on the bottom shelf on the back wall.  That shelf about 20" deep and that's where I keep all of the heavier small kitchen appliances.  So not only am I typically on my hands and knees trying to get something from under there, I also have to take almost everything off of the shelf to get the appliance I want.  Then put everything back once I finish.  It's not convenient at all and I think a pullout drawer is just the answer I need for that space.  So technically the pantry isn't done yet.  But it's far cuter than it was before!