Pantry on Parade

This week we have been working on converting our seldom used "coat closet" (that's what a chair is for--to hold your coat!) next to the kitchen into a full-fledged pantry! It was clever Michael's idea to add some shelves to the closet for storing bulk food items and canned goods. You can see that the single upper shelf was just not doing it for us...


So, after my father cut and glued up some pine shelves for us (Thanks, Papa!) I cleared the closet of its junk and got to work painting. Flat white for the walls to brighten it up (there is no light fixture, alas) and semi-gloss white for all the shelves and supports. Then it was just a matter of putting up the shelf supports (using my hand dandy laser level). Lacking the special battery for my new stud finder (shouldn't it say "batteries not included" on the package!) I resorted to nailing into the wall every few inches in the vicinity of the stud. :) Lucky for me all those holes are now under the support brace. hehe.

Anyway, we now have four fine shelves ready for a plethora of pantry items. There is lots of room for the bounty from our next trip to Sam's. I keep finding things around the house that could live in the pantry--at this rate it will be full in no time. But that of course, is how my Mother's pantry came to be so disorganized! hehe. Mostly I'm just happy to get the cereal off of the floor and the beans out from under the couch. It is nice to be able to see all the food items you have in stock at one glance.

Mmmm... brownies....