Friday, May 20, 2011

Don't Get Your Pantries in a Bunch

When we moved into our home there were many things that were so bizarre that I often had to remind myself that our home used to be two different living areas… One of the really strange things was the stacked washer and dryer in the kitchen. It was nestled away where a normal person would put a pantry.  This space was right next to the fridge and I had visions of a pantry – something we did not have in our apartment. This change was in the very beginning of our journey – seriously we put the washer and dryer on craigslist the day we moved in and someone came to pick it up that evening. Don’t worry we had another identical one in the basement (a more normal space for a washer/dryer). So I went to Home Depot with incredible visions in my head of a fantastic pantry – if only it were that simple.
On my first attempt to create the pantry I purchased 10 wall brackets (2 for each shelf) and some MDF boards (shelves) that I had Home Depot cut to my measurements. I wanted five shelves evenly spaced that would be the length and width of the nook. I began by looking for the studs so I could screw in the shelving brackets and they would be sturdy enough to hold canned foods and other heavy pantry items. I honestly thought that this whole project was going to take an hour. It took me over an hour just to get this far….and it wasn’t even sturdy. At this point I was starting to think I was never going to get a pantry.

After a meltdown I talked to HB’s dad who had built a pantry himself and he graciously offered to help me out.  My initial vision of what the pantry was going to look like and the tools to get it done were WAY off.
New set of supplies (aka successful supplies)
1.       1” x 2” wood slats – can be cut to lengths of your choice at the hardware store
2.       2.5” screws
3.       Stud finder (or keen knocking sense to determine where the studs were)
4.       Level
5.       Paint
The wood slats were attached to the interior walls of the space with the screws and spaced evenly about 15 inches apart so that they can hold the MDF boards on top. The level was used to determine that the wood slats that were going to hold the shelf were in fact level.  Once all slats were in place I painted them and the inside of the pantry crisp white and placed the shelves atop the slats and I finally had a pantry!


Now if only I could keep it organized and looking nice I wouldn’t worry so much about it not having a door.Yikes...looks like I need an organization system in there!

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