Kitchen Reno: Phase #2
Today I finally finished a small kitchen project that I started in the month of March: Renovate the Pantry. My overall kitchen renovation plan includes removing three overhanging cabinets to increase the amount of light flow in the shared dining room/kitchen space. But before I call in the pros to tackle the job, I wanted to make sure my other cabinet space could accommodate the dishes from the proposed removal. My theory was that if I relocated almost all of the dry goods that were scattered throughout the other cabinets to one central location, namely, the pantry, the other cabinets would have more room for our plates and cups. My husband was originally skeptical (and some of our friends share his opinion). But I think my work has convinced my husband, at least, that we will not be without space once we open up our kitchen.
Here is my pantry before:
As you can see, my previous pantry space had two shelves missing. For some ridiculous reason, the shelves were mounted on plastic braces that were attached to the dry wall with plastic screws. One day, as I added a can to a shelf, the shelf collapsed.
To solve the problem, I asked my husband to remove all the shelving and braces. I then crack-filled all the holes and sanded it down. I proceeded to paint the interior of the pantry with two coats of Designer Series Beauti-Tone Paint (silk finish) in a color called "Ocean Breeze". The color is a very light gray/green/blue and it is identical to the color on my north/south dining room walls.
After I completed the painting, I called in a contractor to build me new shelves. (He is the same contractor who will design our new counter top.) He did a terrific job!
Over the past couple of days, I finally had time to reorganize my pantry (thanks to my husband hanging out with our kids in the back yard). I lined each shelf with a plastic protective cover that you can purchase at any hardware or department store. I added a few baskets for interest (I wanted my potatoes and onions in such baskets). I used empty mason jars for storing dry goods such as raisins, almonds, chocolate chips, coconut, etc.
Here is my pantry now:
(I apologize for the way Blogger sized this picture. It wasn't the way it was taken. Oh well! You get the idea anyway!)
On to Phase #3, which is already half done!
Here is my pantry before:
As you can see, my previous pantry space had two shelves missing. For some ridiculous reason, the shelves were mounted on plastic braces that were attached to the dry wall with plastic screws. One day, as I added a can to a shelf, the shelf collapsed.
To solve the problem, I asked my husband to remove all the shelving and braces. I then crack-filled all the holes and sanded it down. I proceeded to paint the interior of the pantry with two coats of Designer Series Beauti-Tone Paint (silk finish) in a color called "Ocean Breeze". The color is a very light gray/green/blue and it is identical to the color on my north/south dining room walls.
After I completed the painting, I called in a contractor to build me new shelves. (He is the same contractor who will design our new counter top.) He did a terrific job!
Over the past couple of days, I finally had time to reorganize my pantry (thanks to my husband hanging out with our kids in the back yard). I lined each shelf with a plastic protective cover that you can purchase at any hardware or department store. I added a few baskets for interest (I wanted my potatoes and onions in such baskets). I used empty mason jars for storing dry goods such as raisins, almonds, chocolate chips, coconut, etc.
Here is my pantry now:
(I apologize for the way Blogger sized this picture. It wasn't the way it was taken. Oh well! You get the idea anyway!)
On to Phase #3, which is already half done!