Pantry!

We have never had a pantry. In all of our apartments and homes that we've lived in...never a pantry. What is that? I have gotten used to using cabinet space but this kitchen was feeling really tight. You can see from the picture of when we moved in that there is hardly any cabinet space let alone a pantry.  

To remedy the no pantry we got a shelving unit from Ikea. It worked for a while but having an open shelving pantry in the kitchen with a toddler wasn't the best idea. 

Enter the coat closet. If you look in the next picture we have a coat closet just around the corner from the kitchen. 

We didn't use it for coats. We used it for our vacuum and broom and a dumping ground for everything else. It was basically one big junk drawer. What a waste of space. First I started with cleaning it and painting it inside and out.  

After I painted it the closet continued to be a junk pile. This is when I brought up the idea of maybe turning it into a pantry. Once I told Brian about the idea it took him no time at all (probably 6 hours over a couple of days) to make our new pantry. 

He also surprised me with hooks outside of the closet for coats :)

What an improvement! I hate wasted space and I am so happy to have an organized functional use for this closet. I would love to take credit but my only involvement was the idea and part of the plan. Brian did such a good job for his first ever custom shelving. You can call him Dean......Kurt Russell in Overboard...anyone.... 

Hooks for the brooms and swiffer.

He made the shelves adjustable (his first time doing that). He also used a router to round the edges of the shelves. 

Amelia is thrilled as well. 

I still have some touch ups to do but the closet is already being put to use so those will come in time. Every project we do makes this house feel more and more like ours. It's projects like this that really make me love DIY work. 

It's The Little Things

I love doing large projects but I think that it is the little touches that turn a house into a home. In the past few months we have slowed way down but I have started to do small projects here and there. 

A fireplace mantel is always hard for me to decorate. I don't like things too busy but mantels need to be accessorized. The pictures in the shutter frame are from left to right: Santorini, Huntington Beach, Yellowstone. The pictures in the smaller frames are: Brian and Amelia at the Nubble light house and Brian surfing in Santa Cruz. 

 I added a jar (I loooove glass jars) to the mantel to collect shells from our beach trips. We usually hit the beach once a week and Amelia loves collecting rocks and shells. Occasionally a shell will find its way home and they have been landing in our jar. We even have some shells from Hawaii, California, and North Carolina in there. 

We also made some small changes in our entryway. I'll give you a little before photo to remind you of where we started. 

We changed the bulb on the light fixture. Eventually we want to replace this all together but it is definitely an upgrade. 

We also added a little art to the walls. We hung my painting above the door (it fit perfectly) and we also hung a couple of pieces in the stairway.

I was always struggling with what to do on this wall. It is such a large odd wall. As I was going through my frames I found these 3 11X14's that I have had forever. I also do some sketching or writing in a sketchbook from time to time. I pulled out a couple of sketches, put them in the frames, and there you have it. Simple and cheap, my favorite. The side pieces were inspired by some prints I liked on Pinterest. The piece in the middle is the lyrics to our wedding songs (better together & angel by Jack Johnson) written out.

One of these days I will spring for some art but we aren't quite there yet. In the meantime our little touches are homemade but very personal.

ps. We are working on turning our coat closet into a pantry right now. Wish us luck!