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.