Pantry Makeover

There's something about an organized space that makes me happy and our pantry was far from organized.  I knew I wanted to give it a facelift and finally got around to it a few months ago.  We started with a basic builder's grade pantry.  It was functional, but they didn't make the most use out of the space.

Here's a look at where we started so you can fully appreciate the after.  

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The first step was ripping out all of the old shelving and patching the giant holes that were left behind.  I had to fill the holes a few times with spackling, sanding in-between coats.  

This gave me a clean slate.  I debated on whether to stencil the walls or use a pretty wallpaper, but I ended up going with the easiest most budget friendly option, paint.  It's not even a fancy color, just plain black paint but it works!  I knew the black would hide scuff marks from things getting shuffled around and I like the industrial moody vibe it creates.  

For the shelving I was honestly a little intimidated.  I'm very much a novice when it comes to building/woodworking.  That's part of the reason I put off this project for so long, but honestly it wasn't hard at all.  If I can do it, I promise you can too!  I'll try to explain this the best I can, but please feel free to leave questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.

Notice that white square on the bottom?  I drilled into a pipe!  We had to call a plumber to come fix it.   I'm honestly surprised that's never happened before!

I planned to use baskets on the lower shelves so I made those slightly deeper than the upper shelves.  The baskets I used are no longer available, but these are similar and have the same dimensions.  As you can see from the picture, I used 1 x 16 boards for the lower shelves to accommodate the baskets, and 1 x 12 boards for the upper shelves.  I felt like doing the narrower shelves up higher would make the space seem more open and less closed in.  I used these brackets for the larger shelves and these brackets for the smaller shelves.  They are the same brackets, just different sizes.  I made sure to drill them into studs for extra support.  In between the brackets I used 1 x 2's for additional support and to prevent sagging.  I also added those on the sides of the shelves for extra support.  I originally planned on staining the shelves but ended up liking the raw wood look.  I knew the screws on the 1 x 2's would be exposed so I used black ones to match the shelf hardware.  

If you don't have a saw at home you can have Home Depot or Lowes cut the boards to the size you need them to be.  I had them do that for the larger boards and I cut the 1 x 2's at home.      

It functions so much better now.  The kids know which baskets their snacks are in and I can see when we are running low on something.  I'm planning to add some labels to the baskets eventually too.  Here it is all loaded up with our stuff.  It's such a tight space and the lighting isn't the greatest so photographing it was tricky!     

We used a gift card to purchase these glass containers.  I am gluten free and eat mostly paleo so we have lots of different flours!

The plastic bins came from the dollar spot at Target.  I used white vinyl and my silhouette machine to make the labels for the bins and jars.  I have the original version from several years ago and definitely have gotten my money's worth out of it.  I've used it for so many things!

The magazine files are old from IKEA, but these are similar.  They're great for holding coloring books, stickers, and extra paper for art for the kids.

I picked up this little stool at Homegoods and it's perfect for reaching the top shelf.  These are similar.

I also switched out the builder's light for this one.

I think that pretty much covers it, but feel free to ask any questions below!