Our new house was driving me crazy because the builders did not make a useful enough pantry. Here’s how I made a much better pantry for just $10!
Inexpensive $10 Pantry Makeover
We moved into this house in May 2011. This was my pantry and for 6 months it’s been driving me crazy! I just had to organize my pantry!
As you can see it was a mess. We couldn’t find anything and everyone just kept digging through stuff trying to find what they needed and then made a bigger mess.
I had been going crazy trying to figure out how to organize my kitchen. This is a brand new house but it was designed by men who have never used a kitchen. After spending 6 months trying to figure out some way to organize my kitchen and get all my stuff in there instead of sitting in the garage, mom came up with the idea for me to put my pantry in the coat closet by the garage door instead of where it was “supposed” to be.
I have a hall tree and another closet by the front door that we use for coats instead. (We still can’t park in the garage… yet. :-) (Note from Mike: Oh, the horror, the horror!)
So I started to paint. Here is what it looked like before. There was one shelf about 2/3 of the way up that I had already taken down. Of course I had “help” painting. I used about $5 worth of paint. The original peach I chose was too dark, almost neon, so I mixed it half and half with white I already had and then it was perfect.
Then I got busy making shelves. Since we are in a new construction area, we’ve been doing a lot of dumpster diving for 2×4’s, plywood, sod, shelving, windows and all kinds of stuff. (Yes, I asked permission.) So I took some of the plywood and 1×2’s that we found and cut them up to make shelves. Then I painted them.
I painted the 1×2’s the same peach as the walls and painted the shelves white.
Then I started putting in the shelves. Since I’m sick, the whole process took me about a week to do. :-)
Here is what it looked like after I got the shelves in and loaded.
This is also when Jack decided to make the old pantry his new “house’.
You might notice that the shelves with the canned goods are sagging so I had to take some of them out, get thicker pieces of board, cut and paint and re-install them so they wouldn’t collapse. If you are making shelves for canned goods MAKE SURE THEY ARE 3/4 INCH at least!
Then I decided to decorate. I had some readers ask, “Why would you decorate a pantry?” Well, I look at it many times a day every day so I thought, “Why not make it look good”!
So I went for it and I LOVE it!! Now I wish I could pull up a chair and just sit and admire my pantry. :-)
First I put in all my crates. I have collected and hauled these crates around for 17 years and 14 moves but never have found a really good use them. Now I love what I did with them.
Then I added some metal seed packet signs on the side with an old trowel from my great grandmother.
Then I made a door hanging. Mom found the base at the thrift store for me and gave it to me for Christmas one year. I just love it but never could find a good place to hang it. Now I can see it every day and just love it!!
It took me about an hour to get it done and what a mess! Of course, Jack kept helping!
Now that it’s done, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!
Then I added eyelet lace. I have always loved the look of the shelves from the 20’s where they put the paper lace on the edges of the shelves. You can’t really find it anywhere now so I just used some eyelet. I had 2 yards already so I did have to buy 4 yards ($5). Then I just hot glued it to the edge to cover up the ugly plywood. Even painted, the plywood looked bad. Doesn’t the lace just make it look like a farmhouse pantry!
Then because I am a “lover of all gnomes”, I just had to put in some my almost 50 gnomes. I hot glued them to the shelves so they wouldn’t fall down.
I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new pantry! After working 2 weeks total to get it done, I’m ready to sit back and admire it! Tawra
did you add the chimes to the door hanging so you could hear if anyone was getting into it? :)
Andrea, not at first but it has come in handy for just that!
I LOVE IT TOO! Wish I had one like that. I will have to work on my laundry closet that is in the kitchen :-)
What an inspiration! I love your new pantry. I saw Martha always lines her shelves with lace and I like your eyelet better and the gnomes just sets it off.
Great job!
I picked up several packets of that eyelet vinyl lace at a garage sale a year or so back. The only problem it’s not gathered so I haven’t used it much. Don’t know why I didn’t think of using real eyelet that is gathered. Didn’t think of it. Now I’ll have to pick some up. Thanks for your post.
use your vinyl eyelet just pleat it and staple it as you go along. have seen it done that way and it looks great. A dab of paint on any staples that show and you never know.
I might do that but with cats who enjoy hanging from fringes not a great idea in my kitchen.
You did an outstanding job and have inspired me to try again with my kitchen.
Very good job!! It looks great, too. Your hard work paid off.
Love it! Great job and great ideas! WHEN I get my own pantry (owned versus rented home) I would like to implement some of your ideas! Love the lace idea and is that red checkered shelf liner? I also have some old wood boxes I look forward to using as well as some old glass bottles to decorate with. They’re currently at my parents. Enjoy you’re new creation!
My dream house has a roomy pantry in it; I had to change the design a little for that:)
I had the same problem and also having a “coat” closet and “linen” closet decided to utilize them to their full potential. The first thing to do was sort through the coats and linens and amazingly how many weren’t being used, those were donated and the small amount that was left found a new place. The coat closet is in the hall across from the kitchen so I used a tall bookshelf, didn’t have to worry about cutting wood, whew, and it fit great. I too go by and open the door to admire my new pantry, I love it. Lucky for me the linen closet already had shelves and I use it to store all my HBA prducts. Women are very resourceful!
I love love love your pantry. Good jog, and what great ideas.
Thanks for sharing
I love it, too! I am a firm believer of the “I have to use it often, so I am going to make it pretty” school of thought. I get ridiculed by my family all the time, but I don’t care.
I love your use of the crates, and the addition of your gnomes!
We are getting ready to re-do or re-locate our pantry too. Will mean moving my 6 shelf cookbook collection to the former pantry and putting doors on them. But it will be handier for getting at the goods inside. Right now we have a small freezer in the area in front of the original closet (we had made it a pantry) and I can’t open the door the whole way. The inside is not squared due to the layout of the kitchen. Can’t re-do that so it will be easier to swap area’s. We found a smaller double door pantry at Lowes, on sale for $50 down from $149. Much cheaper than the wood would have cost at over $100. We plan to sit it in the closet, and shelve my books there, and room on the side to put my broom, Swiffer Sweepers, etc, and room on top to put a large shelf for my large cook pot and travel pans. Of course I think it is time I give up some of my cookbooks. Hate to do it but some are more important than others so shouldn’t be too hard. Thanks for sharing you project. Always enjoy visiting your site.
Your pantry is a work-of-art! I especially like the old crates…adds character.
Love your new pantry, wish I had a closet like that! Unfortunately I only have one coat closet, and my pantry is like your old pantry except with only one door so I only have half the shelf space and they are deep so nothing ever stays organized. Good job on your pantry, if I only had one or two more closets in my house I could really use them.
Have a great Holiday Season and keep all the great frugal ways of living coming.
This looks just lovely – country/farmhouse kitchen! I adore it … what a wonderful job! thanks for posting pics : )
Very homey looking! Really like it.
I love the idea of the eyelet lace on the edges. My pantry looks like your before picture. There’s plenty of room, just nothing is organized. Yet. Thanks for the inspiration!
You did an amazing job, and it all comes from the heart!
Thanks for inspiring! More with less. I love it!
Julie
If you would nail a 1X2 on the back wall under each shelf and nail another 1X2 on the front of the shelf for a facing board, it would help to strengthen each shelf.
Wow, it looks so good! I bet it is a wonderful upgrade from the small cabinet. I just have to say that I am in LOVE with the door hanging. So adorable!
Great job .Love it Your coke crate .Might be worth allot on Ebay .If you ever want to part with it
Anything coca-cola is very collectable.
Enjoy your new pantry and glad to see Jack has his own hang out. Enjoy your holidays as well We enjoy your news letter and find all the tips and resources helpful
Tracy
Cute ideas! If you didn’t want to use fabric eyelet, you could use a paper punch (that makes an eyelet look) at a scrapbook store with white paper. Just punch out several sheets and fold in half lengthwise. Slip the unpunched side under the shelf liner. That way, when it gets dusty, you don’t have to clean it. Just throw it away and punch more paper.
My husband did the same thing for me but he built a spice rack on the inside of the door. It is the full length of the door with different size shelves. He put metal rods on the front of the shelves to keep the cans from falling out. We also store our dried tomatoes, dried onions, dried mushrooms, etc. from our garden in containers on the shelves. I love it!!!!!
Terrific job! You should love it. It looks great. You will really enjoy it now. I love the lace on the shelves.
Love your pantry! We have recently moved from a new home that had a pantry to an older home (belonged to my grandparents) which has no closets. We bought a plastic shelving unit from Lowe’s (<$15). I put the red checkered shelf liner on it, but the lace idea would be a great addition to its shelves. It wouldn't look so plastic-y. I have also used paper doilies on shelves before too. When they get dirty or a can rusts on them, just toss and grab another. You can also bend them to hang over the shelves for the eyelet look. Thanks again for such wonderful ideas!
You did an outstanding job on your pantry! Love it, I was lucky enough when I bought my house years and years ago that I had a walk in pantry beside my kitchen and I can honsetly say that is my favorite room in the house. I have plenty of room and even a window. This is an old house but we have remodel it over the years and it is great! God bless you all!
I’m liking the bells-on-the-door idea! I have a few somebodies that eat food without authorization… I find cups, cans, wrappers and spoons around my house.
Yes, the pantry is cute too…
Have you ever heard of museum wax? It’s used help things stay put in case of an earthquake. (We live in California, not far from the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults.) The wax is not permanent, but it does hold things well! I used it to put my sister’s figurines on my mantel after she died. A little bit goes a long way… You can share with a friend!
I forgot to mention before that I also love the lace. There is something comforting about an organized pantry, isn’t there?
My poor kitchen pantry is in super-sad falling-in on itself shape. I may borrow your idea and recycle my pantry and make it “new” again. I LOVE the eyelet on the front of the shelves. We live near Kansas City and are so lucky to have 2 Habitat for Humanity resourse and resale warehouses. Last week I went to see what they had and they had 4 wire rolling shelves to attach to a cabinet so you can pull them out and access items in the back. I picked them up for $3 each. I’ve been wondering how to best utilize them and I think a pantry revamp is in order. I also picked up some simple door handles and pulls for 50 cents each to give my bathroom cabinets a spruce up.
You could install one shelf with the wood grain going in the other direction on top of the first to strengthen shelves. As for dumpster diving, I believe that they pay per load to haul them away and appreicate your helping to clean them out.
Yes that is what most people don’t realize. They are afraid to ask if they can pull things out of the dumpster and things like that but most of the time they are tickled for you to take the stuff because it saves them money. We use to go to a wood mill here in town and ask for their scraps of wood that they were throwing out to use for fire wood. They were so glad for us to take it.
Awesome Job!!!!!!!!!!
Tawra, loved your pantry, especially the ‘old fashioned’
look. However, I noticed a couple of green potatoes and
thought I’d tell you that they are toxic, especially to
little children. As potatoes like to breathe but have to
be kept in the dark, I put mine in a large wicker basket
and put a black lined tartan cloth over it. Perhaps you
could get some straw to cover yours over. Ditch the
green spuds! Love from Down Under. Chris
Yes, we don’t eat green potatoes but I just didn’t get them cleaned out.
I love the crates! I organized my pantry last year with those white wire shelves and now it’s just not working for me. I have an abundance of baskets I could use like your crates. Can’t wait to get started!
Wow – we don’t have a pantry or a spare closet and I am envious of your space! I store our food in a regular three-shelf upper kitchen cabinet and bigger items (vinegar, paper towels) on a desk that we are using as a microwave cart in the one corner of my kitchen.
Love the new pantry! Thank you for sharing your ideas and photos. So are the new pantry shelves wider side to side than the old pantry shelves, but shorter front to back? That’s what it looks like from the photos.
My husband built me a pantry in our old home, and I loved it! Hated to leave it 7 years ago, even though this place has twice as much space. The pantry here has shelves that are a little too deep, spaced too far apart, and sagging. Looking forward to designing our own pantry again when we build–hopefully in the next year or 2.
The shelves in my old pantry were just deep enough for 3 or 4 cans, so I kept rows of our usual ingredients. It was much more organized. Our present pantry ends up a jumble because the rows are TOO deep.
I like your creative use of space. We just moved into a tiny apartment that is only 3 minutes from our business location. Location does count for a lot, but I am straining my brain to find storage space here. There’s no pantry, broom closet, or coat closet. I placed the refrigerator about 7 inches from the counter to make a broom closet space. I’m currently working on a hooks on the wall arraingement for coats (first attempt fell off). As for pantry space, I’m just not stocking up on too much until I can create space for things. The dining room was too small for my dining room set, so I gave it to my son and his growing family, and got a cute smaller table and two chairs at the thrift store. I will use some of your ideas to take a fresh look at my space.
Sandy, have been in the same boat as you. You can always put your bed up on risers and use the storage under there. We bought some boxes that would fit under there and placed items not frequently used. That freed up valuable cabinet space. Agreed, second hand stores are a great resource.
Great job ! Love It! Did a pantry project in our youngest daughter’s room when she left the nest . Gives me enough room to stock up when prices are good. I rotate items from my ‘big’ pantry to my smaller kitchen pantry..jot down the items I have moved on my grocery list and replace next shopping trip. This way I always have a back-up supply. The ‘big’ pantry is about 25 ft. from the kitchen , but a lot closer than the grocery store !
I am also using a coat closet for a pantry. My son put the shelves in, and I have a 3 tier wire rack on the middle shelf to hold my cans. To have a normal pantry is on my wish list when I move. Thanks for the great ideas.
I did the same thing using a coat closet for a small kitchen, but added a cheap shoe bag on the door. It made a nice place for individual snack for kids like puddings, crackers, granola bars, etc.
I also converted a coat cupboard to a pantry for the storage of appliances , large pots etc. On the door I have an over the door rack on which I hang brooms, feather dusters, Swiffer mops etc.
I really like your idea of decorating the pantry . I have been putting my knick” knacks in plant pots outside. I can see how a few cheeky ornaments could make your pantry more cheerful.
I remember when we had the paper lace trim on our kitchen cabinet shelves. Boy, did that take me back! And your crates…I used to have a collection of old produce crates and soda pop crates. Unfortunately, when I married my ex didn’t want my stuff in his basement and got rid of it all, including my cherished crates. It was great seeing yours and how you’ve put them to such a clever use! Well done!