The Transformation, Part Two

Continuing on with the transformation theme (and a second posting so I could show you more pictures), I decided on Friday night that I couldn't deal with the pantry anymore. We couldn't find anything on the 18" shelves, mostly because we kept putting stuff in there that didn't belong, to get it out of sight. I have trouble enough getting motivated to cook, I don't need messy cabinets and pantries to contribute. I'd spent a great deal of effort in organizing the cabinets as we were moving in to ensure that everything had a place and was easily accessible, in an attempt to get motivated to entertain and cook meals rather than always going elsewhere. So far, it has worked (not sure if that is the only factor involved, but anything is better than nothing).

So, yesterday we got up early to take Ryan's car to the mechanic, stopped at the Farmer's Market and went to get coffee at Greenberry's...in the same plaza as Home Depot. So I said, "hey, we should go get shelving for the pantry" (which we had measured a few days before, and I memorized for just such an occasion). Ryan wasn't prepared for this, but I promised to do as much of the work as possible, and that it would really be worth the effort and money...so we bought it all and I spent the rest of the day working my tail off to complete my project.

Ryan helped me with the dirty work of course, in between yard work and stuff...busting out the wooden shelves and installing the new stuff, but I worked like a dog this time too, from noon until 10pm last night to get it done right. I (with some help here and there) sanded and cleaned the nastiness that was there before and fixed the bazillion holes with spackling, sanded again, painted and finally installed the new shelving (we worked together on the installation).

It was a gross place to put your food, really gross! So, even though the plan wasn't to work on this for a few months, I'm SO glad it is done...and Ryan even agreed.

Here are the before pictures, again with the old owner's stuff, because I forgot to take a before picture. Our version of it looked much worse, minus the cleaning supplies and safe:

And this is the pantry now! I even have my very own step stool for easy access. I can't believe how packed it was before, and how much room we have now. The top and bottom shelf on the left wall even have non-food items on it (which I originally was completely against) and we have oodles of space in there. Guess we can go grocery shopping now to fill it up...just kidding!

More to come on the transformation projects. I don't want to reveal the place just yet, but as we get furniture you'll really be able to see what we've done with the place. We're quickly realizing this is going to be a process, to get art work, bookshelves, and all the other accents we want, so we won't make you wait until all is "complete" for updates...but it is coming along nicely.

We absolutely love it here!