Home Improvements

Home Improvements and

My first “carpentry” project…

When I purchased the home there was a small, very awkward closet in the kitchen area. It didn’t take long for me to decide that it shouldn’t be a closet but should be a pantry.

First came the demolition: removing the “faux” wood paneling (which is ALL OVER THE HOUSE), the oversize and unusable wooden sliding wood doors (which I’ll use for a later project) and the few “press-board” shelves which were put up on ugly metal frames.

It wasn’t easy but it was quite satisfying.

Then I came upon a page in a home magazine of this shelf and realized, no ordinary pantry would do!

So, I built one of my own. I couldn’t find the spindles (“railing”) that I needed at any of the big box hardware stores so I improvised and bought various lengths of wooden table legs.

Here is the finished project.

My biggest concern was of course, weight – I didn’t want to worry about anything on the shelves come crashing down. So, I started with a simple 2 x 4 frame

For the shelves, I used a high-grade piece of plywood, cut down into 16 inch by 48 inch pieces. On the back of the 2 x 4 frame I attached a piece of bead-board.

I attached the back of two of the shelves with wood screws (don’t forget to pre-drill – it really makes your life so much easier) to the 2 x 4’s and attached the back of the two middle shelves to 1 x 1’s. For the front, I drilled and used wood dowels to secure the legs to the shelves. Some of the legs had to be cut to fit.

Because the area is a bit dark, I decided to brighten it up a bit with gold/yellow paint.

The absolutely best part is that the shelves are at the perfect height. The microwave fits like a glove (no longer taking up valuable counter space) and the shelves are high enough in some areas to store tall items like cereal boxes and pasta canisters.

You can sort of see from this photo that on the right side, I've left enough room for a small wine refrigerator. On the left side, there is another shelf designed for larger items like those huge packages of toilet paper and paper towels and pet supplies.

Now I can’t wait to stock it.