Summer Project Series: The Pantry Overhaul

If you happen to be my Facebook friend, you will have seen the great pantry overhaul taking place over the past week. I have been thinking about and planning for this little remodel for most of the school year, so you can imagine my glee at having it finished!

Hubster and I bought the family ranch a year and a half ago, when his parents decided it was time to move on and do something different. We have loved being here at Sage Creek, and slowly but surely, we are putting our own touches on the place.

The pantry is the latest of these projects.

A well-organized pantry is one of life's underrated pleasures, let me tell you! The type-A personality in me loves things that are well-organized and easy to use. I also like things to be clean.

Up until this week, my pantry was neither of those things :-(

Since we live in an old house and it's out in the country, we have mice. I have come to accept that even with trap and cats, I will never be able to eradicate them all together. That being said, I HATE THEM!!! And I hate them even more when they are found in my pantry.

So this project was born out of a great desire to mouse proof and organize the pantry.

I did lots of research as I planned (and by research, I mean Pinteresting...) my new pantry, and learned cool new things like how deep shelves should be (never more than 12"), and how to arrange things in the most practical manner.

All my newfound knowledge culminated in Hubster helping me rebuild the pantry.

We made a sojourn to Casper last weekend, where we visited Menards to get supplies. Hubster and I bought primer, paint (the most awesome orange color called Gadzooks), shellac, lumber, and basket drawers.

The Pantry Overhaul had begun!

We began with simply emptying the pantry, from top to bottom--nothing was left in the space!

Once it was stripped down to nothing, we yanked all the old shelves out and cleaned the space like crazy -- we disinfected, washed the walls, cleaned the floor.

Then we plugged the two new mouse holes (ARGH!) with steel wool, after sticking a pack of natural mouse deterrent into the holes. We then filled the stuffed holes with expanding sealant foam. Whew!

Then I started painting. I primed the space all over before painting the accent wall with Gadzooks, and painting the other walls with an eggshell color called Navajo White.

Gadzooks!

While that paint dried, I went out to the shop and shellacked the boards that Hubster cut for the new shelves.

Once it was all dry, we placed trim along the floor to seal the mouse holes, then sealed the trim on the top and bottom with clear waterproof shower calk sealant. Take that, mice!

Hubster helped me place the shelves back in the pantry, and hung a neat little pegboard for extra storage.

I might have a slight obsession with pegboards...

Then it was time to start placing things back in the pantry.

The only real setback in the project was the fact that my awesome drawers from Menards didn't quite fit into the space. So Hubster took on what turned out to be a tough project: turning to plain wire baskets from Target into basket drawers for root-veggie storage. While it took a little more time than he planned, Hubster totally conquered the day and made these gorgeous hanging baskets for me.

It's quite handy being married to a machinist/welder

Once the baskets were installed, it was time to put the rest of the pantry goods back on the shelves and move on with life, appreciating how much of a difference a well-organized pantry can be.