How to Install Pantry Shelves

For the inside, my idea of shelving was completely different from what Rick was thinking. He began building the shelves in the form of a bookshelf. After he built the first "part" of his idea, I knew the design was not going to work for me. So, our first major disagreement happened during the pantry install. What this meant was I had to implement my design of the shelves myself. And with a little lot of help from my stepfather, Ray. (Thank you so much for all your help Ray. I love you!)

I wanted to be able walk in the pantry, see all the items in front of me, and have very little wasted space on the shelves. I hate deep shelving in pantries. My last pantry was large, but it had really deep shelves. Items would get pushed to the back and get lost. I would find things months (sometimes years) later - not even remembering I had the items. Also, I had to get down on my knees to view the items on the bottom shelf. With this design, I rarely have to bend down to see something, even on the very bottom shelves. So nice.

Allison from House of Hepworths had this great tutorial on installing shelves in a closet. I basically followed her tutorial and created an L-shape set in my pantry.

I measured the height and width of the inside of my pantry. I marked where I wanted each shelf. I determined I would need five rows of shelves. I made sure I left enough room at the bottom (from the floor to the top of the bottom shelf) for heavy items I wanted to store. 

I went to Lowe's and gave the guy a diagram with all the measurements. I asked him to figure out how much material I would need. (Remember my lack of math skills?) Mistake. Verify they have it right. I ended up purchasing double the amount I needed because I didn't verify the guy's figures. Ughhhh!  Math. I hate math. Bites me again.

I came home and painted all the boards first. Mistake #2* 

I could've returned the extra boards if I hadn't painted them all first. It was on the second to the last board when the little light bulb went off and I thought I think I have too many boards. Duh!

*I want to clarify that it was not a mistake to paint the boards first. It was just a mistake of not counting the boards first!

We have plenty of shelves now to do the entire two houses. I have great plans for my craft room. And there will be lots of shelves over there, so I guess it isn't such a big deal. Except we have to store the wood for approximately two years now. Great.

Back to the story.

We started off with strips of 1x2 boards. Rick had marked the studs at the top so they were easy to see. Using the strips, Ray drilled 3" deck screws* into each stud along the right side of the back wall.

*Yes, it was probably overkill, but one of Rick's biggest fears was that this type of shelving would not be sturdy enough. There are no less than 300 - 3" deck screws in this baby. There will be no crashing down in the middle of the night, Rick. Thank.you.very.much.

He did the same process on the left side.

I bought 1x12 boards for the shelves. They came in 12' lengths. We sat the 1x12s on the edges of the 1x2 strips.

For the left side, we butted the ends of the 1x12 to the edge of the boards on the right side. Then Ray attached a piece of the 1x2 vertically where the L brackets would be placed. This was needed to position the L bracket correctly. If there is not an extra piece here, the brackets would not be able to line up under the shelf. Make sense? If not, see the picture below to better understand this.

Finally, he drilled the L brackets into the back side of the wall and the underside of the shelf like so:

I added a trim piece on the edge of each shelf. This gave it a finished look and also keeps things from sliding off the shelf.

I went back and used caulk to fill in gaps and nail holes. I also touched up the paint.

And here is the final product:

The left side.

 The right side.

 From the center.

Looking up into the right corner. I love how the ceiling planks extend through the top of the pantry.

This is on the inside right side. I found this little word art of spices from While He Was Napping. I just printed it out and placed it in a $3 frame from Walmart. Easy and cheap!

I got this sticker from Ross for $3. No one ever sees it but me. But I like it - it makes me smile every time I look at it.

Here's my cute little lamp. Everyone needs a little lamp on their pantry shelf - don't you agree?

 I use the top shelf to store all my serving pieces. It is so easy to look up there and see what I have instead of digging boxes out from under cabinets. Since they have been stored up here, I have used my pieces more than ever before.

And that is the inside of my cute little pantry. I still need to organize a little better. I have a lot of things in baskets and containers from Ikea and other places. I need to make labels for everything (I will be sure and do a separate post on that later) - I have tons of materials in my scrapbook stuff to be able to make some really cute labels.

If only my craft room was up and organized!

So the before and after...once again, just for fun:

Before:

After:

See, I told you that was fun!

Linking up with A Vision to Remember and:

 

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Building a Functional Pantry

When first deciding on the layout of my new kitchen, we debated on the area in the corner. Nothing would fit nicely there because of the way the wall with the windows lined up. See picture below. I like to look back at these old pictures and see the progress we have made!

After many hours of "looking" at things, we decided to make the corner area my pantry. At first, I didn't think I was going to be able to have much space at all, but once we decided to put the pantry in the corner, I ended having tons of space. I thought maybe the pantry was going to be too large, but I am so glad we went with the bigger size because now I absolutely love it.

To be honest, this whole design was 100 percent Rick. I was kinda nervous giving it over to him to see what he came up with. We are not always on the same page. I have an idea in my head and he has a completely different one in his. They don't always come together nicely. I try and find images online to show him when I know he isn't getting it. I have learned to show pictures even if it an elementary idea. Just.in.case.

He told me he was going to build me a little shelf up top. I was good with that. So he began the construction. I wanted the ceiling to come down through the pantry so I could walk in and look up and still see the pretty planks.

I didn't take many in-progress pictures because he mainly builds late at night since he doesn't have much time during the week. I am usually in bed way earlier than him because my day starts five hours before he even gets out of bed. So this next picture is going to jump to the pantry already sheet rocked.

He is so sneaky!

Everyone knows my affection for lamps. I think it is the bane of Rick's existence. I have lamps everywhere. If there is a plug, I most likely have a lamp. And guess what? There are two outlets on the back wall of this pantry. Bonus! I made sure to tell Rick not to cover them up when he was working on the back walls of the pantry. He asked me why I would need an outlet in a pantry. I can't believe I had to spell it out for him. Of course it is a perfect spot for a lamp. Not a big one. Just one of the cute mini lamps - you know, the kind with the nightlight bulb. Another bonus: we are able to run an extension cord from the lamp on the top shelf to the plug and I can easily turn my lamp on and off. Well, ok...turn it on. I never turn it off!

I painted the outside of the pantry Sherman Williams Kilim Beige. It took me no less than ten different paint samples to settle on my paint colors. (more on that later)

Looking at colors online are completely different than what they look at in person (hence the tons of paint samples). However, I think this is a good example of the color:

source

In my pictures, it looks a lot lighter than this. In real life, it is closer to the above sample. When I started painting, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. So I did what I do when I buy a gallon of paint and have not planned for the Oh no...I don't think I like this scenerio...I painted it and look at lived with for awhile. Turns out, I decided I liked it.

The jury is still out on the red color up top. Everyone who has seen in in person gives the thumbs up. There are days when I like it and other days - not so much. So we'll see. It is staying for now because there are 100 other items I need to do. This will probably be something I will come back to in a few years and redo.

Here are the most recent pictures of the outside of the pantry. We need to add crown molding along the top of the cutout (above the top shelf). This picture gives you a sneak peek of the inside of the pantry. The full post on the inside is coming next.

We installed the panels horizontally on the outside and inside of the pantry. I really like the look of this because I think it coordinates with the ceiling planks. I went ahead and painted the inside before installing the shelves. Much easier!

The door still needs to be stained (same color as the planks in the ceiling).

Here is a closeup of the etching in my door. It is hard to see in the other pictures but I seriously love this.

Next, the installation of the shelves on the inside of the pantry.



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