Once Upon a Cedar House: 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!