a laundry becomes a pantry

When we bought our house, there was a little closet in the kitchen with hookups for the washer and dryer. There were no doors and I was anxious to have that closed off. Scott was anxious with ideas of floods ruining his wood floor he installed. So, we moved the laundry to the basement (I've mixed feelings about that) and I was thrilled with the idea of a pantry!!

for awhile we lived with a big opening but some shelves inside to hold food. It was also nice to have a place to hang our coats.

In the last year or so, Scott enclosed the space and created a built in "mud room" that juts into the pantry. We decided there was plenty of space inside and this would give us a landing zone when we came in from outside. Once it is all painted we will put hooks for coats and it has a nice bench that I envision Maddy sitting on while I put on her snow boots and hat and gloves.

In the past months, Scott fixed sheetrock, mudded and taped and then installed wonderful shelving. It was my job then to caulk, putty nail holes and get to the priming and painting.

Maddy so desperately wanted to help. I let her paint a bit of the wall figuring that is was all white and wouldn't be noticeable. However, the best solution I found was to invite Jackson over for Saturday afternoon so that Maddy had someone to entertain her. They had a wonderful time together two weekends in a row, once at my house and once at Katie's house. What a blessing that free time was for me!

I didn't want to paint my shelves with multiple coats and I was worried about them getting all scratched up so Scott suggested I line them. What a great idea. I wanted something fun so went with a bright green. of course, once you fill the shelves you can't see the liners as well. I got a few baskets and containers to help organize things.

And, after years of thinking and slowly working, we have a pantry and the shelves full of food are no longer sitting in the main kitchen eating area. I'm amazed at how much bigger the kitchen feels without the clutter for the eyes to land of.

My favorite part? Funny thing is, it's this little basket. There is a small wall just inside the door that where the "mud room" juts into the pantry. I had thought about putting up small wire baskets (like you'd use in your drawers to organize utensils. I found two of these little wire baskets that were supposed to be for recipe cards. I brought them home, held them on the wall, and didn't like how they didn't lay flush on the wall, they kind of tilt forward.

So, I put some napkins in them (hey, a perfect fit) and thought, well they can sit on the shelf. Then I thought "wouldn't it be nice to have it right close so in case I need a quick napkin I can get to it fast, and wouldn't it be nice if I could also then bring it to the table at meals?" I hung a command hook on the wall (took too much time preparing those walls, couldn't stomach putting a nail hole in them) and hung up the napkins. They are handy just inside the door if I just need one and are also removable to put on the table! I know, it's not that ingenious but  for some reason, it just really makes me happy.

So there you have it, progress in our house. I am so, so pleased having the food all put away behind the door. Sometimes I find myself standing in the doorway just to look at our work.