Pantry

I found this door/pantry on a blog post last week. I knew I had to have it, so I set about searching for antique screen doors. This was a problem because my pantry door is only 24" wide. Apparently most house doors are wider than 24". Go figure. We supersize everything, so we need wider doors.

Because I couldn't find one to fit, I decided to design my own. At this time, I shared with Mr Farmer what my plan was. He wasn't nearly as excited as I was. That's odd. He loves when I add to his list of things to do around the house, especially with projects that aren't necessary. He thought he'd deter me by saying that I had to clean and organize the pantry first. After a discussion about this, I realized I was wrong and needed to do what he said if I wanted a new pantry. That's the way our discussions typically go. He tells me something. I fight and think and fight. Then I realize he is smarter than he looks and much wiser, and I give in and do it his way. It stinks being wrong so often in life! I guess that's the difference between someone who thinks first and speaks second, and me. I come up with all the dreams and ideas and he is stuck trying to execute them.

So, I set to work. I removed everything from inside the pantry and set it on my counters. I can't believe how much stuff was in there! Baby exclaimed, " We look like hoarders, Mom!" She was right.

I threw away 3 garbage bags of stuff. Things I didn't want. Opened bags of stuff. Outdated things. EMPTY boxes put back in the pantry--EMPTY! I also emptied many packages into antique Ball canning jars.

Once everything was put back into the pantry, it looked better, but not great. And I still had no screen door.

I was proud of my work as I showed Mr Farmer the cleaned pantry. I think he thought it would take me weeks to get around to cleaning it out, therefore giving him more time before he had to start the project. HA!

I took measurements of the pantry and the existing door. We made our list of  needed materials. He took a day off of work (not just for this project). We went to Menards on Wednesday evening and bought what we needed.

Can I take a second and tell you how much I LOVE home improvement stores? They are just filled with dreams waiting to be realized. The smell of lumber. Isles of things waiting to be made into something unique. Tools to create. I get giddy just thinking about it.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Thursday morning comes, and we jump out of bed. Wait. That didn't happen. We had our coffee and then got moving. I emptied the pantry again. This time everything fit on our dining room table. We removed the old shelves and scrubbed down the walls.

Then, Mr Farmer went to the shop and made the new shelves. After dry-fitting them, we started to paint the inside of the pantry. The shelves and walls were all done in an antique off-white color.

Next, we went out to the shop and began construction on the screen door. I will describe the door's construction in more detail in a later post.

After all the paint had dried on the shelves, we organized everything.

There are hooks for my mops and broom.

My dustpan and flyswatters have a home now, too.

This is the finished pantry. I LOVE it. It turned out so beautifully!

Now, it should stay this nice if I never have to get groceries again. And the kids never enter the pantry for anything. Ever.