Pantry Build Out
Part One
No one likes Basic anything, especially your house. So It’s officially time to upgrade this house! The first thing on my list is the pantry! I know that some people think that a pantry is “just a pantry” but when you already have the most perfect butlers pantry in your current house, moving to a house that has a basic ClosetMaid Pantry is just a downer. So to combat that ‘bare’ and harsh look of white wire shelving, I decided to rip all of that out and add nice custom wood shelving.
Now, I don’t consider myself a hardcore DIYer yet. I feel like before I have stuck to making smaller things, painting, and maybe a little sanding. But with this, I was signing up to make these pantry shelves from scratch, like out of wood. Lol. I will admit that I watched a few TikTok’s and YouTube videos before actually decided to take on this project, but did I pay attention to any of the actual supplies or measurements, no I did not. Other than pieces of wood and screws, I had no idea what I needed. I know your questioning, “Alex from that point, I know you googled what you needed and the tools for this project!” Well, not exactly. I kinda did the whole dad stance and went to Lowes and stared at all the wood and then just let Lowes/God tell me what I needed. I’ll admit it, it was a Rookie move, but it definitely paid off, Thank God. I mean can you imagine me having to tell Robert and my Dad that 1: I didn’t google what I needed and 2: I just let myself gravitate to what I thought I needed and I got all the wrong supplies. To quote my husband, “that would’ve gone over as well as a fart in a wetsuit.”
Currently as you’re reading this, it is not finished, but that will be in Part 2. And I tried thinking of the best way to take you though the process that I have completed so far, and I think a Step by Step guide is the way to go, so lets get to it!
Slowly but Surely:
1. First and Foremost, we had to go to the house and measure out the actual pantry. I needed to see exactly how much trim I was going to need and the lengths of the shelves. I talked to my dad before buying anything and he said that I should buy Pinewood sheets and trim over plywood. Of course all I’ve seen everywhere is people using the nicer plywood, but I went with he pinewood as dad suggested.
2. Once I was at Lowes, this was on my original list of supplies to get.
4 pieces of 48” Trim ( I Used 3/4” X 2” pieces of pinewood for all of my trim pieces)
4 pieces of 47.25” Trim
8 pieces of 15.25” Trim
1.25” Wood Screws
2 pieces of 8ftX16in boards
2 pieces of 6ftX16in boards
Wood Glue
Obviously, or not so obviously, I bought 4-8 foot boards, knowing I was going to have to cut them at home.
** Get the screws that have the star tips, they are way easier to use and they don’t strip. We’ve all been there, we’ve all striped before, screws I mean. lol )
3. After Lowes, we went back to Builder Grade Central, set Finny up with plenty of snacks and his iPad and I got to work yanking those ClosetMaid shelves out.
**Just to warn you, if you have one of these systems in your house, they nail these into your drywall, not the studs. So filling those huge holes is defiantly in phase 2 of this project. **
4. I recommend pulling out the shelves, starting at the top first. But you do you, whatever floats your boat. Just yank that bitch out, doesn’t matter how you do it.
5. Once that was out, I made sure to remeasure the walls. My Husband and Dad made sure to both tell me, “Measure twice and Cut once”. I figured I could give them at least this.
6. Now it was the point that I was dreading. Using the Miter Saw. I will admit, I tried using a had saw at first, after about 3 cuts, I knew I had to face my fears of using the Miter Saw.
**Yes, this is the first time using this machine unsupervised.
Yes, I prayed that I would keep all of my fingers.
Yes, I contemplated Closing my eyes, I didn’t.
I took a deep breath, told myself it was time to nut up or shut up and that I could do this. I am a strong independent woman DIYer and I CAN USE THE MITER SAW WITH CONFIDENCE.
7. Because this is a bit intimidating, I only cut one piece at a time and then went and screwed it to the wall. I was honestly unsure if I was doing it right and worried that my self diagnosed dyslexia would screw me in these numbers and measurements. But after the first 48” cut, I did it, I cut that damn wood.
8. Originally I was using 2.5” wood screws to screw it to the wall, but I felt they were a little overboard, and they kept splitting the wood. So switched them out to the 1.25” screws, they worked much better. I know that the bigger screws would have been sturdier, but with it splitting the trim, I felt like it was the right decision to take them down a notch.
9. I noticed that when I was putting the back wall pieces of trim up that the wall wasn’t straight and was a bit bowed (which happens in all houses with the weight of the above floors and settling). I had to account for that later. But I screwed all the trim pieces into the walls, or studs I mean.
10. Here come the Big cuts. It was time for the actual shelves. I bought 8 foot boards for the 48” shelves, and thankfully I cut those exactly right so they were all even.
At this point Robert had gotten done with his edging project and he started helping me with putting up the last couple pieces of trim and the shelves.
When we went to put the shelves in the pantry, we wanted them to be flush against the back wall and that’s when we noticed that the walls were bowed. We had to make the executive decision to let it be flush against the back wall, which then teetered it away from the sides. But that’s ok, this job isn’t going to be perfect.
11. We decided that we were going to add shims to the sides and glue them in with wood glue to fill the little gaps that were off. And because I felt a little iffy about the whole situation, I grabbed some one inch L Brackets the next day to add to the sides.
12. The last step of the Day was adding screws all along the boarder of the sheets of wood to secure them.
Questions:
How much does it cost to build out a pantry?
So far its cost us about $350, but I’ll keep you updated!
How should I organize my pantry?
So, weird, but I had a dream last night about putting pull out Drawers on some of the shelves so it would be easier to grab the stuff in the back.
Did you add any extra shelves?
No, not at this time. I may change some stuff up later on but right now I just need the minimum.
This project is not done yet, we know that, we are having to do this in phases because, well, life. I plan on finishing it this week and I will post another blog about the rest of the progress. I feel like the second phase is more aesthetic things like wood filler, front trim, and painting, but we will get to that tomorrow.
Stay Tuned!
Love you Mean it.
