I used to complain about the oddly-placed “office” near our garage entrance. I just wanted a simple mudroom bench with hooks. That has all changed now that I’ve found the perfect way to use this space.
Our laundry room is right next to the “office.” My initial idea was to combine the two small rooms and expand the laundry area. However, we didn’t want to tackle flooring or spend a ton of money knocking out walls. After much deliberation on cost vs. benefit, we finally decided what to do. We built a second pantry!
To start this project, I drew out a scaled model of what I wanted our pantry to look like. We wanted additional refrigerator space for entertaining, a place to store bulk purchases from Costco, and space to hang bags or items that were coming or going. With our family of five, we desperately needed more storage space.
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The first thing I chose was this Magic Chef refrigerator from the Home Depot. Cost was a concern, but I was also focused on the size. Once I measured it out, I realized that a full-sized refrigerator would take up most of the room. I ended up choosing a smaller, apartment style. It’s 60″ tall and 24″ wide, so the scale was perfect. I went with white because I didn’t want another stainless steel appliance to clean. Also, I think it looks better with the room.
Next, I needed to decide what to do with the shelves. This is an unusual space because it’s right by our back door, and the door opening is very large. After researching several options, I decided to use these 16 inch deep Closetmaid shelves from The Home Depot. I knew that the length of the shelves would need to be customized, but they were already painted and much easier to install than building the entire shelf. I didn’t go with a wrap-around shelf because of the door location and depth of the room. I also wanted to have plenty of hanging space on the walls.
The shelves came in two lengths and included heavy-duty brackets in a silver finish. I used Rustoleum Spray Paint in Satin Bronze to give the brackets a rich gold finish. I applied two thin coats to get an even color. Once the brackets were installed, I needed to paint the screws to match. I went outside and sprayed the paint into a paper plate. Then, I came in and dabbed the paint onto the screws with a foam brush. You could also use a Qtip for this. This gave the brackets a finished look.
Mr. Bayou used a circular saw to cut down each of the shelves to the width we needed. We put painters tape where we were cutting to protect the finish of the shelves. This worked really well, and we didn’t have any issues with the wood splitting. To make sure that the cuts were straight, we used a speed square and a metal guide for the saw.
Installing the shelves was pretty simple. I did end up changing my layout slightly and making one of the shelves a little taller than I’d planned. I also switched the side for the refrigerator because it was opening into the light switch. This was fine because the door to the refrigerator could be flipped to open the opposite direction.
I shared a video of the installation on my Instagram page.
Overall, I am thrilled with the results so far. We still need to install the doors and get some matching bins and organizers to keep everything tidy.
Not including the flooring, our total cost in this little room was under $1,000, and both Mr. Bayou and I could not be happier with the result. We will add double doors soon. Until then, we are already using this pantry more than we ever imagined. It has truly changed the way we live in our home. It’s also eliminated the stress of coming home from Costco or the grocery store and not knowing where things will go.
- Wall color: Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray
- Trim color: Benjamin Moore Dove Wing
- Ceilings: Benjamin Moore White Dove
- Floors: Rustoleum Floor Paint in Greige with stencil in Sherwin Williams Creamy
To see a complete tutorial on our stenciled tiles, make sure to check out this post.
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