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Pantry Renovation

I’m so excited today to finally share the pictures of our pantry renovation! We did the kitchen and pantry at the same time but the kitchen is still not done (hopefully soon!) We did the renovations ourselves with the help of Paul’s parents (they are amazing!) I’ll get into to the nitty gritty down below but for now let’s look at the pretty photos.

My Dream Pantry | Oh Happy Day

My Dream Pantry | Oh Happy DayMy Dream Pantry | Oh Happy DayMy Dream Pantry | Oh Happy DayMy Dream Pantry | Oh Happy Day

It really is my dream pantry. I am so thrilled with how it turned out, it makes me so happy. Here is how it all went down.

Here are the “before” pictures both before before and after demolition. When we moved in we knew we wanted to update the kitchen but I didn’t have any plans for the pantry. The shelves were original but some of them were broken and the built-in wasn’t very functional. The drawers were heavy and hard to open and the flour bin wouldn’t close. After living with it for 5 months we realized it was taking up a lot of space but we didn’t have a lot of use for it. I saw this picture that I had saved in my “house inspiration photo” and really got excited about making the pantry a beautiful space and not just ignoring it or slapping another coat of paint on it. (Below you can find my “inspiration photos” from my desktop.

Pantry "Before" Photo | Oh Happy Day

 

Pantry Inspiration

After the demolition we had some guys help take everything away. Then we got to work prepping the space. First we had to repair the floor where the built-in had been followed by scraping down the walls to make everything even and get rid of the built up paint where the shelves used to be. Next we installed the floorboards. I wanted really high floorboards that would match the rest of the house. We went to Lowe’s and were able to recreate a similar pattern by stacking a few different pieces together. After we installed them and the walls were prepped, it was time to tile! Paul’s dad taught us how and I discovered pretty quickly that I love it (grouting is a whole other story!) It is really satisfying to tile because for the most part it goes really quickly. After the tiling was done we finished the grout which is a messy and unpleasant job. After we touched up the tile and sealed it we installed the shelving. I had considered trying to do marble shelving like the inspiration photo above but we were already worried about the stability of the shelves, heavy marble shelving wasn’t in the picture this time around. Lowe’s had pre-sanded and pre-cut pine boards in the perfect sizes ready to go so we used those and painted them white (Valspar Swiss Coffee) before doing the shelf installation. It took me a long time to find the right hardware for the shelves. I looked on different sites for vintage and vintage-looking hardware and had a difficult time finding the right one. I had my eye on these brackets and when they were having a big sale I bought a bunch.

floorboards | Oh Happy DayPainting Shelves from Lowes

We have some long-term renovation plans so some of the decisions we made thinking “this will be fine for 3-5 years.” The flooring is the perfect example. The linoleum in the kitchen was faded in some parts and yellowed from the sun in others. We just needed an affordable alternative to tide us over until we do the larger renovation. I went to Lowe’s and the guy there showed me all my options and we ended up deciding on the VCT tiles. They were really easy to install and I had seen Daniel use them in his kitchen and I knew they would look good. The flooring took about half a day to install and the tiles were really easy to cut. This was one of the few things that wasn’t more complicated or more expensive than we thought! Winning!

Another issue we had was there was no lighting in the pantry. We had the electrical updated in the flat last month and they were able to rewire the pantry and we installed this gorgeous pendant from Schoolhouse Electric. It is so nice to be able to go in at night and be able to see everything!

We are lucky to live near Rainbow Grocery in the Mission. It’s an awesome giant hippie grocery store where they have huge bulk bins. It’s perfect if you don’t want to deal with all the packaging and just do jars in your pantry. They have the most beautiful beans and rice and legumes there (including the giant reusable jars.) Before we just had one little shelf devoted to our favorite rice and lentils but with the new pantry we could have a complete stock.

It is so satisfying when the final result comes out like you wanted it in your head. I cook and bake so much more now that our pantry is set up. Renovating was exhausting and if we did it again I would get more help, take time off work and not try to live without a kitchen. But I’m glad we did it and I keep telling Paul that I want to move our bed into the pantry because it is my favorite room in the house.

Pantry Renovation | Oh Happy Day

This post is Sponsored by Lowe’s. #SpringisCalling  All opinions are my own.

Lowe's Logo

photos by Paul Ferney for Oh Happy Day

  1. pamela

    April 29, 2014

    I am obssessed! I want to live in your pantry too! Amazing transformation. Thanks fo sharing!

  2. Nat

    April 29, 2014

    my fav kind of post!! looks incredible 🙂

  3. Rachel Hagen

    April 29, 2014

    Gorgeous!

  4. Rachel

    April 29, 2014

    Your new pantry is absolutely stunning, Jordan! Congrats!! I would glad pull up a sleeping bag in there and stay the night – no guest room needed in your house! 🙂 Quick question: I know photos need to look dreamy to be “blog-worthy” and I see that you put a lot of your staples into nice glass jars instead of keeping them in their original packaging, but is this staged for the blog and your real food is hidden or do you really only eat legumes and beans and nothing non-organic? 😉 (Though I do see a Nutella jar peeking out – love it) 🙂 Just wondering if you guys ever eat crackers, granola bars, etc. or if it’s really as perfect/idyllic/organic as it appears. Not bashing or judging at all; just trying to get a sense of reality – and aspiring to be closer to that!

      • jordan
      • April 29, 2014

      Good question! These are definitely “after pictures” we took for the camera. We eat plenty of things that aren’t “perfect/idyllic/organic” we definitely aren’t purists but we rarely eat granola bars or crackers (just a taste preference I think). The “less pretty” items that I put back in after the photoshoot included: packages of mac and cheese, thai food packaging, spices and oils, seaweed snacks. Since we live in the city and there are really great bakeries a few hundred yards from our house most of our guilty pleasures come from there. After school my kids usually eat fruit or chips and salsa/bean dips or a chocolate chip cookie or something leftover from dinner. But we really do go to the farmers market every week and we stop in at one of the neighborhood grocery stores on our way home at least every other day to pick up ingredients for dinner. Hope this answers your question.

  5. tara

    April 29, 2014

    can you give sources to the jars + baskets?

      • jordan
      • April 29, 2014

      Jars are from several places: Rainbow Grocery, Cost Plus, Heath Ceramics. Some of the plastic items (like for cereal) and baskets I picked up at the Container Store. xo

  6. Vicky T

    April 29, 2014

    Hi Jordan! Who drew up the floor plan for the pantry? It looks like a CAD file?

      • jordan
      • April 29, 2014

      One of my best friends from high school, Ashlynn Mitchell is a cabinet designer. She helped me with the layout and gave me lots of advice. I still call her up when I have a question.

  7. LARY@Inspiration Nook

    April 29, 2014

    It is truly amazing!

  8. Jordan at Wonder Thrills

    April 29, 2014

    I’m totally swooning over it! It’s just impeccable, Jordan!

  9. Amanda

    April 29, 2014

    this pantry is a dreaaam! those tiles, seriously.

  10. Sarah

    April 29, 2014

    I LOVE your design aesthetic. I’ve really enjoyed following along as you redo your flat, and it really does feel like you have a great, cohesive look and feel throughout. Keep up the good work!

  11. Rebecca

    April 29, 2014

    Gorgeous Job, Jordan! So impressed. Was it pretty easy doing all the tiling (weird corners or cutting up pieces)?

  12. caroline [the diy nurse]

    April 29, 2014

    What an amazing space. I could live there!

  13. Jen

    April 29, 2014

    Oh I’m in love, I want to move into your pantry too! Total inspiration for someday when we actually have a pantry!

  14. Allison

    April 29, 2014

    Your pantry is now going in my “house inspiration photo” folder.I love everything about it.

  15. Robin

    April 29, 2014

    Love love love it.

  16. Sarah

    April 29, 2014

    Oh, that is GORGEOUS. Man alive, I want a pantry like that when we finally own our own home; right now all the flours and legumes and things are crowded into cabinets or stashed in baggies (when we run out of room) together, and it’s frustrating not to have more space!

    Of course, if I had a pantry like this, I’d use it as an excuse to make EVEN MORE marmalade every year – and soon, it would just be a marmalade-pantry and we’d be back to the same old problem with the baggies of flour and nuts! 😉

  17. Maggie

    April 29, 2014

    Beautiful! That is quite a transformation. I especially love the effect that the round shelf brackets make. Great job!

  18. Lori!

    April 29, 2014

    It really is beautiful! I can’t wait to see the kitchen :]

  19. allie

    April 29, 2014

    How I’d love to have a separate pantry, it is great inspiration while I make do with my garde-manger in a tiny parisian apartment http://wp.me/puSLj-DG

  20. Stel // STEL STYLE

    April 29, 2014

    really cool place!!

    http://www.stelstyle.com

  21. Maria Schneider

    April 29, 2014

    Wow! That`s great! I love it!

  22. Tess @ Tips on Life & Love

    April 29, 2014

    Wow, you’re pantry is gorgeous, and so spacious! I really love the idea of storing things in mason jars. Where did you find them?

  23. Aida Mollenkamp

    April 29, 2014

    Looks perfect!

  24. Victoria Smith

    April 29, 2014

    looks so gorgeous, jordan!!

  25. Jennifer

    April 29, 2014

    How did you cut the tiles? My tile guy who did our bathroom had a large table saw cutter but said in Mexico they have these really simple tile cutting tools he has not been able to find in the US.

    Also a tip he gave me on grouting is to mix it to a playdoh consistency. That makes it easier.

    I was so happy when I went to Lowes recently (bayshore) they had restocked since you cleaned them out of their subway tiles!:)

      • jordan
      • April 29, 2014

      We used this tile cutter. We love it and used it throughout our whole renovation.

  26. Mel

    April 29, 2014

    This is really inspiring! I’ve been thinking of building a walk-in pantry for my kitchen and this is the perfect visual for it! http://www.mockeri.com

  27. Ru

    April 29, 2014

    Where did you get the light from? Link?

  28. Kim

    April 29, 2014

    I love your pantry! This is exactly what I would want someday!

  29. Maggie at Eat Boutique

    April 29, 2014

    You guys did an awesome job, Jordan. I love it – those shelves! xo

    http://www.eatboutique.com

  30. Allison

    April 29, 2014

    Beautiful! How/where did you label your jars?

  31. Irena

    April 29, 2014

    Awesome work, guys!

  32. Etienne Fang

    April 29, 2014

    When I saw your IG progress shots I thought that you were crazy to use so much subway tile! But this has turned out simply stunning. It reminds me of old cafes/bars in France and Austria. Looking at these photos totally transports me to another place!

  33. toutsecrée

    April 30, 2014

    Nice! I want the same.

  34. Meinhilde

    April 30, 2014

    That is just spectacular! I love the airy design of the brackets, which are kind of mimicked in the lamp cage. I’ve always wanted a pantry (I cook a lot), so I’ll have to add this to my inspiration folders!

  35. Jenna

    April 30, 2014

    What a gorgeous pantry! Mine also has white shelves, and I’ve been meaning to make it over, as it’s just so messy in there. Thanks for the inspiration!

  36. Olivia

    April 30, 2014

    Beautiful! I love it! Quick question: Any ideas on how to earthquake-proof open shelving like yours?

  37. Carsla

    April 30, 2014

    Oh my! I’m impressed! Well done. (: & Looking forward to more.

    <3 Carsla
    Founder & CEO of Connect-the-Cloths
    http://www.connect-the-cloths.com
    http://blogspotter.co/connect-the-cloths/
    A stylist, foodie, & writer's blog in development.

  38. Becky

    April 30, 2014

    This is the pantry my dreams are made of. I have no dedicated pantry space in my house, but am planning to remove a cleaning closet and part of a wall to build one. People think I’m crazy, but these pictures are proof that I’m not. It’s perfect!

  39. Miggy

    April 30, 2014

    Your dream pantry just became my dream pantry.
    Thanks for sharing.

  40. Ana

    April 30, 2014

    LOVE it! Especially amused that you have as many bottles of olive oil as we do (husband is a chef). I am dreaming of a clean, spacious pantry now!

  41. Russell at Chasing Delicious

    April 30, 2014

    Well, it’s safe to say you have the world’s best pantry! Beautiful!

  42. Courtney

    April 30, 2014

    What color grout did you use? Black or dark gray? Brand? I’m redoing a bathroom with white subway tile throughout and love the look, but am debating between gray and black grout!

      • jordan
      • May 1, 2014

      We used black grout.

  43. Krys

    April 30, 2014

    Love love love! You’ve done a beautiful job, this is my dream pantry! I just recently saw these kind of tiles laid in a vertical pattern which looks quite striking and lovely also.

  44. Rebecca Plotnick

    April 30, 2014

    Love it! Such an inspiration. This is going on my dream kitchen board.

  45. Elizabeth

    May 1, 2014

    Which color did you buy for the brackets? Brown or grey motif? They look gold in your pictures. Did you perhaps paint them?

      • jordan
      • May 1, 2014

      I bought “brown” it looks like almost brass.

  46. Becca

    May 2, 2014

    I’m so envious!

  47. heather

    May 2, 2014

    Oh, your pantry turned out even better than your inspiration photo. Your pantry is now MY inspiration pantry…love, love, love it! Great job.

  48. heidi @ a week from thursday

    May 3, 2014

    I love the light and spacious feel of it. And of course, that subway tile is beautiful.

  49. Maaike

    May 3, 2014

    Wow, that looks so beautiful. Although I did kind a like the old floor! 😉 Looking forward to see what you do with al that stuff in your pantry!

  50. James Cobalt

    May 4, 2014

    Beautiful job, the pantry looks absolutely refreshing

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