My Pantry-Full-O-Joy

If you read this post before the VASE O HAPPINESS post, it isn't going to make much sense. But if you read the Vase post first, you know I"m excited about the recent progress and finishing touches and here is a biggie!

I have named this recent development, my Pantry-Full-O-Joy........

In the original makeup of the house, you might remember, you walked into a tiny kitchen, or you could opt to get around the kitchen through a hallway running alongside it. We closed in the hallway and made the livingroom side of it a coat closet since it's right by the front door, and the backside of that hallway became my walk in pantry. It is steps away from the kitchen and I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed using it. It has been finished for about a week, but just yesterday Charles hung the door for me. I originally wanted different shelving, but after pricing the shelving I wanted, I quickly decided that since we are leaving this house in 3 yrs or less, this is fine for now lol.

Ok..........before..well after it's drywalled in........ (forgot to get pics of it as a hallway)



And now!
Doors up..........drum roll..........




Complete w/ an apron on the left LLLOOOOL. It's black/leopard and says, "Never trust a skinny cook". lol Sorry ..it's dirty, tomorrow is laundry day ....sigh......

So, what-cha think? All you cooks, moms, ladies of the house, organization fiends, feel free to comment! I'm an avid couponer as most of you know, so you know that I also get to stockpile a ton of freebies. There is a TON of space and LOTS of stockpiling room to go! Feeeels like a dream.... is this really happening?

I WUV IT!


While we're at it, let's do befores and afters of the coat closet that shares the wall w/ the pantry.

Before



After:

Like my brown accent wall and clearanced 3-drawer entry table..and my 7.xx pc of art above it?





The only thing I don't like is the color of that door against those browns. It looks very...motelish? Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do here? I'm thinking of framing that door with 1 inch molding to dress it up and maybe changing the paint color on just the door. But ..that's too many colors there. ????

And can you believe we decided to keep that groovy mustard yellow window pane?



It still DATES the house right now, but after we're all done, we think it's going to look pretty good since there is an underlying 'circle' theme going on here (more details later) and this is actually more of the golden color in real life that matches our colors. Confusing, currently ugly, yes. It will all be obvious later.............and if later it doesn't end up looking nice, we'll just sheetrock it in.

Oh well...what about ONE more bit of progress? We just got the gas/logs insert installed into the fireplace so it is now fully functional! Tonight is going to be pretty chilly here, so we plan on lighting it up after dinner, all 4 of us, cocoa in hand! Gotta see the BEFORE to fully appreciate this one...........




After (the green is NOT that bright...)






Not letting the grass grow under our feet!

Woah...we've been BUSY. Our goal was for the majority of the kitchen to be done in the 2 wks Charles had off, but he ended up going to work for 3 days toward the end. So we are a bit behind...but we're working evenings a little along the way and this weekend we're work our butts off again. Some exciting things have happened!

Starting with the new pantry Charles built.
Charles framed it up, put the sheetrock up, and I taped and mudded it all up. One large section was uneven, and it took me a while to build it up with mud over a few days period of time. THIS is when I realized, SHEETROCKING STINKS and...I need to get on 'the juice' LOL!

Ok, pantry...Sheetrocked, taped/mudded

Charles tiles it

Couple days later, the texture goes on.

Here I am 'workin' the wall after the texture was sprayed on.

The panty, painted, ready for grout and a shelving system.

On the other side of the pantry is the living room and the rest of the hallway that was transformed into a pantry, on the living room side is now a coat closet by the door.

Sheetrocked after Charles framed it up:

Here I've taped & mudded it


Textured, sanded, primed...........


Painted, waiting for a door :) (this green is a few shades brighter than in real life..?)

More cabinets coming down!

The kids are surprised!

Now the floor comes up. WHAT a pain that was. Two layers of old linoleum. Charles was on the floor ALL DAY long peeling, scraping, etc. Finally we got a chemical from Home Depot, soaked it overnight, and got the remainder up the next day. DEFINITLEY putting us behind.

AFter the chemical:

The kids and I take Saturday off to go to our Assembly, we come back.....3/4 of the kitchen is tiled:

Ok remember when the wall connecting the kitchen and living room looked like THIS:

In the last post, you saw that we opened it up and added a beam. Here it is sheetrocked.

I start the mud.


Texture added, Painted a pale silvery/blue :)

Moving to the right, is the wall we knocked back a few feet. Behind it is the pantry and coat closet.......... it was like this:

Sheetrocked

Textured, Painted

This blue is a 'custom' paint color........ I didn't like the first, darker blue that went on, and the lighter color I picked was too light. So i mixed them until I liked it. I hope it stretches, b/c I don't know if I'll get this mix exact again!?

What's this????? Cabinets going in? YEAH!

Yes! And as of tonight.......a microwave! Charlie helped her Daddy do this whole thing..and, well, I helped hold it in while Charles bolted it in :)

Sometime this week, the stove will go under the microwave, obviously, cabinets and a granite counter, task lighting, and a HAPPY Mommy! LOL!

And, yesterday Charles drove 6 hours round trip to pick up our furniture. "Tune In" tomorrow for those pics!

Not letting the grass grow under our feet!