a pantry in 24 square feet for less than $100
Cindy, Mary Ann, and I are doing another Project Design today, and this time it’s all about the pantry! We have a big group of super-organized bloggers who are showing you how they’ve organized their pantries. Links at the bottom!
The pantry. How big does a pantry need to be? What constitutes a pantry anyway? According to Dictionary.com: a pantry is a room or closet in which food, groceries, and other provisions, or silverware, dishes, etc., are kept.
A custom pantry built in 24 sq. ft.
I’ve had large pantries, small pantries, and no pantries in the houses we lived in over the years. When we had a large walk-in pantry, I used it for storing food and drinks, art supplies and all sorts of dishes, platters and serving pieces. Since it was large and it held all those disparate items, it was messy and disorganized much of the time. It was way before organizing was so popular. We’ve become obsessed with organizing. That’s not a bad thing at all. In fact, we now have so much inspiration from professionals that have made a business out of organizing and stores that specialize in items to make it easier (and maybe prettier), but it still comes down to defining your space.
Define the space and find the right shelves
When we moved into our current home last year, I recognized immediately the need for a pantry. I also realized there was a perfect spot that had never, in the 100 years our house has been built, been used for anything other than collecting dust. Once again, we utilized space in a landing area as you go down to the basement. It’s right off the driveway which makes it convenient to take groceries right from the car to their spot in the pantry.
The first thing we did was clear it out. The actual pantry space measures about 4′ x 6′. So not a lot of room to work with, but by choosing smaller scale shelves from Ikea so that it did not overwhelm the space and then custom shelves, we gained a lot of storage. Brent made narrow shelves on three of the walls and utilized the existing ledges by covering them with custom fit shelves. We used the Hyllis shelves from Ikea. This one for $9.99 and this one for $14.99. Madeline also has the tall one in her tiny NYC apartment.
Narrow custom shelves & a chalkboard
We used the HYLLIS shelves from Ikea
You might also like this post on our pantry in our former home in New Canaan. You’ll find a check list that is useful when buying for a pantry.
Now, please go check out these posts for tons more pantry inspiration!
After Orange County
Classic Casual Home
Driven By Decor
Modern Glam
Most Lovely Things
My Sweet Savannah
Northern California Style
Rough Luxe Lifestyle
Sheri Silver
Vignette Design
Shop the post
This book from Remodelista is my favorite for organizing everything from the pantry to your closets and garage!
Your pantry is fabulous! I love the use of glass jars. Going to get some now! Thanks for the inspiration! ~Delores
I ATE A BAG of those chips YESTERDAY!THE LINE WAS SO LONG AT CHECK OUT I GRABED IT!
YOU use the GOOD TOMATOES IN A CAN!!!!
A BEAUTIFUL PANTRY ANNIE……….CLEAN AND FRESH!
I BEST GET TO WORK ON MY PANTRY because when you come for dinner you will march right THROUGH MY PANTRY!!!!!!YIKES!
I need less food stored there and more space for vases and china!!!I have slowly been dwindling down the pantry supply!
Today the chickens will get some old pasta cooked for THEM!
XX
You’ve made wonderful use of the space!
I thought I was organized, this is wonderful!
Xoxo
N~
Hi Annie, what a brilliant idea to transform found space into a very usable new pantry. I love that you made narrow shelves for your canned goods. Keeping everything in view is so much smarter than having to dig into deep shelves to find what you need. I bet it keeps you better organized on an ongoing basis as well. And those Anchor Hawking glass jars are the best! I need to get me some of those!
Your pantry is so you! Minimalist, stylish and functional. I love those IKEA shelves. You are totally right Annie when you have the space you just have more space to junk up! I should have mentioned that during my pantry reorganization per se I found a play pizza up on the very top shelf that I think my son may have shoved in the corner years ago! That’s how organized mine was! I am glad we did this post it forced me to clean up my messy pantry. If only I could get my husband to paint it now!
I know…I think everyone loved this one! It was more of a project “challenge”! And everyone stepped up and did so much work to get their pantry looking beautiful!
I LOVE finding little spaces in my house that can be put to use (next time you’re over I’ll show you mine!). As always you do everything with style, and make even canned goods look picture-ready! xo
I can’t wait to see! I can’t believe I missed it on my first tour!
I loved the pantry in your last house too! Thanks for sharing!! Looks great.
Thank you Tara for reading and taking the time to comment! Next time you are in town, maybe you can stop by…on your way to Terrain!
Annie what a great space! You so inspire. I wish I had something like this. It is so easy to see everything and I like how you used the glass canisters for grouping things like sugars, etc. Just goes to show you, it’s not the size of the space, but rather what you do with it! Just beautiful. xx
You’re so sweet, thank you Kim! Those glass jars were from our old house where we had a few mice since it was a stone foundation-it’s very common. Haven’t had that trouble here, but I still like the big glass jars!
This turned out amazing Annie! I love how you customized it and it looks like a general store. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of this fab group! xo
A tiny general store…but I like that! Thanks Ashley! I ALWAYS love to see every bit of your home!