Finishing Up the Pantry

I know it's been a while since I've posted.  I'd love to say I've been making huge strides with my house, but that would be a fib.  Life has happened though and I've been trying to take it all in stride.  I did finish my pantry though.  If you don't recall, my pantry originally looked like this.

Fabulous huh??  Yup, the cinder blocks really added a little somethin-somethin to my food storage.  Jealous, aren't you??  I know, it's okay.

In all seriousness though, the shelves were cut-down from my old closet and repurposed into "pantry" shelves.  The cinder blocks had been hauled out of my parents' yard and leftover from a brother's wedding.  While I appreciated the storage they offered, I wasn't happy with their mismatched look.  Ugh.  So, out came even more white paint, excuse me, "Heavy Cream."

And, as is typical for me, I got paint EVERYWHERE!!  I do not understand how people manage to paint neatly and keep everything contained and clean.  I can show you every single color I've ever used based on my painting clothes.  Ridiculous I know, but I get the job done, eventually.

After the boards and blocks dried, mostly, I neatly stacked them in the new cute pantry.  NEVER EVER doubt the power of paint, people!

Instead of mismatched boards and dirty cinder blocks, I had sculpture pieces that made a custom pantry with twice the space.  (Sculptural?  Are you kidding?  (Hey, let me have my delusions, here.  It keeps me happy!!))

When all was said and done, I had an awesome pantry!  It's not the one of my dreams, yet, but it is so much better than before.  

Finishing Touches

My pantry is getting closer and closer to working as it is supposed to, as a pantry.  Imagine!!  The walls were finally done to my satisfaction but the trim wasn't finished and everyone was out of town and/or busy.  That meant it was me, the miter saw, the coping saw and a whole lot of prayers!  (see, when I bought the trim, i thought that there would be people around to help me, so i bought exactly as much as i needed.)  I started with this . 

(sorry for the bad photo, it's all i could find.  in my next life, I'll get better at "before" pics.)  Thankfully, my lil' brother let me borrow his fancy saw while he was out of town.  Let's hear it for his bravery!  I love this saw and would LOVE to have one of my own eventually.  It makes cutting the mdf boards easy and leaves a smooth pretty cut.  After many prayers, a couple of extra cuts and plenty of caulking and touch up I ended up with this.

The straight sides are the simple pieces in trim.  The hard part is getting the corners to look good.  I think, for my first solo trip, I did pretty good.  Thoughts?

Fine is never enough...

Once again, I finished something, my pantry in this case, and it wasn't good enough.  I had this: pretty but not what I wanted.

What I wanted was this...

See the pretty pattern in the background?  I love it!  It makes a utilitarian room special.  After cruising the post on how it was done (click the pic to see) I realized what looked painted was instead vinyl.  I didn't have the funds to do vinyl, nor the patience, but man did I want the look!!  So, I cruised the internet for alternatives.  That's where I landed on this.

So pretty!  Just a little feminine with a twist.  Not too fussy.  It was perfect in every way except one, the price.  At $40 it was out of my range.  So, I went to work.  Hobby Lobby had wall stencils and furthermore I had a 40% off coupon which brought the $17 cost down to my price range, especially if I hated the look after it was all said and done...  So, I purchased a stencil that I thought looked like me and experimented.

A few notes here:

-everyone always talks about using stencil adhesive or spray adhesive or painter's tape.  I'm telling you to use ALL of it!!  They are not really interchangeable (okay, maybe you could use spray adhesive or stencil adhesive interchangeably.)

-Do not FORGET the blue tape.  Do as I say, not as I photograph or you'll be sorry.  Trust me, having the stencil stick to the roller, come off the wall, fall back on the wall, and then hit the floor causes "dirty word" to spring from your mouth.  (yes, I usually use "dirty word" instead of actual dirty words because of my job.  it helps when I get mad or drop something at work.  that way i don't let a true bomb drop.)

-Another tip is to use a foam roller and roll the roller in one direction only instead of back and forth.  It helps with the bleeding thing.

Anywho, after the learning curves, I ended up with this.

I'm in love!  (although, i am slightly worried about it.  the pattern is only on two of the four walls in the pantry and seems a little overwhelming.  maybe with the addition of shelves, it will calm down the overall look.)

Here is a look at the walls when you walk in.  I still love it despite my fears!!

When we last spoke...

I showed you the results of my fabulous electrician plus the not so fabulous after effects of the work.  In case you don't recall, I didn't go looking for things to dump massive amounts of money on.  All I wanted to do was put in a couple of lights in my new pantry.  That is exact moment when the bottom fell out and I discovered that my entire electrical box had to be removed and replaced.  Ugh.

Now, fast forward two-three months (can't recall exactly) and with my new electrical box, I'm finally ready to get those lights in. 

With 100+ temps outside, not to mention inside a stuffy attic, we crawled up there EARLY one morning and tapped into the new wiring to run power for my new can lights in my pantry.  

With tons of effort, literally dripping sweat through the holes in the ceiling down to the floor below, we installed the two lights.  I also learned that drywall nowadays is slightly thicker than drywall from 1961.  In fact, just thick enough to elicit dirty words from us while trying to get the sweet little clips to adhere.  After a slight argument with involving a pair of vice grips, the clips snapped into place and my ceiling looked liked this.

Anyone notice anything wrong with these pics?  

Anyone?  

Anyone?  

Yes, you in the back.

That's right.  These are brand new lights, with power hooked up and new bulbs and they're not on.  Whoops!  

Great... 

Fabulous... 

Bleep... 

By the time we figured this out, it was way too late in the day to continue working on the triple digit attic.  We had no idea where the fault lay, but it drove us nuts.  See, with the new electric layout, the walls were becoming choked with switches and outlets and driving me more than a little batty trying to figure out what went where.  So, in blatantly copying my little brother, I went with an automatic switch in the door jam to flip the light as soon as the door was opened.

So, now we were left with trying to figure out if it was the switch, the new wire (doubtful), my wiring abilities (my personal favorite) or the lights them self. 

After a quick trip up into the attic the next morning, (of which I had no involvement with, which is most likely why it worked) my lights came on.  It turns out that it was the quick connect adapter thingy (technical term) where you connect black to black, white to white and ground to ground.  (see?  I was listening!)  Anywho, the lights are now functional each and every time the door is opened.  

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Pantry Storage Solutions

My new pantry is currently in a fabulous state of 4 walls and one door.  Fascinating right?  I'm waiting until my electrical and gas lines are run to bite the bullet and purchase my wall stencil.  Eventually it's going to be an incredible pantry and storage place, but until then, it's 4 walls and a door.  We did take the time and rehang my ironing board organizer thingy from Lowe's.  It seems so simple and I can't figure out why I didn't design it and make my own fortune, but I digress.  

The top holds the iron, spray bottle, which I need to locate again, and starch.  The board then hangs below, keeping it up and out of the way.  So much better than the previous way I had of precariously leaning the board against the wall and balancing the iron on the window ledge...

On the other wall, I have an organizer for my brooms, mops, floor scrapers, and other long items.  I'm happy to have them up and out of the way.  Nothing scares me quite the same as stepping on a mop handle in the complete dark and no matter how many times I stand it up, it slides down the wall and finds the floor.

Eventually, I'm going to get the two lights installed and the missing plug that goes in the random empty box in the picture.  All of that is hinging on the replacement of the electrical box.  I'll keep you posted on how that's coming. I'll also have floor to ceiling shelves installed for storing all kinds of things.  That though will have to wait until later...

Why Does Uh-Oh Spell Cha-Ching??

Recall the recent picture of my new pantry?  

You may have wisely noticed that it appeared pretty dark inside of the pantry.  We noticed, so off I went to Lowe's with a gift card from my birthday.  Soon I was the owner of a set of six can lights.  (Nope, haven't lost what's left of my mind, but it was cheaper to buy 6 in a contractor's box and split their use.  The other four are going in my hallway, while two will reside in my pantry.)

So, I, yes me, so proud of myself, carefully cut the two holes in the ceiling in preparation for installing the lights.  Then we headed to the breaker box to check out where to hook the new lights on. 

That's where the issues began.  My box is a Federal Pacific box that when first glanced at appears fine and full of breakers, no room for more.  

That was headache number one, but there was a chance that we could switch out some of the smaller breakers for larger ones, at least that's what I think was going to happen. (Disclaimer:  I am being watched by someone who is VERY adept at electricity and has previously wired entire apartment buildings, homes, offices and other buildings, so you don't need to panic that I'm going to burn myself down.)  Back to the search for replacement breakers.  No luck at the local big box stores, so I googled Federal Pacific Breaker Box to buy them online and up popped this:

 

Yikes!  This is most definitely not good.  After doing a little more research, it seems that the breakers fail to stop the flow of electricity when flipped to the off position.  This is not bueno.   

The problem is so large that the company had massive recalls and banks have been known to turn down homes because they have Federal Pacific breaker boxes.  (I am blessed that no one looked that closely...)  Federal Pacific Electric Company is now out of business and while you can find old breakers that have been tested, I'm not impressed.  So, off to my GC I went in a panic.  (I love my logic here, like somehow I can't sleep because now I know about exact same breaker box that was in my house last night when I slept fine, but it was still my logic.)

My sweet GC, Jack, gave me the name of a local electrician that I am having a bid run with.  It's going to be interesting to say the least.  My exterior box, nope, no clue exactly what I'm talking about, has 140 amps running thought it now, which would be fine except for the fact that it's a 100 amp box.  Technically 180, but odds are good that I won't run the furnace and the a/c at the exact same time.  The line from the box goes up the inside wall and over a stud in the top, which has been known to cause local fires.  GREAT...  As my electrician tells me each of these little facts, I doubt to scare me, we were having a conversation about remodeling and the perils, I see the dollar sides adding up and up.  

Thankfully I have a tax return this year because I'm pretty certain it has been spent in full! 

The New Pantry

Now that the new pantry is starting to look more like a pantry and less like a giant hole, I'm starting to fall in love with it.  I decided that a plain white pantry wasn't really my style, so I used my favorite shade of green from my kitchen to add a little pizazz.

I've been surfing blogs lately and seen where people have added interest to blah walls with simple paint and stencils.  A blogdom favorite has been Cutting Edge Stencils.  (I'm not being paid by them to write this and to be honest, they most likely have NO idea I'm even blogging about them.)  I'm currently in like with their Casablanca All Over Stencil and their Hourglass All Over stencil.  I'm only in like with them, so I haven't taken the plunge.  The big issue is the cost, not the idea of painting.  My cheapness reigns again!!  It's not that I don't think they are worth the money, quite the opposite actually, I just have several big cost items planned within the next month, and can't justify the expense just yet.   But, when I can justify it, any thoughts on which one to get???

Filling the hole

So, here I am with a rather large hole in the side of the wall in my carport and it's slightly cool outside while we're trying to close the hole.  Hmmm, what's to do???

Note the icicles on the back of the car as we try to fill in the frame with a stud, floor brace, insulation and a new wall facing, which again took the better part of the afternoon, but for the sake of time, poof, it's done!!!  ;)

Now I am happy to say that from the outside, if I were to paint, you wouldn't even be able to tell that there was ever a door there.  What do you think??

A little hole...

When I last left you, faithful readers, I was lamenting the fact that my perfect laundry room was FINALLY finished and someone wanted to cut a giant hole in it.  I realize that it was a good thing and that the results would be well worth the effort, but I was a woman on the edge, people, on the edge!  I'd been living in the middle of a remodel for months on end and we'd finally finished a room and we were supposed to destroy it?  See, are you getting why I was dancing on the edge??

I knew better than to argue with the idea and I did realize that the idea of having a huge walk in pantry would be a large boon to the house and that a garage closet wasn't the best use of space by far.  You see, in my carport was a locking closet that was used to store sheep lye and other odds and ends.  (The lye wasn't mine, it belonged to the previous owners.)  The floor to the closet was a good inch or more higher than the carport floor, which Marc, my dad, to realize that it was the same height as the floor/concrete inside the house.  After some quick measuring, he discovered that the closet was on the end of the laundry room, just off the edge of the kitchen, a perfect place for pantry.

So, one day while I was at work, a poor laundry room took a hit on its way to greatness.  The entire wall was carefully taken down , not harming the insulation or the electrical and water pipes in the wall.  In fact the insulation was carefully removed and replaced in the walls of the closet to insulate the "new" exterior walls. 

After putting a large hole in the wall, we had to have a way to secure the hole and make it look presentable.  So, I took the original door from the laundry room to the kitchen and refinished it.  It then took its rightful place as the new pantry door and the hole was closed...

Remember that insulation from a couple of paragraphs ago?  Good thing we reused the insulation.  Living in Texas keeps you in a constant state of flux as far as the weather is concerned.  We have crazy days of hot and cold and apparently cold is an understatement in this instance.

Yes, that reads 27 degrees and that's Fahrenheit, not Celsius in case you were thinking that.  What happened on this chilly day you ask?  Why we decided to remove the exterior door of the carport closet and repair the wall.  Doesn't that make sense in below freezing weather???  Yeah, didn't think so either, but I digress.  So, off came the cedar boards and slats that make up the walls of the carport and out came the door.  This took a lot longer than the length of time to type a sentence.  It also took a lot longer because we kept running in and out of the house trying to thaw out our fingers.  At least it was a toasty 61 degrees inside!  Hey, it felt warm...

Uh-oh...

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a little room that was a huge mess.  After hours and hours of demolishing, scrubbing, painting, moving heavy things in and out, and a couple of tears, okay bunch, I had a finished perfect laundry room.  In case you forgot, here is the before.

Ugh right?  It's okay if you want to go take a shower, I'll excuse you as long as you come right back when you're done.  I wanted to shower the first time I saw my house as well.  Yet I bought it anyway.  Yes, I know I need to seek mental help.  Working in it folks.  Again I've really, really digressed.

Here is the laundry room in all its gorgeous-ness.  It was the day that this photo was taken that it was suggested that tear a huge hole in the wall and create a pantry.  While the idea sounds fabulous, it was at that point that I burst into tears.  Keep in mind that for a year and a half I had been working toward getting a "real" laundry room and the second it was finished and beautiful someone wanted to tear a huge hole in it and make a mess.  In case any guy is reading this, not a good idea to tell a girl with a new room that you want to make a mess of it!

So, stay tuned for the consequent hole and creative mess that followed...