RENOVATING...

Our version has 6 shelves.

I'm in Omaha in the midst of the first phase of JE's pantry makeover. Good thing her father-in-law is here today as the tear-down is far more complicated than I'd have expected. :)

Some DIY-er of past years obviously had a screw gun he was anxious to put to use, because the shelves are ANCHORED! HS spends a few hours wresting the shelves away from the supports and then digging out and unscrewing the many, many screws that fasten the supports to the plaster. He uses his car jack to pop the shelves loose from the supports! Eventually he painstaklingly patches the screw holes and a few larger pits of crumbling plaster. He's a very conscientious worker.

I do help unscrew 6 or so very long and stubborn screws and sweep up a few times. My biggest contribution is the hardware store run to get a few items we need and a few we don't that I will return tomorrow. No item I purchase is over $6, yet the total is scary.

Tomorrow I will sand everything down and then wash the walls, doors, and woodwork in preparation for the painting. JE has selected a fun green for the pantry walls--soft, light, and bright, but not lime. It's called "Dill" but that really doesn't describe anything... The woodwork and doors will be antique white, and the ceiling a similar color.

We have an even BIGGER glitch when we unpack the chrome wire shelving rack I purchased at Costco. The space was pre-measured by JE as 48" wide, but the 18" depth of the shelves pushes the outer edges of the frame into the very substantial door trim. We lose a good inch in available width. The shelves do not fit!

HS is a problem solver, so I leave him to it while I research alternative shelving on the Internet. We discuss several options, and finally decide that we will go with 42"W x 12"D x 84" high version availble at The Shelving Store. The unit comes with 4 shelves, but we exercise the option of ordering two additional shelves. In the end the narrower width costs a bit in shelf space, but we gain an extra foot in height. And, the shelves come with levelers instead of wheels included with the Costco version. This is a good thing because JE's pantry in this 100+ year old house has a slanted floor.

So... the new shelving unit is costing almost double the Costco version once we add in some pricey shipping charges. The good news is that there's a chance the shelves will arrive Friday or Saturday so CA and I will be here to assemble and appreciate the finished product.

At my suggestion, HS is cutting some moldings so that we can frame a chalkboard on the back door--both cute and practical for reminders and lists. At the moment the door is very, very plain and ugly. (see below)

At the moment JE's pantry contents are resting peacefully in Rubbermaid containers on her enclosed back porch. We'll have fun all week shuffling through the boxes. We just may have to order out!