Granny Pantries

So, in response to showing you all the ugly underbelly of my house in my last post, I'm going to move on as if it never happened and keep showing only small, quickly cleaned up, carefully edited snapshots of the progress here at my Wit's End. Everyone on board with that? Okay, let's proceed.

I've been slooooooooowly bringing things back into the kitchen and acclimating them to the new environment. I've thrown away 2 large boxes of stuff, something that brought a huge smile to The Viking's face as he cheerfully booted them out of the house. He loves getting rid of stuff whereas I have a harder time parting with things.

Today was a most victorious day; I stormed the dining room, battled bravely and reclaimed it as our own. There are still a few things I have to find a place for (like the pretty but impractical canister set that came with our wedding dishes), but WE CAN SIT AT A TABLE AND EAT!

Here's My Boy mugging for the camera while he enjoys his sit-down dinner of rice! See the canisters? They need a home!

All our boxes are unpacked but one which must wait for the completion of the pantry. But I did sort through it and get rid of some things so it's all ready to be put away. Speaking of the pantry, The Viking has been hard at work on it all weekend:

He was fussing over me taking a picture of him, but that didn't stop him from working!

The pantry is lined with 5 wrap-around shelves, has a long, shallow space on the right side to hang the broom and mop and enough space at the bottom to slide taller things like the dog food bin. I am so dorkily excited about this pantry, I can't even tell you. I keep swiveling around in my chair as I'm typing to look at it. I've never had a pantry before and it was always one of those things that sounded like dreamhouse luxuries to me, like a fireplace, laundry chute, built-in bookshelves and window seats. We have yet to put in our fireplace or laundry chute, and we'll never have the bookshelves or window seats, but, by George, we've got a pantry! Squee!

I've also been trying to figure out how to display some of my decorative items without taking up precious storage space. So far I've come up with two areas: a somewhat awkward cupboard over the microwave, and on top of the fridge.

The Viking had to rebuild the cupboard over the microwave. When we went to install the stove (good old Mrs. C) we found that her backsplash made her an inch too tall to fit underneath the microwave. This caused quite a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth until The Viking said he could pull out the cupboard over the microwave, mount the microwave higher to accommodate the stove, and rebuild the cupboard. This worked beautifully, except for the fact that we now have no doors for the new cupboard. We decided to worry about that smaller detail later.

When my organized friend came over she asked me how I wanted to use that space. I was unsure because I am rather short and have a hard time reaching it. She suggested I stash something up there I don't need to use very often, and if it was something pretty, I could simply leave the cupboard open like shelves. We tried some crystal pieces like candlesticks and vases, but they didn't look quite right. Then as I was staring at the cupboard trying to decide what to put in there it hit me! It's a perfect place to store my few pieces of stoneware!

The inside isn't finished, but once that outlet is covered and the whole thing is painted green like the outside, the white pieces are going to look great in there! I've had that soup tureen for years and rarely use it, but I love it too much to get rid of it. The footed bowl was a gift from my mother this Christmas as was the small gravy boat to its left. I acquired the candy dish from somewhere I can't recall now and the little pieces are ornaments I bought from abc distributing two years ago because I knew they'd be perfect for the red, green and white kitchen we were planning.


While I was at it I decided to try and sore a few things up on top of the fridge, an area I am probably never going to use for storing practical things. I had several picnic baskets/hampers stacked in my dining room that I decided would look pretty great up there. I added my great-grandmother's egg beater and a couple of red tea tins I bought at a yard sale for a quarter. I've had those things floating around for 3 years because I knew someday they'd be a nice touch in my dream kitchen!

In the far left of the pic you can barely see my green Goodwill candy dish and two more of the tins. I'm not sure if any of that stuff is staying, but I don't think I have any better place to stow the picnic baskets. The littler things might be moved around a bit, I'll have to live with it a while and see.

So, the pantry is now nearly finished and The Viking just announced he will have it done tonight so I can start filling it tomorrow! I'm so excited! I'll be sure to post lots of pics of the finished product tomorrow night!

Yay for the pantry!