What Ana Does

The Pantry, the little room off the kitchen, was a big selling point when we toured this house. It was full of cabinets and had a door on it that was ideal for storing platers and appliances, and tossing things I didn't want people to see while hosting.  But, it was also an afterthought to the owners. The cabinets were shoe-horned in, the floor was still an ancient linoleum and the counter was clearly just remnants from another job, which was clear due to a big crack in one piece. But it had a door, so it was livable.   I laid out the vinyl floor tiles when we first moved in five years ago. But they've since started to wiggle around on the floor. So a decision needed to be made, do I replace the moving tile pieces, or do we go for the renovation we've been putting off thanks to bigger projects.  This pantry should have been done with the rest of the kitchen , but budgets got tight, so it became a phase 2. Well ... it was time to tackle it because another vinyl tile j...

During our kitchen renovation, our walk-in pantry got outlets! (Nope, there were no outlets in there before -- crazy, right?!)  That was a huge addition to this wonderfully useful room that houses all our small appliances and servingware, like bowls and glass jars. We can now use those small appliances in the pantry, rather than carting them out to the kitchen counter.  It's on the list, at some point, to replace the Formica countertops, laminate floors and add a backsplash in here, but not at this time. So I painted the room this moody blue and came up with a FREE solution to the backsplash.  Chalk pen!  This was too easy. I got a level and a scrap board and made horizontal lines along the wall with a white chalk pen. Then, added horizontal lines to connect. Voila!  It was really just as easy as that.  The best part, it's all chalk, so if I decide I don't like it or want to try another design, I just wipe it off with a wet sponge.  There's nothing I a...

It took two days and about $80 in supplies, and now our kitchen pantry is REBORN! Here's a quick review of the project in pictures, starting with the BEFORE pictures: My main issue with the wire shelves were bottles or anything "thin" would tip over. And with my commitment to bulk, I wanted to store glass containers in here but knew they wouldn't be "safe." I foresaw broken glass at some point. Plus, it's a great space, so I knew I could add more storage space if I was strategic. Last, wire shelves are ugly. So then I demo'd the pantry and painted the walls (which was just primer) with leftover paint from the rest of the house. It's called Polar Bear. I paid an electrician to install an outlet at "counter height" in the pantry, so I could move the dumb microwave off the counter. (The electrician did a slew of other small jobs around the house, not just this outlet, including a motion-activated light in this pantry. Tres Fancy...

I think we'd all love to renovate our kitchens. It's a universal ambition. And I have huge plans for our kitchen, but it's not currently a high priority or in the budget, so I'm just making a few improvements post Paris.  One, I am removing the light fixtures. It comes down to this: I didn't pick them out, and they're not pretty. And life is too short for ugly kitchen fixtures. So I found these matte black fixtures on Wayfair and got them both for under $175. Dave installed them and BAM and instantly more in love with my kitchen.  New Light in Front, Old Light Behind Then there's our pantry, which is kind of a hot mess. First, it's got wire shelves and bagged items get caught between the wires. The cans section is dropping, glass jars get knocked over and it's got this bifold door that should be used for closets, not kitchen pantries (in my opinion).  Our Pantry: The Current Situation I've made attempts to organize and sort, bu...