The Repurposed, Recycled Broom Closet

In my miniscule kitchen, there was a little door...The door itself was cuter than a bugs ear with all the original hardware...inside,under the stairs, was this dirty, dark, smelly broom closet filled with buckets, brooms, cleaning supplies and it seemed, whatever else you felt like chucking in there on your way to somewhere else. It had the original wood ironing board attached to the wall, I believe they just built them into the house in that era!

 Can you believe it? A vacuum...I wonder why one would own a vacuum...and never use it!  Now my kitchen had no cupboards or a place to store anything.  Wouldn't this make an excellent pantry?

Here is my Broom closet, New pantry, all cleaned out.  Nice wall color...don't you think? (that is my attempt at humor...YUCK!) I believe it is milk paint and I don't think it has ever been painted since the house was new...
At first, there were no shelves except the ironing board...it took about 3 months to figure out how we were going to make corbels to hang shelves...I did find beautiful wood ones...nine bucks a piece...wasn't happening...I also found my dream corbels...black wrought iron with the lil curli cues...not happening either...at first I just had a metal garage shelf in there...just to store dishes and groceries...it was very depressing...you don't know how bad I wanted to throw that shelf outside and into that trailer...

Well...the ingenuity and wonder that my Honey can come up with...He came up with these...

They are 2x4 pieces screwed to the wall..from the pallets I was telling you about...I wasn't thrilled at first because..well...they weren't wrought iron...they weren't carved...and we have all seen pictures of the pantries in Country Living...
My Honey said..."just wait and see when they are done...and then tell me what you think"...so I did...now, I was just excited not to have to get my spices out of a bucket....and my canned goods out of a tub...I was thinking mostly that I was relieved just to have shelves...

This is what it looked like when he was done...not pretty, totally utilitarian...but I didn't have to dig  my chow out of a bucket! I loved it...and I could totally see what he had been saying...
He even wired a light in there! Not only did I have shelves to put things on...I could open the door without a flashlight and get what I wanted! The only screws are the ones screwing the "corbels" to the walls...the rest fits so tight you need a hammer to get the shelves out...

The floor before...

One day, I was sitting in my sunny kitchen...surfing the net...and of course, went directly to HGTV...it is my inspiration...Rate My Space...what normal, everyday people do to decorate their homes...not millionaires or television designers do...but people like me...and I thought...I am gonna put my lil house on there and ask people what they think....maybe they could give me some inspiring clue as to how I was going to give my utilitarian, unfinished house some sparkle...We all know what happened...out of nowhere came this amazing response...encouragement...a true gift...America telling me that I was on the right track on my own and that maybe my ideals were a good thing...Now I sat stumped for awhile...tired and worn out...I only wanted to work outside and wait to finish more of the inside in the winter when I was kept indoors...but these people gave me more energy and a want to finish my kitchen...so I started back on the pantry...no more dark and dreary...

the floor after...one coat of mineral oil and two coats of paste wax

For the last three days, I have been taking everything apart...priming. painting...and I went to get shelf liner..(among the gardening and animals, fencing and taking the siding off my house).this shelf liner is black...and as I was cutting it to fit the shelves...it reminded me of the lingerie you look at in the Victoria's Secret catalogue...hmmmm...isn't that funny...CUPBOARD UNDIES!  So now, it affectionately known at my house as Cupboard...undies...they didn't have red or I would have chosen it...maybe someday when I go on a  repurpose, recycle, reuse hunt...I will find some red accents to decorate my clean, shiny pantry! and maybe a rug for the floor?

Usually grocery shopping is an anathema to me...I hate it, when I get home, I don't have anywhere to put anything or it goes in the dreary closet...NOT ANYMORE! Thanks to you! I can't wait to fill up this pantry!