THE PANTRY GETS A NEW HOME!

I've mentioned before in past posts that I've been strategiesing to move the pantry into open shelving in the dining room, thus leaving my walk in pantry to be converted into a walk in closet.  As much as Curt and I love living at casa del playa, it is after all a 750 square foot condo, and the space dedicated as the master closet, is well, not so master!  So the vision of this project was to make the pantry a more accessible, grab and cook kind of deal, along with creating a glorious walk in closet space in the hallway just outside our bedroom door.  YAY!

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And guess what!  I'm going to give you the whole tutorial!

Ready?

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First off, I wanted my shelves to look more industrial.  I first contemplated on making a huge rolling shelve unit made from gorgeous knotty wood, aluminum piping and metal plumbing attachments...  It would have been really cool, but in the long run between the astronomical price to build it and all the strange quirky problems that would arise from taking on such a project.... I decided to scale down a bit.  But!!  I kept the idea of having some gorgeous knotty wood, and purchased some inexpensive wall mounting brackets that though simple, I felt still had a modern industrial feel to them.

I purchased some very inexpensive pressurized 2x10 knotty pine from home depot for $8 a board.  They came 10 feet long, but Home Depot will cut your wood down for you free of charge.  Less work for me!  Woohoo!

Now comes the hard work.  I sanded down each board to eliminate nicks in the wood, branding stamps, and indents where the wood has been pressed.  I dug through the bin of boards at Home Depot to fish out the ones with minimal scaring, but getting a perfect board is virtually impossible.  I didn't mind to much, nicks and bruises go along with my industrial theme, and I just sanded them till they were smooth and not splintery.  Scares give the wood character.

Don't judge me for killing all my plants in the picture :O)

Developing my green thumb is something I'm still working at.

After I sanded down all my boards, I started staining.  I used an oil based interior stain by Miniwax called Ipswitch Pine.  It has a deep golden hue and it turned most of the knots in the wood a dark black.  So pretty.

Miniwax drys super fast which makes getting the job done a lot quicker.

Staining is a super simple process.  Just brush on your first coat, wait 15 minutes and then wipe it off with a clean rag.  I did two coats of stain on my boards.  I wanted that beautiful color to POP!

Note:  Since this stain is oil based, you will need turpentine to be able to clean and save your brushes.  I killed a nice brush before I realized.

See how pretty those knots turned out!

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After the stain dried, I put 2 coats of fast drying Polyurethane on the boards, which made them supper shiny!  It will also help protect the boards from stains and scratches.

Next I just installed the boards on the wall and voila!  I have an awesome, beautiful open shelving unit for my pantry!  Now to fill up those shelves!!!

"Beep Beep" from The Little Road!