Pantry Makeover Ideas and my plan to make mine pretty!

My little pantry served it purpose, but it lacked pizazz.  I tried giving it a nudge with my Pallet Dry Goods Sign and my Open Shelving, but it still needed something more. My pantry is in need of an overhaul. Here’s how I begun and some Pantry Makeover ideas I’m using to help create a pretty pantry for my home.

So let’s show you my starting point. Here’s what my pantry looked like on Monday.

The idea is there with the cute wooden crates and the pretty baskets, but let me tell you what doesn’t work. The ugly fluorescent light, the bland white shelves, the immediate lack of organization going on.

I have always dreamed of having a fun pantry door – like a screen door, or a glass paneled door. Ultimately, it would be one that I rescued and reloved for my home, but until then, a DIY plan would have to do.

Continuing the beadboard theme I used as my backsplash and around my Farmhouse Kitchen Island, I thought that would be a nice touch for continuity on the exterior of the pantry jut out. But that glass door would show all that ugliness! So that means the insides needed to be made over as well.

Full disclosure – I love to organize, so I am really excited to get started on this project. In fact, you can see my other Pantry organizing tips!

Pantry Makeover Ideas

I went to Pinterest for inspiration and fell in love with a few ideas, like this door!

Swoon city!! I love the added storage to the back of the door, don’t you? And the golden hue to the screen is so cute!

Then I remembered my friend Ashley from Little Glass Jar and her Farmhouse Pantry she made over.

Those stained shelves are perfection. I love her shiplap walls too!

And then there’s this one.

I can’t stop staring at all those cubbies and baskets and perfect organization that Nina Hendrick made with her show stopping pantry.

Since I was truly inspired, I immediately started to plan my layout.

I had it all mapped out, cut list and measurements prepared and even went as far as to purchase the drawer slides, until my husband brought me back to reality.

The way my pantry is laid out would allow for the drawers in the center, but it would make the items on either side difficult to see.

So learn from this lesson.

Sometimes function takes priority over form.

Organizing is meant to make your life easier. And while this design plan would be gorgeous, it doesn’t work in this house. So the current plan is to remove the shelves and stain them – as well as adding one more shelf.

Sigh.

It was a bubble burster for sure! While I’m rethinking the interiors, I went ahead and started on the exterior beadboard.

I purchased one sheet of beadboard paneling from Lowe’s and trimmed about 2 1/2 feet off the length. Next it was cutting and adding the panels around the front and capping it off with trim.

Isn’t this looking so good?

But let me be crystal clear about something.  Many times, I get the comments about how clean and straight my home looks. Especially with boys.

When you empty the guts of your pantry into your home, it isn’t pretty. Just look at my Dining Room.

Mail on the pass through, food stacked in chairs in the corner and on the table, and a pending elementary school project tucked away in the opposite corner.

Yuck.

But it doesn’t stop there!

The rest of the overflow is sitting on my countertops, along with last nights pots and pans drying. And notice that towel on the floor? That’s to catch the drips from my leaky dishwasher that started after my teenager tripped and fell on the door – all 6’4″ 200 pounds of him!

Real life, y’all. Sometimes renovations aren’t pretty.

And sometimes you have to muster through the disorganization to achieve organization.

And here’s to hoping that it all turns out! My goal is to have this completed by next week and ready to show you how these Pantry Makeover Ideas inspired my space. Stay turned for the reveal coming soon!