Small Pantry Makeover | Organization Tips and Storage Ideas

• (2) 4'x8' 3/4" Sanded Plywood
• (2) 1x4x8 Pine Boards
• (3) 1x2x8 Select Pine Boards
• (1) Project Panel (20" x 48")
• Behr Dynasty Paint - Rush Hour
• Behr Dynasty Paint - Cloudy Day
• Merola Tile
• 1/4" Pocket Hole Screws
• Nail Pulling Pliers
• DAP Wood Filler
• 80-Grit Sandpaper
• 220- Grit Sandpaper
• Painters Tape
• Paint Brush Kit
• Pre-Mixed Thin Set
• Pre-Mixed Grout
• Polyurethane

Tools Used

• Miter Saw
• Drill
• Kreg Jig
• Jigsaw
• Brad Nailer
• Sander
• Tile Saw
• Trowel
• Grout Float 

The Before

As always, I like to give you guys a good look at the before. As you can see, my pantry organization was a definite no go. I knew I needed some better pantry organization and storage ideas. 

As you can see, these shelving units just weren't cutting it for me. I knew I needed to split up the shelves a bit and have varying sizes for it to be a better fit for me and my items. The plan is to remove the bottom two existing shelves and build a cabinet that will be more functional for me.

You would be amazed just how changing up a small portion of a space can make such an impact! Let's get into it.

The Pantry Demo/Rebuilding the Pantry

I first started out with removing the two existing shelves. They were installed with nails, so with a little push and tug with a hammer and my foot, I was able to knock them right out.

With the existing shelves out, I was able to start building the bottom cabinet. Unfortunately, because of the size of the pantry, I had to build the cabinet in the space vs. building it outside and putting it in there afterwards.

I used 3/4" Sanded Plywood to build the bulk of the cabinet and then framed it out with 1x2 boards.

When building the cabinet, I really tried to pay attention to how I had been using the pantry previously and the items I have to store, ultimately that led to me creating the cabinet the way I did.

There was a lot of unused space, so I knew I wanted to create an additional space to store more items. If you can tell instead of three spaces at the bottom, the cabinet added four.

Painting the Pantry

Before I started the pantry, I knew I wanted to go with some sort of blue color. I browsed the Behr Dynasty paint colors on HomeDepot.com and found the perfect shade of blue Rush Hour. Luckily, there are many colors to choose from.

With the bottom cabinetry color all picked out, I had to determine which color to paint the top. I picked three different colors to choose from and tested them out on the pantry. 

If you aren't that great at picking out colors, luckily the Home Depot app gives you a little help. I typed in the bottom cabinet color within The Home Depot app and it showed me similar colors to choose from.

I ended up going with one of the suggestions from the app, Cloudy Day, for the top pantry cabinets and it turned out perfectly. The paint calculator also helped me determine just how much paint I needed, so that I didn't overbuy.

Tiling the Pantry

Now on to the tile. I wanted to make my pantry feel more like a butler's pantry and I knew tiling the middle would help make it feel more like one. Instead of the two shelves that were there before, I created four shelves by adding three spaces to the cabinet and having a space in the middle. 

Having varying sizes and adding an additional slot will allow me to organize items a lot more effectively. There was a lot of unused space within the pantry as it was, so I am making it a lot more functional by designing it this way.

I used my Ridgid tile saw to cut down the tile to size. This is my second time using this tile saw and I really love it. It makes tile laying a lot easier and cutting a lot more accurate.

I adhered the tiles to the wall with a Pre-Mixed Thin Set. This comes ready out of the container and I love using this brand. You can opt to get a mortar that isn't pre-mixed for cheaper, but I am a fan of the easy road, so pre-mixed it is!

Once the mortar was dry and sat for about a day, I went back in the next day and started grouting. I used a Pre-Mixed Grout that was ready right out of the container, same brand as the thin set.

I applied a little bit of grout and then used a sponge and water to wipe the additional grout off of the tile.

Once the grout was dry, I installed a project panel underneath to serve as a countertop and sealed it with polyurethane.

Pantry Storage and Organization

Now for the fun part; organizing! By the time I had finished the grout, I was super excited to start organizing the pantry with all of the containers and items I found.

I really took advantage of The Home Depot's Home Delivery Service for this project. I was able to order all of my containers and tile right online and it was delivered right to my front door. At one point I had so many packages at the door, I had to leave them outside until I had time to bring them all in.

Now thats what I call a good service, items arriving right at your door!

Having dedicated containers really helped bring some great storage to the pantry but also made it look more appealing.

If you notice a common theme, you probably can tell that I went heavy on the rose gold! I knew it would couple well with the blue and I was absolutely right. The rose gold accents on the glass jars and the bread logo just tied everything together.

The Final Reveal

Now I know why most of you are here, you're wanting to see the final reveal. Well, here it is. Meet my new organized pantry!

These colors were the perfect match for this pantry makeover. Shout out to Behr for the amazing blues.

The real heroes of this pantry makeover are the storage solutions! I was able to find some great finds to help organize my pantry and I absolutely love how they contrast with the colors I chose! The rose gold accents on the storage containers and the bread container, really made this pantry pop.

My favorite organization item is hands down the cereal dispenser. It's such a fun and cool way to display cereal and as a cereal lover, it makes me that more excited about it.

As always, I have to leave you guys with a before and after. As you can see, I was in need of some serious pantry organization. With a little tweaking I was able to make my pantry more functional and it looks ten times better than it ever would have.

Thanks for reading guys, XOXO Ashley