Under the pantry: more before and after shots

This is not my pantry, but I like it, so here it is:

In case you missed the post about my pantry, click here to read about how the linoleum counters in the pantry made me squeamish. 

In that post, I didn't even mention what it looked like underneath the counters. It was nasty. So nasty that I honestly doubted we would store food under there. I thought it might be good for cleaning supplies, in a sealed container.

Clearly the landlord didn't touch the pantry when he was renovating the rest of the apartment.

Have you ever hear of Kilz? It's a primer that supposedly neutralizes odors and other gross germs and things that you don't want to spend too much time thinking about. I ended up sweeping and vacumming and scrubbing underneath the pantry, and then painting it with one or two or even three layers of Kilz. And the end result? Not bad at all. It feels fresh and -- dare I say? -- new.

We keep the dry goods on one side. There were some shelves already in there, which you can see in the pictures above. Yeah, they got a lot of paint.

On the other side, we keep extra plates, serving platters and random kitchen things.

There was no shelf on this side, so we went with our cheapest option: a metal contraption from Lowe's. Those things are functional, but they suck hard when it comes to putting them together.

The lower half is not as pretty as the upper half, but hey, it's not to be overlooked!

Pantry: Before and after

The pantry was one of my favorite things about our new apartment, even though it needed some work.

That's linoleum tile on the countertops. It really didn't inspire me to prepare any food. And while I could think of lots of amazing things to do with this pantry if we owned this apartment, we had to use some restraint when it came to actually making the space usable as renters.

And here's the after! We covered the tile countertops with ikea butcher block -- it's just sitting on top, not attached in any way. When it's time for us to move in a few years, we'll have the option of taking the butcher block with us. It's in big enough pieces that it could be repurposed. 

We wanted to make sure the shelves were sturdy enough to hold plates or appliances or anything else we might want to put on them. The linoleum tile that I could barely make myself touch before has been transformed into the most charming prep space I've ever had.

I enjoy making espresso in the pantry every morning. It's so cozy, and I love to bustle around making breakfast and packing my lunch. Grrr, but now I'm staring at the picture above because the middle drawer is open slightly. Why didn't I fix it? I'm too lazy to do it now, but I'm sure the pantry will be restyled soon. I'll make sure the drawers are closed next time.

I got the chalk drawing at a barn sale in Maine a couple of years ago. The old lady in the picture looks friendly for the most part, but now that she resides in the pantry, I've noticed her looking more stern. I think she wants me to make some whoopie pies! 

See how she's eying those spatulas?

Dedicated to the Tin Can Alleys

Here are the mugs we have. They're Tin Can Alley by Lenox, and are one of my favorite things in our kitchen -- especially when paired with blueberries and milk. See? I love white and light blue in any form!

In fact, if the mug were an entryway, it might just look like this:

Here are more pops of light blue in a picture of kitchen shelves that are filled with white dishes and golden-toned picture frames, along with silvery accents on the counter.

Something about the metal chairs in the dining room below is reminiscent of the whole Tin Can Alley line.

I don't think the next picture is from the same house, but they have similar color palates. I could picture a row of Tin Can Alleys hanging on something like this.

Maybe mixed with something like this?

And definitely hanging over something like this:

Raj Teapot from Sundance

I did it!

I painted giant black rectangle on my kitchen wall, and framed it with trim I bought at Lowe's and painted a dark gray.

Despite how the picture looks, the rectangle is not crooked. There are plenty of other (minor, I hope) flaws in the wall, but that is not one of them.

Here is a close-up of the frame:

And here you see the new chalkboard posing with my great-grandma's chopping bowl. We don't use it as a chopping bowl anymore. It's more of a mail/rubber band collector that I try to keep empty but it never seems to stay that way.

This is what I learned from this weekend's chalkboard adventure:

1) If you don't have painter's tape, electrical tape may not be the best substitute. It's pretty stretchy, and is not easy to get straight.

2) Cutting a 45-degree angle is really hard!

3) Cutting edges to be the same length is not too easy, either.

4) But that's OK, because it's pretty hard to get a perfect rectangle on the wall.

5) If you find yourself whispering, "it is what it is," as you near completion of your DIY project, it is a pretty good indication that some (or most?) things did not go exactly as planned.

6) Most project flaws are best kept a secret.

And here's the closing image, just because I like the giant bright space with the huge chalkboard wall. Painting an entire wall is one way to avoid that nasty task of painting a rectangle.

Friday (un)Focus: DIY projects and chalkboard paint

I'm bookmarking this list of DIY ideas from Young House Love.

I like the industrial clips hung on tiny nails:

And the window covered with chalkboard paint:

Speaking of chalkboard paint ... Lately I've been tempted to use it to paint a big rectangle over the table in our kitchen. No frames or anything, so basically just a black rectangle on the creamy white walls. The idea loses its luster a bit when I think about what we'd actually write on the board. This is what the space currently looks like, except I've relocated the ship picture to its permanent place on the wall in the hallway.

Here are a couple pictures I pulled as examples. Truthfully, chalkboard paint is pretty trendy right now. But we could paint over it whenever we got tired of it.

Bleh, look at that red wall in the background and guess my thoughts on that beauty. I actually don't like that second photo much at all, except for the drawing (does Marc have that kind of talent?) and the shiny clock mounted on the blackboard.

So, what do you think? Paint or not paint? Besides the fact that it would be easy to paint over when we get tired of it (or move -- whichever comes first), another plus is that I've been looking for something big to hang on that wall for a while. I need it to be cheap, too.