Kitchen storage ideas & my pantry makeover

One of the things I love about old houses are the little nooks and crannies you can use for extra storage. The cupboard under the stairs is always a winning spot and some old kitchens have a pantry cupboard. Our home didn’t have a pantry but we desperately needed one! The kitchen is so small that we only have one full base unit, two half base units and two cupboards on the wall above. Needless to say there wasn’t always room for food and crockery in the cupboards!

We had a look around at other spaces we could use to store our kitchen bits ‘n’ pieces and decided that the adjoining coal cupboard needed a makeover. Even though it was grubby and dark, we decided it was silly to leave it as wasted space when all it needed was a bit of decorating. So, after my husband got rid of any creepy crawlies, I set to work with some masonry paint.

It didn’t take long (or much quantity of paint) to make a real difference to the space. Once each wall was painted we added a piece of board to the floor in order to stick down some low-cost vinyl tiles. Hubby made a shelf with curve cut out of the middle to allow us to step inside the cupboard and reach the higher shelves and attached batons to the wall to support it. I used cream spray-paint to makeover a few shelves of different sizes that we’d picked up from carboot sales over the years. Just a quick coat of paint made them into a matching set and I re-sprayed a few brackets too. Hubby got out the masonry drill and we whizzed them up on the walls in no time. I enjoyed filling up the shelves with jars, tins and pots and making space for more crockery in the kitchen. I used the upper shelves for items that we rarely use, such as jugs and vases, plus some of our kitchen appliances like the waffle maker and blender.

I actually tweeted a photo of my makeover recently to enter Storage King’s ultimate storage competition and amazingly, I won! My prize was a voucher for Wilko so I went shopping yesterday and picked up some more kitchen items. Okay, I know I don’t need to fill up storage space just because I have a little extra room now! But I did need some baking items so that I can bake my Christmas cake soon, so I bought some mixing bowls, measuring jug, wooden spoons and a few other kitchen essentials. I can’t wait to start baking! I also picked up a 2016 planner with a week-to-view to help me be a little more organised with my blog posts in the new year – bring it on! Let me know what you think of my pantry makeover and if you have created any extra storage space in your own home I’d love to see photos – please tweet me your pics to @Cassiefairy or leave me a comment below.