Sunday, February 20, 2011

Cottage Style Dish Pantry Makeover

I converted my boring builders built-in pantry into a charming cottage china closet.
Now, most of my pretty dishes are in view, and I can enjoy looking at them.  It also makes it much easier to choose which ones I want to use each day.
 Here is the pantry before. It held all the food items.
 I moved all the pantry items into the cabinets and all the cabinet items (dishes) into the pantry.
 I  used two reclaimed louvered doors that I found discarded on bulk trash day.
We punched out the louvers to make room for an insert .
We stapled chicken wire to the back.
I decided on chicken wire because glass would have taken this budget makeover over budget.
What's more cottage than chicken wire?
We added quarter round trim to cover the slat holes.
We painted  the inside walls Bleached Denim by Behr.
We painted the shelves glossy white.
 Two Longaberger trays and two large baskets on the floor hold extra pieces.
Larry installed lots of cup hooks under each shelf. I arranged all my dishes.
We painted the doors and installed them .
 I had saved some blue glass knobs for years.
(in a tennis can, of course!)
 I got to use those again.
It gives my kitchen a touch of cottage style, and gives me great dish storage.
The whole project cost very little because I used recycled items.
I found a place to hang a ceramic rooster that I've had for years. 
It holds a blue and white striped bib apron.
A chicken and chicken wire, a classic cottage combo. 
Cheers!

50 comments:

  1. This is just fabulous. I love it. What a fun and creative idea. It looks stunning. Hugs, Marty

    ReplyDelete
  2. I adore your pretty pantry! Wish mine looked like that. You guys did a fantastic job!
    Brenda

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your pantry is so awesome! I think the chicken wire is better than the glass. I love this!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a gorgeous idea. I love the knobs and the addition of the rooster behind the chicken wire. So clever. ~~Sherry~~

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is beautiful. I just love the blue colors and the chicken wire is perfect. What a cute idea to hang Mr. Chicken back there! Creativity is high in your home!!! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a great idea.
    I'm looking for pantry ideas.
    Nothing so far that suits my kitchen.
    But this is a great idea and the chicken wire is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This simple idea really turned into a lovely focal point in your kitchen. The rooster adds a fun connection to the chicken wire:)

    ReplyDelete
  8. You may have just given me the answer I have been searching for!!!!!!!!!!! I need more dish storage and have a pantry full of food and "overflow" so I am thinking I can change it out for DISHES!!!! I LOOOOVE the chicken wire, adorable! Thanks for sharing this! XO, Pinky

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great idea! Love the chicken wire, very Frenchy AND chic.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love the chicken wire! How clever! My pantry is too deep to do something like this but you've got me thinking about this. This is my first visit to your site. I came via BNOTP.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Absolutely adorable ! AND brave - my dishes would never stay that organized with all the guys in this house !!!!

    Thanks for sharing,

    gena

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, I love the new china closet. What a great idea. You did a beautiful job. What a wonderful accent to a kitchen. Thanks for sharing. Karie

    ReplyDelete
  13. LUV your new pantry look!!! So creative and clever using those louvered doors! :) Happy WW!

    xoxo laurie

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love it! I recently did this to an old jelly cupboard. Yours is fabulous!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh, it's so cute! Love the farmhouse feel! Very clever to use the chicken wire! I like how cheerful your kitchen looks. We are going for the farmhouse look when we go to remodel. Thanks for sharing! :) ~M

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love your new pantry!! I had never thought about switching the food items to the cabinets and vice versa. May I ask if you had trouble fitting all the food into the cabinet space (my pantry is bigger than the cabinet space I have (at least I think that is true.) Would love to change mine out like this!

    bee blessed
    mary

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! What a neat idea! I love the chicken wire doors.

    ReplyDelete
  18. ooo, I LOVE this. It gives your kitchen so much personality. I really like it a lot. AND, chicken wire is THE hot ticket right now.
    REALLY CUTE..

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love what you did with the pantry. I have some open shelves and it is always easier to get to and use our dishes when we can see them. The knobs you had in a tennis can are beautiful. Chicken wire is so cottage, I will have to use some somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Fabulous! It makes the room look so much more open! Job well done.
    xo,
    Sena

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a great idea! It looks fabulous. I have chicken wire in a few cabinets and love it.
    Dropping by from How To's Day. Hope you'll come see DD2's picture wall we did for her.

    Allison
    Atticmag

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a great idea! It looks fabulous. I have chicken wire in a kitchen hutch - love it.
    Dropping by from How To's Day. Hope you'll come see DD2's picture wall we did for her.

    Allison
    Atticmag

    ReplyDelete
  23. I found you through NTT. Your pantry is just gorgeous, and I love that color blue of you kitchen island! Stunning. I also loved that you used chicken wire!

    I'm following you!!

    :)

    Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  24. I LOVE the way this turned out! Such a neat idea. Just came across your blog and I'm a new follower.

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is so cute! It's very clever and charming.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great idea! Charming and practical at the same time. Gotta love it!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I love chickenwire and that is so cute. Love the chicken head hanger, too. Thanks for joining WUW.

    ReplyDelete
  28. You panty recreation is terrific! Your Amapola looks so pretty in your pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  29. That was a wonderful project! I love the chicken wire & who-da-thunk louver doors could be made so cute??

    ReplyDelete
  30. Your project is great and would love for you to link up to my Saturday Spotlight Linky Party @ SAS Interiors. Check it out this Saturday: http://www.sasinteriors.net/features/

    Best,
    Jenna, SAS Interiors

    ReplyDelete
  31. Wow ~ I love it. Sooo cottagy and perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  32. This is fantastic! I want to put chicken wire in my china cabinet. Love this look!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hi, I feautred your pantry on my "Top Ten Fav Posts" this week at Boogieboard Cottage! Thank you for joining in this week and have a nice weekend! Mary :O)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Oh my goodness....it's perfect!! love the chicken wire...you must smile every time you look at the pantry...:)
    I have a new blog & I'd love for you to visit and follow me.
    Mariaelena
    www.cottagelivingfrombeachtoburbs.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  35. What a fabulous idea. I love how it turned out. I'm your newest follower. It would be great if you could stop by my blog Monday and add your project to The More The Merrier Link Party.

    http://diyhshp.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  36. Very cute! 1 of our bathrooms I did
    in Blue and Yellow.


    Pamela
    Ohio

    ReplyDelete
  37. I LOVE the chicken wire door fronts! So jealous!!!! The ceramic rooster head is to die for!

    Stopping by from your link @ Funky Junk Sisters!
    ~Rachel @ cookscleansplayswithpaper.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  38. I love this, how innovative. It really made the kitchen "cottagy" and even seemed to open it up. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hi Rita! Oh, I'm just in love with your precious cabinet! What a lot of storage too! Loved seeing your dishes and that little Rooster head that holds your apron is darling!
    Thank you so much for coming to my party!
    You are a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

    ReplyDelete
  40. Just great. I love the chicken wire and your out of the box thinking...changing the foodstuffs to the other cupboards and using this one for display, very creative!

    ReplyDelete
  41. I love this pantry...very clever and very cute! You just need a chicken in it! Great idea here ;D

    ReplyDelete
  42. This is so cute!!!! Just Perfection!!!!! Great idea....I would have a hard time keeping this so neat, but great idea none the less....fits your kitchen to a T ! :):) Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  43. I'd LOVE to have a pantry like this...it is so cute and definitely handy. Your dishes, especially the pretty teacups, look so good in it. Love the chicken wire, too!

    Have a great week, Rita!

    XO,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
  44. Oh, I just love this, Rita! It's so snazzy. That's a brilliant idea to repurpose those doors with the chicken wire. Just as cute as can be. You did a super job! Love your whole kitchen, but I parituclarly love that adorable dog. What a cutie pie!

    Dropping by from Shelia's and glad i did!

    xo,

    Sheila :-)

    ReplyDelete
  45. What an absolutely charming transformation! You have given your kitchen so much character! Love the colors. Such a fun post!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Love that you added the rooster with the chicken wire...marvelous idea to use the pantry so much more storage this way. Trish

    ReplyDelete
  47. I am so glad I found this! It is wonderful! AND, a great idea!!!! May I ask, do you sell Longerberger? Love your collection! I ahve a friend who has ALOT too! And her kitchen is painted the same beautiful yellow! XO, Pinky

    ReplyDelete
  48. Oh my, do I ever love your dish pantry! Clever idea. You really know how to recycle trashed or used items and make something useful out of it. Your hubby is quite talented with carpenter skills and partners with you on your projects. I think he is definately a keeper!

    ReplyDelete