Pantry Facelift - Part Two

It is the Thanksgiving four-day weekend and we only had two days to work on the house.  On Thanksgiving Day, we drove to Pinetop (about 4 hours round-trip) to spend a few hours with Mike's dad and his wife Mary.  We had a good time, but it took a big chunk out of the day and we were very tired by the time we got back that night. Mike was scheduled to fly out of town for work again (yes - destination Hawaii) on Sunday for a week, so that left us with only Friday and Saturday to get another pantry project done.  This time - new shelves.

Since the remodel, we had been using some garage type shelving in the pantry as a temporary solution.  This gave us time to figure out what we really wanted and we could then re-use the original shelves in the shed.  We started looking around a few weeks ago and found that Lowes had the best selection of wire shelving (these were a tight mesh design - better for cans) in the lengths and widths we wanted (we did have to settle for 16" instead of 20" deep shelves) and at a good price.  While Laurie was down in the Valley recently, we made a trip to Lowes and found some kits that would fit our needs.  We also found some wire drawers that would work in the design.  Later we stopped at Home Depot just to be sure they did not have something in the store that was not online (yes, it does happen).  They could not some close to what we found at Lowes for the bulk of the shelving, but they did have a wire four drawer package at almost the same cost we paid for two drawers at Lowes.  Score!  Laurie took all the shelving boxes up to Payson on her return trip.

These shelves use a main support bar horizontally across the top from which the vertical support bars hang.  The key was to make sure the top support bar was screwed into as many studs as possible (instructions only require wood behind three of the five holes per support).  We have found more than once that having taken pictures of our walls prior to installing the insulation/drywall have helped us remember what is behind our walls.  We used them recently to verify where our electrical wiring was when we put the pellet stove vent through the wall.  It might not have been exact, but it gave us a good idea.  In this project, the pantry interior pictures showed us that, along the top of the long wall, there are two 2x4 boards and the right upper corner of the short wall includes the main support beam to the kitchen.  So that meant every screw in the support on the long wall would go into wood and at least the two right screws in the short wall support would hit wood.  It was now a matter of finding studs for the other three holes.  We lent Mike's new stud finder to our son as it has an electrical wire option and he is using it for his house remodel.  So Mike used a Black and Decker unit we have had for awhile and which he has used before with no issue.  He tested and retested the area in question and found what he thought were studs, but to be sure he drilled a tiny hole to be sure and found it was always off.  After many tests, he finally found one more stud to use and the other two holes went into drywall anchors.

The first support to be installed

Once the horizontal brackets were leveled and secured to the wall, the rest of the installation went fairly quickly.  We placed two vertical supports on the short wall to support six shelves.  Once we had the proper spacing, the vertical supports were also secured to the wall into either a stud or drywall anchor.  The shelves are attached to brackets, which attach to the vertical supports, by aligning the bracket along one shelf wire and pressing down on the shelf for it to slide into a slot on the bracket (a small feat in itself).  Then it was a matter of spacing out the six shelves on the wall, though they will probably get moved again when Laurie puts everything back in the pantry.

Spacing the vertical supports on the short wall

Attaching the support to the wall

The finished shelves on the short wall

The next task was the column of drawers we planned to go above the A/C vent box in the corner.  Each drawer has a wire shelf attached to its top which allowed us to space out the drawers and have storage space between them. As a result, the four drawers took up one full set of supports.  The vertical support placement was more critical for this section as it had to be the same width as the drawer supports.  Once we got one drawer together and placed, the rest went in smoothly.  Then we marked the holes in the vertical supports, removed the drawers and attached the supports to the walls.  Then, of course, we had to put the drawers back up.

All supports in place for the long wall

Wire drawers setup in the corner

Testing the drawer pull-out length and built-in stop bars

Last but not least was putting up the shelving on the long wall.  The whole wall is 96" and the shelving on the short wall used about 17" (16" shelf plus support) of that space. The drawers used another 23", leaving us with 56" to place the 48" shelves that came in the kit - perfect fit (which was the plan, of course).  We put up two more vertical supports secured to the wall and six more 16" shelves. Hopefully this setup will provide us with more storage than we had with the garage shelves.  If nothing else, the pantry looks very organized and clean.

The long wall shelves installed with one food container used to help set the spacing

We did find some time on Friday night to go to the Swiss Village Christmas lighting event in which all the shops are open with carolers, snacks, hot chocolate, Santa/Mrs. Claus and rides for the kids.  We walked through the shops and then met our friends Bob and Denise.  It was one of our recent colder nights, but still fun to get out.  Mike left Saturday night for the Valley and his business trip on Sunday.

Stats: 0 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 11/24/15-11/28/15: $81
Remodeling expense to date: $52,461

Pantry Facelift - Part One

We are slowly completing the majority of our house projects. The current list of planned tasks consists mostly of organizing stuff we kept from the Gilbert house, repainting some rooms, painting the master bedroom, and reworking the pantry (along with many other small items too numerous to mention). Larger projects like baseboards, flooring and the kitchen all require time, money and, most importantly, decisions. We cannot install the baseboards until we choose what kind of flooring we want (carpet was a short-term solution) and get it installed. We cannot get the flooring in until we install the kitchen cabinets. And, we cannot install the kitchen cabinets until we make a decision on the appliance color and whether we will buy ready made cabinets or Laurie will make them herself. So, in the meantime, we continue to whittle away at the smaller projects.
One item Laurie has always wanted was a water softener system, even at our Gilbert house.  We never made it happen there because we did not have the proper water loop and the only location for the loop and system would require a professional installation, therefore a lot of money.  When we remodeled the Payson house, we had a loop put in the pantry for a future water system.  As we mentioned in the last blog, we finally bought one (actually we bought it twice) and are working towards installing it.  This required the pantry to be painted as it is one of the two rooms that never got its first coat of paint.

To paint the pantry we had to first remove all the food, stored items and shelving.  Laurie took care of most of this during the week, leaving only one shelf to take down when Mike came up for the weekend. This made our living area quite cluttered again.  Once all the items were removed, Laurie cleaned the walls and then painted the room.

Some of the pantry items were placed on the floor and available tables

The food items were put back on a reconstructed shelving unit

Painting completed . . .

. . . throughout the pantry and ready for part two

While Laurie was painting, Mike had his own project to do for the pantry and that was a box to protect the air intake vent for our A/C system.  The intake opening is in the hallway through the pantry wall and then the vent feeds into the crawlspace through the pantry floor.  During our last semi-annual inspection of the heating/cooling system, Laurie used a new company and the tech recommended we protect the air intake vent so it would not get accidentally damaged if something fell on it.  We drafted up a design for a box to build around the vent and bought the materials at Home Depot.  Mike built a frame for the box out of 1x2s and then covered it with paneling Laurie liked.  The box turned out really well, but, when we installed it in the pantry, we had not taken into account the wood pattern in the flooring so the box clashes a little.  We may end up painting the box in the future, but for now it is functional.

The box frame . . .

. . . and with paneling attached (the glue was still drying)

The completed box in place over the air intake duct work (as seen in painting pic above)

The pantry is now ready for new shelving (no more garage shelves, we will have wire shelving) and the water softener system.  Each will be installed on future weekends.

Stats: 2 Home Depot trips; 2 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 11/10/15-11/23/15: $631
Remodeling expense to date: $52,380

New Old Stuff

After our East Coast trip, Laurie returned to Payson with Mike's mom for the week.  We are planning on having her come up one week each month, to help give Mike's sister a break, and because his mom really enjoys going to Payson.  While they were there during the week, they visited some thrift stores and sales.  They found some items that Laurie wanted Mike to look at when he arrived for the weekend.

About 3 months ago we purchased a water softener system that was on sale at Home Depot. In reviewing Home Depot's daily deal, Laurie noticed that the same water softener was on sale for an even lower price than we had originally paid so she ordered it (at the reduced price) and returned the one we purchased in July. Water softeners are not small items and Mike felt she was nuts for going to the trouble to return and reorder to save $170, but, as Laurie reasoned, when you are saving for retirement, every little bit helps.

On Saturday, Laurie took Mike back to a church rummage sale where she was considering purchasing a sleeper couch, chair and ottoman set.  We had not been planning on replacing our current furniture, but the couch we have been using for a few years was getting a little worn and the extra chair will be good for guests.  By the time we showed up to look at it again (first time for Mike), they had reduced the price and we bought it.  After we got our trailer and loaded the items, we found there was quite a bit of cat hair embedded in the cushions.  We decided to take them to the car wash and use the high-powered vacuums to remove as much as possible.  After we ran out of cash, we got the rest of it off at the house using a shop vac and some pet hair removal tape.  The new furniture looked really nice in the room, but there was not enough room for our old sofa (we had hoped we had enough space to fit everything).  So we contacted Mike's niece and nephew who just bought a new house and offered it to them.  They were very excited as they needed the extra seating for guests who were coming for the holidays.

The final configuration will look different, but it fits for now

Before our vacation, our friend Bob, who runs the surplus store in Star Valley, told us he had a used table saw for $150.  Mike has a folding saw he uses, but not a regular one.  He ran over to take a look at it and it was in good shape and came with a caster base so it could be moved around easily.  Mike did not have time to pick up the saw that day, but told Bob we wanted it and would be back in November to purchase it.  So Mike went over to Bob's this weekend and picked up the saw.  Just as with the couch and chair, when Mike got to Bob's, he had reduced the price since the last time Mike was there (who says procrastinating doesn't pay off).  Hopefully it will be a great addition to Mike's current set of tools.

It runs, but needs a little work to make it level

Mike took the truck and trailer back to the Valley to deliver the sofa to his niece and nephew and took his mom back to his sister's place.  Not a highly productive weekend, but it was good to be back in town.

Stats: 1 Home Depot trip; 3 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 10/21/15-11/09/15: $0
Remodeling expense to date: $51,749