Before we get to the “good stuff” I am going to refresh your memory on what the top of our stairs used to look like when we first bought the house….

OK, now on to building the pantry part. Last week we replaced the door at the top of the stairs so it would open in to the kitchen. This freed up the space behind the door to build shelves and make a small pantry to hold all our jars. Keil worked really hard to get the wires run and the wall closed up so we could install the tin. The next step was to build the shelves to fit in that space. We chose to shorten the shelves on the left so it wouldn’t cause a problem with coming up and down the stairs.

The quick version of the process...

Now we just need to decide if we are going to put little lips on the shelves to keep the jars from moving. Also I would like to put some hooks to the left of the shelves to hang aprons and such. And then we need to fill it! YAY! Will post more pictures once we are finished.

Some time last year we bought the door for the basement and this weekend we finally got the old one out and the new one put in. Not only did we purchase a nicer looking door, we also changed the orientation of the opening. The old door opened into the stairwell. It was very hard to open and close and it took up a lot of useful space we could use for jar storage. The new door we changed to have it open in to the kitchen - freeing up the space on the wall in the stairwell and also making it safer to go in and out of the basement. We still need to put the trim up and also poly the door to protect it and make it easier to clean. Another project down... only ??? more to go. LOL

On the landing at the top of the stairs - after the rest of our wiring is finished we will seal up the holes the previous owner left in the wall. Cover it and put shelves there for jar storage and a shallow pantry. Jennifer is very excited about that part.

To heat or not to heat... that is a decision our furnace is trying to make. LOL
Keil was able to find a part online to replace the one that had burned out. The cats are VERY happy with his skills to get the furnace working again.