Renovation - Utility Room to Our Perfect Pantry

So, a farmhouse is never truly complete without a pantry so we decided that, what was the utility room, needed to have a bit of an upgrade and become a self sufficient enthusiasts dream storage space.

This needed to be a multipurpose space, where we could store the dogs' bits and bobs, do laundry, be a walk in pantry and, provide a space for our farming jackets and overalls etc. The previous owners left us with a handy storage bench which, combined with an open space to hang clothes, we thought could take the place of a dark wardrobe.

The Utility Room when we first moved in.

Now, everyone has their own likes and dislikes and I'm sure this space was perfect for the old owners, but the blue walls and the slightly pink tiles just wasn't our jam, so we actually painted this room in a creamy coloured chalk paint within weeks of moving in, with the idea that we'd come back to it at a later date. So, when the time came to tackle the utility room, ideas of farmhouse pantries had filled my brain, solving a storage problem in the kitchen and utilising a dark room. We decided to lean into this, it helps with the longevity of the food and things we'd be storing in there so after lots of paint samples, we decided with a dark, moody green (Green 19) from Lick. As this area of the house was added later than the main build, it's all modern gypsum plaster so we didn't need a specific type of paint here.

With glee, I started, crowbar in hand, pulling the tiles off the walls. I did try and go delicately to start with but the plaster behind the tiles had blown and was coming off in chunks anyway so we thought f*** it and enjoyed our own version of a rage room for a few hours! We repaired any major plaster damage and filled any holes around the rest of the room. Now, the tiles did extend over the window sill, so we had a bespoke oak window sill made and replaced the tiles with this... It's a beautiful piece of wood and looks lovely.

Ok, yes a pantry should be relatively dark if your fermenting (food... not you personally) and storing canned/jarred food etc, but we really wanted to elevate the room slightly by adding lighter coloured worktops. If you've followed our renovation journey so far, you'll had read that budget was limited, so we found the perfect vinyl cover (which has actually proved pretty hardwearing in such a well used space) in light oak. We added this to the worktops with the aid of a heat gun... definitely recommended for tricky edges, and it's perfect, we used two rolls and have a little left over, so we can patch any small nicks.

D-C-Fix Vinyl in Light Oak

One of the most important things for any pantry is shelving. Therefore, when I announced to Ric I would indeed be ripping out the top row of shelves including the full height cupboard (to make space for the fridge) it didn't come as a surprise. Using some reclaimed thin board and some old bench legs we made two extra long shelves, whipped out the browning wax again and set these aside until after we'd panelled and painting the walls. Here she comes... panelling's number one fan... hear me out, the extra shiplap boards B&Q sent us couldn't go to waste so you guessed it, they're now adorning the pantry walls! We added these boards, slotting each of them together, filled any joins and then applied the mist coat of paint to the bare wall and bare panelling. The panels do say they're ready to paint, but we'd always recommend a mist coat, the MDF still seems to soak quite a bit of paint up if you don't, the panels are however damp resistant... a big plus.

Panel & trim added... with the help of the Wolf!

Once the panelling and trim was up and the room (remaining cupboards included) had been colour drenched in the shade of green that has my heart, we secured the shelves to the wall and squeezed the dryer, washing machine and fridge into their new homes. We say squeezed... we mean it, the fridge is never coming out!

The forest theme and outdoors in feel continues in the pantry so I painted some cute little wooden pegs, turning them into mushrooms, the prefect place to hang handy bits and bobs, like a string box and carpet beater (yes, we do still take the rugs outside to beat them every now and again... simple living and all that). We added two small Ikea shelves to the side of the window, again waxed with browning wax to age them, hung up a mini clothes airer (I'd always admired my Grandparent's huge one above the Aga so couldn't resist), and made our own blind from some pinstripe brown cotton fabric.

We also made a reclaimed wooden shelf with two holes in the brackets, perfect for an old curtain rod to slot into allowing us to hang up the aforementioned farming jackets! I hid the fuse box with another sliding curtain in the same fabric as the blind and added a brass looking chicken wire lampshade off Etsy. I love the lampshade, but it is a little small for the space. On that note, we haven't painted the ceiling or worried too much about the light as we're hoping to add a pitched roof with sky lights in the near future. Finally, we added a matte black plug in towel rail, which heats the room well if we need it to and also gives us extra drying space!

So, there we go, our pantry renovation. We've now got a brilliant walk in pantry, which serves as a fantastic multi purpose space housing things like our dehydrator and pressure canner and lots of dried goods and bulk amounts of canned yumminess (this year's spiced apple jam is particularly high on the yumminess scale), whilst storing all the dogs' bits and pieces and being a functional space for laundry.

We hope these little renovation tales are offering some small modicums of inspiration! Next time, the kitchen.