If you've been following along for a while, you've probably heard me mention our recent move - my husband and I bought my in-law's family farm house and have been working hard to turn it into our dream home! Today I wanted to share one of the first completed spaces in our new home - our entry and pantry! A few months ago I shared our plans for this space (you can find that post here!) and I am so excited to share the finished space with you all.
Before
As you can see from the "Before" photos, this space was previously being used as a home office, which is how we originally intended to use it as well, but after careful consideration and weighing in the fact that we already have plans for office space elsewhere (converting our attic to a functioning double office soon!), we opted to transform this space into a dual entry and butler's pantry that provides much-needed storage solutions and functions so well for our family.
After
It is located right inside the door from the garage and just off the kitchen, making it the perfect place for additional kitchen storage for those not-so-frequently-used kitchen items, as well as an ideal spot for kicking off our shoes and hanging up our coats as we come inside from the garage.
The countertop and bench areas are great for easily dropping bags, groceries, backpacks, etc. immediately when coming into the house, and each of us has our own closed storage locker *insert praise hands*.
Locker Storage
Inside of each locker is an adjustable upper shelf and a few sturdy coat hooks, with a drawer for storing hats, mittens, etc. underneath, and below that a designated spot for each person to store their shoes. Above each locker is a small cabinet door that we had originally intended to use for storing out-of-season items, but it's actually the perfect spot for storing bulky serving dishes that aren't often used.
These lockers work so well for our family and solve a lot of our storage woes, and while they were very thoughtfully and intentionally designed, I had no idea that they'd also be such a source of entertainment for the girls!
Butler's Pantry Cabinets
The full-height pantry cabinets to the right of the countertop offer just the right amount of storage for our family. One holds all of our pantry items such as boxed, bagged, and canned foods with a deep drawer underneath for potato and onion storage. These are items that I struggled with finding a home for in our last kitchen, so I knew this time around that we needed a better solution.
In the other full-height pantry you'll find all of the small kitchen appliances that we don't need in the kitchen at all times but still want to be easily accessible.
The cabinets beneath the countertop hold paper goods and my bulky air fryer, and drawers have yet to be filled up, with the exception of one drawer reserved for sunscreen, bug spray, and other miscellaneous outdoor items that will be easy to grab while playing outside.
And of course, I've also reserved one inevitable junk drawer that every practical house needs! It feels wonderful to have a designated home for everything, and I mean everything, so that when all is in it's place this space feels simple, clean, and tidy with room to breathe.
The open shelving between the upper cabinets is a nice place to display cookbooks and a few other small decorative items. I knew from the start of designing this home that I wanted to use wallpaper somewhere, and behind the floating shelves ended up being the ideal spot - it adds the perfect amount of color, pattern, and personality to this space!
Funny story - the first time that I showed this wallpaper sample to Neil he thought it was "hideous" and didn't like it whatsoever - I was slightly crushed. Weeks later, after I had tried talking myself into so many other options but just couldn't get this one out of my head I jokingly asked again if he liked it... and he did! He couldn't believe that I had already showed it to him before...bad memory I guess? Now that it's up we both absolutely love it, so I'd say it worked out! ;-)
For the countertops we opted for a Cambria quartz with subtle movement so that it complemented but didn't compete with the bold pattern of the wallpaper - really allowing that to be the star of the show in this space.
We chose to go with all black cabinetry in here, which was my original plan for the lower cabinets in the kitchen (where we ultimately opted for green). Going with such dark cabinetry was a bold and risky move, but it completely paid off and we couldn't be happier. This is not a harsh black, but a softer black with just a slight tinge of green in it, adding sophistication and interest. Because there are many black elements throughout the rest of the house, and because the wood shelves and bench are the same wood as we used in every other room on the main floor, it feels completely cohesive from one end to the other!
We also installed thin-framed Shaker style cabinets to match the kitchen and included the same hardware (with the addition of those cute round knobs) to help this area seamlessly tie in with the rest of the house.
Flooring
The flooring you see in this room is the same flooring as we chose to install through most of the main floor. It is a luxury vinyl flooring which is both waterproof and has a thick wear layer so we don't have to worry about dirt and moisture ruining the floors (which is a total win for a lady like me who doesn't prioritize mopping the floors often!). This flooring is beautiful and has a truly realistic wood look and grain texture to it - it adds so much warmth to the entire first floor!
A few other things we did in this space include painting the window, replacing all of the original mouldings, removing the popcorn ceiling, adding recessed lighting, and painting the walls and ceilings. I opted for a light, neutral color for the walls to allow the cabinets and wallpaper to do the talking and give a nice contrast from both the lighter trim and the darker cabinets.
We absolutely love this space now that it's finished - it functions so well for our family and has really solved all of the frustrations and dysfunctions of our previous setup. It allows just enough space to store what we need without having too much extra to allow for unnecessary stuff to fill up the cabinets.
Feeling inspired? I've created a downloadable guide giving you access to all of the products I used when sourcing products and materials for this space! Click here to have it sent straight to your inbox so you can get started creating your dream home too!