Have you ever wanted something in your home thats totally unique and rustic? I am always looking for touches and accents that not only add a cozy vibe to my home but also make people stop and go “WOW, I have never seen that!” We finished our addition a while ago and have been storing our extra flooring in the large closet we built. The purpose of this closet is to be half laundry room and half pantry.
Well, the time had finally come to bring this closet to its maximum potential. We decided to build our own custom shelving out of our milled wood we had outside. We had to clear A LOT of land the year prior and we are lucky enough to have the skills to cut the trees down ourselves and also have a tractor that we used to pile them in the WAAAAY back. It looks like a lumber mill over here !
We hired a portable miller that comes to our home and mills the wood on site. He charges $50 an hour and with John and I hustling to help the entire day, we get our moneys worth! The miller is amazing and cuts the wood to whatever sizes we want.
If you have to take any trees down on your property, I highly recommend asking for the trees to be left. That way you too can make some amazing projects and additions out of your own repurposed wood if you have the space and resources ♥️ .
We plan to repurpose all of the wood for various projects and creations. But for now we will just discuss the pantry.
We measured out the space we had and assessed what type of shelving would be the most effective for the space. I love baskets, so we knew that had to be a major component of the storage plan. Using baskets gives a more clean uniform look to an area since you don’t have to stare at what is being stored. Instead you get to stare at a beautiful earthy basket! We purchased all of our baskets at Lowes.
I wanted to utilize every inch of space in this closet without making it cramped. As you will see there is a stack of wood crates secured to the wall. This is incredible!!! $10.00 a crate and worth every penny. I feel like I have my own supermarket corner in here! Crates were purchased from Michael’s Arts and Craft store.
I wanted to utilize every inch of space in this closet without making it cramped. As you will see there is a stack of wood crates secured to the wall. This is incredible!!! $10.00 a crate and worth every penny. I feel like I have my own supermarket corner in here! Crates were purchased from Michael’s Arts and Craft store.
The wood will season inside and when the time comes, if we want them darker, we will pull the shelves out -including the crates- and sand, stain and seal everything. Then we will put them back up and check the closet off our list as 100 % complete!
NOTE: If you choose to do something similar to this do NOT make the same mistake we did. Raw wood holds moisture (which I knew so I can’t believe I made this mistake!) and it needs to dry out. If you are going to put baskets on your raw wood before it is 100% dried out make sure you have something solid under the baskets. Otherwise, the basket will absorb the moisture from the wood and begin to mold. If this happens it is not the end of the world. just use a 50/50 white vinegar and water mixture and spray the mold and wipe it clean. Then let the baskets dry out and VOILA good as new. Just a pain in the butt I want you to avoid 😉 . To be honest I would withhold from putting anything on your wood shelves until you know they are completely dried out.