Turning a Staircase Closet into a Pantry

Hi friend!

I’ve been busy planning for spring and turning a staircase closet into a pantry! I thought this would be a quick mostly paint project, but the more I got into it the more I decided to do lol! Isn’t that how it goes? No regrets though because this underutilized storage has become one of my favorite parts of our kitchen!

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Staircase Closet

This tiny closet under the staircase in our kitchen was in pretty sad shape and not very functional. It never really felt like a part of the kitchen. I kept cleaning supplies in here and then when we renovated the kitchen I decided this would make the perfect place for a pantry!

You can check out our kitchen renovation HERE!

Staircase Closet Demo, Beadboard, and a Surprise!

The first thing I did was cover the doorway that leads to the bathroom. I’m not sure when it was added or what it was meant to lead to. A bathroom wouldn’t have been a part of the original floor plan in 1880, but was added sometime later. We’ve never used this door and will be relocating this bathroom. I covered it with left over reclaimed beadboard I had on hand.

Then I realized the door frame under the steps wasn’t structural and would give me several more inches of access into this section of the closet if removed. So out it came! After removing it I noticed the ceiling was covered with an old piece of sheetrock. I was so excited to find that under it is the same rounded wood tongue and groove ceiling that’s throughout the main floor! It felt like finding an old buried treasure 🙂

Painting the Staircase Closet Pantry

Paint always works wonders and this was no exception! I chose the color Sentimental Beige by Behr. I’m hooked on their Dynasty line and was able to paint everything in the pantry with less than a gallon of paint. The coverage is awesome even on those dark unfinished stairs.

Linking the paint HERE!

Pantry Closet Flooring

When we were laying the reclaimed flooring we chose not to run it into this closet. I thought it would be fun to do something different in here! I wanted something that felt natural in our home. And since this was the first tile to be installed it would really set the tone for that aspect of the interior design.

I chose this D’Anticatto Decor Trapani 8 3/4″ x 8 3/4″ porcelain floor tile. It has such an earthy organic old world feel that I love so much! It had been a long time since I’d done any tile work so it was a fun challenge! I used 1/16 inch tile spacers and warm grey colored tile grout.

The whole Merola tile line is awesome and I’ll be sharing more about it and other plans we have for it soon!

You can find the tile linked HERE!

Closet Pantry Shelving

After the tile was installed I built the interior shelving out of left over materials we had on hand. I went back and forth on how I wanted to do this to make the most use of the narrow small space. Based on our storage needs I decided to create two long shelves. The lowest to house all our big kitchen appliances, while the upper shelf serves as a countertop work space and the perfect place for our microwave.

Ed helped me frame it all out to give it that built-in feel. He also whipped together some simple shelves for the back wall. We installed them with by making pocket holes underneath and using Kreg jig screws.

I got everything painted we installed the shelves. Then it was time for the fun part! Stocking the pantry!

See how I made our kitchen open shelving HERE!

Pantry Storage

This is one of those projects that feels kind of meant to be. I’ve been saving old glass bottles, jugs, and mason jars for years and now they have a real purpose in our home! I cleaned out the vintage ones I had and the rest you can find HERE or linked below. And I was even able to find lids for the old glass jugs.

I also pulled out some old wood boxes for storage and of course a big ol crock! I did label some things just in case. But honestly we love being able to see everything! It feels much more organized, accessible, and it’s easy to spot what we need to shop for. We’re excited to add our own canned goods this year too!

Pantry storage containers linked HERE!

Pantry Pegs

I added twelve shaker pegs directly into the wall on this side of the pantry. They’re a simple way to add usefulness  and don’t take up much room. I dipped them in coffee to give them a bit of a warm aged finish before n them. You can expect to see some herbs drying here too 😉

On the other side of the pantry is the microwave shelf. I chose a vintage inspired microwave to tie in with our other kitchen appliances.

You can find the microwave HERE!

Pantry Curtain and Lighting

I made a simple curtain from some left over ticking striped material I had and a black tension rod. I love how the fabric looks in here 🙂

And the cherry on top of everything is this darling schoolhouse light! It’s from Lightenstein.  I came across it on Esty and it turned out to be from a local lighting company based in STL, which is so cool! The light is the perfect size and it’s quality exceeded all my expectations! The brass adds such a beautiful warm touch to the space. Lightenstein has lots of gorgeous handcrafted fixtures so be sure and check them out!

Linking the light HERE!

You can also watch me work on this pantry project frame start to finish on YouTube below!

Turning a Staircase Closet into a Pantry

This pantry project will go down as one of my all time favs! It feels like an old farmhouse pantry that’s always been here. It’s functional and so pretty! I love how connected this side of the kitchen feels to the rest of it now. I also love that I can say everything in our kitchen officially has a place in it!

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks so much for stopping by the blog today!

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