Pantry makeover and LOTS of painting!

Busy weekend celebrating mine and my daughters birthdays so sadly no car boot sales for me. The weather was appalling though so apparently there wasn't much to miss.

Sooo, I thought I'd share with you the sheer horror of my pantry as it was! No amount of baskets were prettying this up! Like the rest of the house, it was decorated 40 years ago, and the shelves were imaginatively constructed from a dismembered wardrobe.
Seeking cornflakes in here is not a good start to anyones day. 

  Did you know that IKEA now do online shopping? I had been lusting after some solid wood TROFAST units for quite some time, but in my state of car-lessness I had no way to get them. Until one day, they suddenly started online shopping and I almost melted my credit card in a frenzy of excitement.
I had already worked out what would fit by actually building paper templates of the units! The pantry has a sloping ceiling as it goes under the stairs and the back wall has a huge bulge in it to accommodate the downstairs loo but I figured it would be easier to assemble my units and then chop portions off them to make them fit, rather than build some from scratch.
So here are the off cuts.

 And here's the finished result. Cleaner, fresher, and easier to see what I have. I had about nine thingys of salt in there!

I painted it all in white water based eggshell so it will stay white despite the lack of daylight in there. Oil based would discolour really fast. I also used a special primer to stop the knots seeping and allow water based paint over it. It was Blackfriars problem solving primer. Great product!
You can get these Trofast units in white but they are the particle board ones and I wanted the strength of the solid pine.

 I made this peg bag to match the oil cloth shevles. (The oil cloth shelves may not be staying. I think it might be better just all white...)

   I'd always wanted one of these and I was lucky enough to find one at a car boot sale for 50p. It's a vintage iron holder.

 My pink broom is happy in her new home. See how the shelves fit under the stairs?

 I also made a new bag tidy with some linen and applique letters. Why not?

 And this is what I'm working on now. It's a tv cabinet, the drawers on the front are fake and two doors open up. I love the shape.

I am going round 2 with milk paint on this one and I'm losing the fight.
I really do not like milk paint. But I had a lot left over...

 Lovely shape! I've refinished the top. I'll show you when it's done.

And this is a little 1930's Lebus dressing table that is also having a makeover.
As you can see, it's in a bad way and is needing a lot of TLC.
I've given up stripping outside and have taken over the dining room. Er, and half the living room. 






I'm crossing my fingers for a dry sunday morning so I can get my boot sale fix for the week.