Behind the Door Pantry Storage DIY

For this post I’m bringing you all the way back to March of 2019 and the installation of my vintage pantry door. The door is still fully functional and I still love it. It’s so much better than the builder grade door that we were given when we moved in.

I do still have the original door, it’s been stuck in the storage room ever since just in case the next owner of our home doesn’t like the vintage look as much as we do.

What lies right behind the door is this old wire rack that moved with us from our old home, so it has got to be 35 ish years old. It holds cleaning supplies, bug spray, floor wax, window cleaner…you know, junk. A lot of people keep this stuff under the sink but I prefer it here. Out of sight whenever the door is open.

Besides being a little small, there was nothing particularly wrong with the old wire shelf, I was just wanting a change. I had plenty of odds and end scrap wood that I could make a similar shelf but with a little more room and an additional taller shelf for the taller cleaning fluids.

Start with the side pieces of your shelf. This is a reclaimed 1×3 board 40″ long. You could also use a 2×4. The top has been rounded and I will eventually round the bottom. I’m holding the board next to my existing shelf to see where I actually want my new shelves. Currently, the 2nd and 3rd shelf are both rather short, not tall enough to hold any of the taller spray bottles or cans. I would really like one more taller shelf and while I’m at it, a dowel to hold the spray bottles.

Mark where you want your new shelves. From the top, mine were at 4″, 15″, 23″, 35″ and a dowel at 38″.

Wherever you mark one side of your shelf, you’ll have to repeat on the other side.

Mark both sides of all your shelf boards and sand the edges.

I’ve decided to make a groove where the shelves will sit. This cut is really only possible if you have a table saw. Adjust the table saw so that it only cuts halfway thru your board. Feed your board thru the table saw on both sides of your marked shelf line and then as many times as it takes to hollow out a channel for your shelf.

If you don’t have a table saw, no worries, just nail or screw your shelves directly to the side pieces. The items on your shelf shouldn’t be that heavy.

My shelves are pieces of old oak hardwood flooring. The tongue part of the flooring has been cut off and will be the front part of my shelves. The groove part of the hardwood flooring is intact and will be the part of the shelf that face the wall.

Nothing is attached yet , but I’ve moved the shelf back into the pantry to determine how wide my shelves should be and where the studs are in my wall. Turns out they are on the very ends which makes for a nice wide storage shelf.

From outer edge of the shelf to outer edge, my shelf is 27 1/2″ wide. Adjust your shelf for what works for you.

On the sides of the rails I cut 2, 1×1 square boards, the same length as the side pieces.

I nailed those 1 inch square pieces to the inside of my side supports. Screwing thru these pieces is how I will attach the shelves to the wall.

Cut a 1″ dowel to fit below the shelves. Drill a hole in both of your side pieces to hold the dowel.

Neither my shelves nor the dowel are attached just yet.

I took more oak hardwood flooring and ran it thru the table saw 8 more times to give me thin slats of oak to use for fencing for my shelves.

Each of these slats as well as the hardwood flooring shelves were sanded well and given 2 coats of Dark Walnut Watco danish oil. If you notice a roughness to your finish, buff with fine steel wool.

I attached the bottom dowel to hold my spray bottles. I really should have figured out if the spray bottles would fit before I permanently nailed everything into place. Yay, they did!!

If you’re going to paint the side bars, now is the time to do it , before attaching the shelves permanently.

Paint as desired.

I’m using my nail gun and finishing nails to attach the shelves and slats permanently in place.

The old shelf has been taken down, the wall has been scrubbed…I’m ready to start anew.

I added a couple of strips of peel and stick wallpaper that I had picked up for $2 and my new storage shelf has been screwed to the wall. Predrill holes thru the wooden side pieces, then screw directly into the wall. Hopefully you’ll find those studs you located earlier.

This is all the stuff that has to fit back onto my new beautiful shelf. For full disclosure I ended up getting rid of a couple containers that were basically empty and I moved the brushes.