Personalizing the Pantry Door

After more than a year of living in a de-personalized home. I cannot wait to start making our house feel like home. 

Several weeks ago I ordered a few vinyl art wall decor from Uppercase Living. As soon as I knew I'd have a frosted glass pantry door, I knew I wanted to put "eet smakelijk" on it. "Eet smakelijk" is a Dutch phrase which is roughly the equivalent of "bon appetit." It seems rather fitting for our Dutch family.

Now that the kitchen and pantry is mostly unpacked, I decided to take advantage of Niels' last day at home to apply the art. 

First, the before:

Now to the project. First step: place the art where you want it, preferably level. Mark the edges  with a pencil, or in this case a dry erase marker, so you can easily line up the paper.

Next, tape the top so it doesn't move.

Then, flip it up and remove the backing.

Make sure not to touch the letters once the backing is removed.

Carefully lay the paper back down.

Use the applicator or credit card to smooth out the film.

Pay close attention to the letters and smooth any air pockets.

Carefully remove the top layer, by pulling it away from the vinyl slowly, at a 45 degree angle.

If the letters don't adhere to the surface, use the applicator or credit card to hold down the vinyl as you peel the paper. When you're done wipe away the dry erase marks.

And done!

Close up.

Peek from the right.

Peek from the left.

***updated February 26, 2012***

In case you're curious, here's a quick peek inside. I'm still unpacking, so you'll have to be patient for the big reveal. Oh and pray I find my label maker!

As a little background, here's the pantry from our old house:

And this was my much smaller pantry for the last two months in our apartment:

Now, on with the tour...

Full size freezer because we buy our meat in bulk. This is after we purchased 40# of chicken breast, 10# of ground beef and several pounds of roasts and sausages. Plenty of room left for veggies and extra bulk goods!

Next to the frig is the first of three pieces of an espresso furniture set I bought on clearance. I liked the different size cubbies, and especially the wire racks for potatoes and onions.

I keep most of my bulk foods in the same green lidded containers from Target that I had in my Pinterest-popular pantry in our old house. The right side was neater until I pilfered the white tubs for the freezer.

The other two furniture pieces make up my appliance shelf. I can keep all my smaller appliances at waist level, and bring them to the kitchen as needed. I love the drawers and I'm still working out how to use the other shelves.

I'm using the drawers for canned and glass items.

If you missed the pre-move-in kitchen tour, you can read about it here.

We're saving our pennies and catching our breath for a few months. In the summer we'll have Joe Yoder, who did our kitchen, make built-in shelves for the pantry that look something like this.

It'll be nice to live with the current set up for awhile to see what I like and what I might want to change. I know I like the drawers, so I'll likely add a few of those to the bottom part. I like how the upper shelves are more shallow and go all the way to the ceiling, and the lower part has space for my appliance shelf. I may have Joe stain the top of the appliance shelf espresso to go with the kitchen, and leave the rest white or natural to keep the room light. Stay tuned...

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