Making a Screen Door for Your Pantry

Making a Screen Door for Your Pantry by Ashley

Hello all you fantabulous readers! This is Ashley from The Handmade Home. I couldn't be more thrilled to be here, and when sweet Cassity asked me, I was so excited. In case you have no clue who in the bloggy world we are, we're also the artists formerly known as Pure + Lovely: a site that documents our family's progress + crazy fun as we forget the "rules" and simply go for it, with DIY design, art, room redos, and inspiration...that is, when we're not enjoying the challenge of parenting three little munchkins. As lots of you know, sometimes that's all a job in itself. {Whew!}

Today, I have the fun honor of sharing a little about our fun screen door project we just tackled, as a result of our kitchen revamp. We had a basic, kinda ho-hum kitchen. And we decided to take a leap of faith, and make a change. There was nothing wrong with our kitchen. We just wanted to switch it up a bit, and make it feel more...us.



TADA! We had some kind of a gross builder's grade door going on in the pantry department. And the brass doorknob was kind of bumming me out {and burning my corneas} every time I looked at it. So we decided to give it a little somethin' to breathe some character into our cookie cutter bungalow.

And we couldn't love it more.






We wanted to purchase one, but didn't really see anything that fit our style...or the weird sizing of this pantry. We also didn't want to pay 200 dollars for one. So, we decided to build one. It couldn't be that hard, right? Wanna know how we did it? It was actually pretty easy once we got the measurements down.

Our original plans were for an entire screen. And then reality hit, and we realized that with three children five and under...we were doomed in the destruction-of-little-slappy-hands-department. So we changed the design at the bottom. First, we grabbed up 4 boards (1 x 4's.) And an MDF sheet, (at .25 thickness) cut to 3 @ 9 x 24.



We also got {1} some mending plates, {2} wood screws, and {3} some flat corner braces. Add in some smaller hinges {for mounting it to your door frame} trim of your choice {for detail} a pull, and some screen...and you're ready to go.



1. + 2. I'll try not to get all technical with the measurements, because all of that depends on the dimensions of your own door. We may or may not have had this put together, when we realized we made it too wide, and had to start over. (MEH. We've never built a door before so ya live, ya learn.) This is the bare bones of your structure, laid facedown. See how we used the brackets and braces to join them together?

3. +4. We then joined the MDF to the spaces with screws. And that was the basic shape of our door.



1. Flipped back over, after everything has been secured, the door looked like this.

2. We used wood filler to fill in the gaps between the boards. But only a few. I like the idea of a few crevices for character and that wonderful lived-in look...Once it was dry, we sanded.

3. + 4. We then cut the trim to fit. Here's a little bit of cheat: we only cut the side pieces {the vertical ones that were going on the insides of the spaces at the bottom, and framing the screen for the top} at an angle. (a good shot of that is in pic no. 2) We didn't cut the top and bottom trim pieces at an angle. Then we put all of the pieces of trim, cut to fit, on the insides of the door, and it all fit together quite seamlessly, especially once painted. What did we adhere it with? Our handy dandy old trusty: the hot glue gun, of course.

A little wood filler in some of the corners to smooth it out, and some paint... {this screen door was finished in Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace.}



And we had a great little door. We propped it up to see how it was going to fit in the space. Just pretend like you don't see the junk behind Jamin. I also have a plan for that...

Next, it was time for the screen.



1. + 2. We rolled it out, trimmed it, and used a staple gun to secure it. Now, you may notice that our door is a little rough on the back. If you wanted to make the back of yours pretty, you would simply repeat the first few steps, and join them to the back of your door, complete with more trim if you like. Two doors, back to back, would create a nice, thick, secure piece. We don't care that much, for now, and it's just a pantry door, so the rougher look on the back is fine with us. {read: we're lazy.}





1. I made a curtain...And with a small pocket at the top, hung it backwards on the rod so that the front would face the outside.

2. We also added one of these, which now ensures that the pantry closes behind us on its own, and makes that fabulous creaky screen door kinda noise that only a true screen door can make. Bonus: it keeps the kiddos out of the pantry and off of the top shelf {where they constantly climb to finish off their third helping of fruit snacks when we're not looking.}





We put on the iron pull, installed it via some thinner door hinges to fit the thickness of the door, and we were finished! I have to say, it was totally worth it to make and design our own, to get what we wanted...with a major price difference of about 130 smacks from purchasing one. And there you have it. One of my favorite things about our new kitchen.



Let me know if you try one! Of course, I'd love to see. Thanks again, Cassity, for letting me share on your fabulous blog. Have an inspired day, everyone!

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