Grain Bin House Gets the Blues

Our inside work on the Grain Bin House continues, but certainly not at the speed of the outside work. Priorities man. Still, two projects were recently marked off our ongoing list of items to be finished; the pantry and the stairs.

The pantry was, for the last eight months, a freestanding set of plastic shelves under our stairs. It sufficed, but we needed more shelves, permanent shelves and more room on each shelf. Enter Keith and his supply of leftover wood.




Leftover from other GBH projects, leftover from my sister Mary's kitchen remodel, leftover from our old farm, leftover from we can't even remember. Every piece of the new pantry came "pre-paid." Keith built a frame under the stairs then pieced together several very deep shelves that more than triple the square inches we had in storage with the old plastic shelf unit. I came along with paint, more leftovers from our bedroom walls, and the pantry is complete. More or less.

We plan to add additional shelves, about 8 inches in depth, to run at right angles to the deeper shelves. These we will use for jars of canned goods...coming in a few weeks. I may or may not cover the area with a curtain, certainly we don't have room for any doors.

Now onto the stairs. The risers were made with leftover wood but the tops were new pine.

I wanted color,  so with GK Wesley's help, we picked three shades of blue,  and then alternated them. We had some mighty heat here last week so I painted outside which quickened dry time.

When I was done it all looked very Pianoesque, and I imagined a future picket fence painted the same way, but for now, it's only the stairs.

With the risers done, I decided to cover the tops with a combination stain/polyurethane (see bottom step.) It's a bit light for my taste but we'll see how a second coat goes. Eventually we must close in the top of the stairs over the pantry but I expect that will become a fall job as garden duties are increasing in intensity.

This is our first summer of serious food production and we plan to be on top of everything when the veggies are ready for harvest and preservation. But we all know how God responds to our planning don't we? He drops to the floor, rolls around and laughs so hard he wets himself.

Or so I've heard.