Definitely worth insulating the ‘roof’ of the pantry and the walls. One wall of ours is the existing wall of the house, which is a block cavity wall filled with insulation, so while it doesn’t loose much heat, it doesn’t gain any. Floors don’t lose much as heat rises, but we have insulated under the timer floors with a mix of insulation and old carpets
It’s so cold in the pantry at the moment(because we’re having a cold snap) that it triggers my asthma cough!
We’re having a cold snap, too, and it’s bringing back an old issue… mice!!
We’re in a 1940s house and before we did all the work we simply couldn’t get rid of the mice. They lived in the cavity walls and under the wooden underfloor, and gnawed their way through the floor into every space downstairs except for the pantry (as that floor was always concrete). They lived behind the baseboards in the kitchen and behind the fridge. But we took out the wooden underfloor, poured concrete, and re-plastered all the walls, so the mice highway through the house was completely destroyed. Or so I thought…
I was certain I saw a mouse run through the kitchen on Tuesday but Mr. Imma didn’t see anything and said I was just tired. But I just saw another one this morning, and I heard them too. I’m pretty sure they’re behind the kitchen plinth, underneath the fridge. When I get back from work I’ll have to go and investigate…
I’m in an on-going standoff with the mice here, as you know. I feel for you- after all the house building/upgrading/disturbing one would think they would have abandoned ship.
Good luck!
They did, for a while, but then it started to snow and freeze, and they were like, nah, let’s move back to our old place. I get why that space behind the plinth is great for them but I have absolutely no idea how they got in in the first place.
I know how they got in 
they got in from outside through the cavity wall, walked into the pantry from a hole in the cavity wall, then walked into another hole on the other side of the pantry - our electricity meter is in the pantry and there’s a relatively large hole through that wall into the kitchen because a lot of electric wires need to go into the kitchen. They seemed to have not discovered the food utopia on the pantry shelves (although a lot is in mouse-proof containers, not everything is). We’re moving everything out there right now.
If they go through the big hole in the kitchen they end up behind the kitchen plinth and that’s where most activity is - it’s nice and warm there and easy access to food crumbs. There’s a very small hole on the side of the kitchen plinth that they use to run into the kitchen.
We had some still vague ideas about a pantry renovation but that project starts today!
You can stuff steel wool into the holes to stop them temporarily, as they won’t chew through that. Good luck with those little buggers. It’s a neverending war with them, it seems. And that reminds me - I need to bust out my big traps for the garage soon.
We had steel wool everywhere in the previous version of this house, we still have some left over. My longterm plan is mouse proof stainless steel mesh + a layer of plaster over it to hide it. Then we’re going to tile the pantry floor with leftover tiles, and seal all the cracks with sealant.
I’ve looked into tiling and we’re going to DIY it. Is it just me or is it not very hard? I studied our tile guy when he was working and it seemed the hardest part of his job was laying out the pattern, making sure the tiles are straight, cutting the tiles exactly right, but all of that doesn’t really matter in a pantry / basement.
Tiling is super-easy. There are loads of great how-to videos on YouTube, too.
I second tiling being easy. I think it is especially easy for crafters who do things like sewing garments and are used to taking their time and making sure things are right, as well as doing the unfun prep work.
MICE! Ugh! We are in an unsolicited on-again/off-again relationship with them here, too. TheMisterT is a super softie about critters, so we live trap then and then I drive them more than a couple miles away to a spot with shelter and not too near other houses. It SUCKS. I am just glad that we don’t have rats around here (knock wood). I am sure they have many points of entry and one of my dream house fantasies is all manner of unsexy and probably expensive pest-proofing from the ground up!
We got the hardboard attached to the kallax today and it looks great! Other than measuring to order the curtains I think I’ve done everything I want to until the window is installed. We haven’t heard anything about scheduling yet but we’re only 7 weeks into the 8-10 week estimate so not surprising. I’m itching to start moving stuff into the studio, I hope they contact us soon!
Now that it’s light out I can take a pic of the back of the shelf. I need to glue some of the edges down but I think it looks great! And the piece of painted hardboard was only $12 at Home Depot. There will be a Billy bookcase between the Kallax and the window to complete the “wall” and another one next to the tool chest where the boxes are leaning now.
And I might have started sneaking some supplies down to the studio, just to see how many more acrylic bins I need 
The acrylic bins are really sturdy and can easily handle the weight of the paint so I can slide them out, grab the one I’m looking for and slide it back in. Or grab the whole bin and take it to wherever I’m working. I’m SO excited with how it’s coming out!
ACK! [swoons]
Your new studio is coming out so SO great! I hope you hear from the window folks on Monday first thing and it’s very soon after.
I mean, you kind of had to, right? For QA. And planning. It would’ve been irresponsible not to, if you think about it.
It’s cold. We have a puppy. I am squeezing in time to finish up the stair rails on the deck. Earlier this week I added the cables to the left side. The next step is to cut them, which is a two person job and TheMisterT would like to wait until the other side is done and then we’ll do them all at once. Yesterday, I added the posts to the right side and today I attached some clips for the handrail parts and popped on the caps. Hopefully tomorrow, I will get the first pieces of the handrail on before Vivienne’s first appointment with our vet! Just a well puppy visit and a schedule for vaccines going forward.
Nearly done!!! Finally. But it looks so good!
Thank you! I am looking forward to having a few months off before I tackle skirting it next spring or summer.
Pro Tip for whomever needs it… You can get custom framing from FedEx. Well, their Office division. And it’s affordable.
Short story, long: I have a lithograph that I picked up in an antique mall over a year and a half ago. It had a terrible taupe and grey mat, and was wrapped in some sort of loose, very yellowed shrink wrap. (Seriously the mat and wrap were both the color of nicotine stains.) I saw that Michael’s was running a 70% off deal for framing. Since the piece is an unusual size, I’d need a custom frame. I went through their process online, and wasn’t thrilled with the mat color choices, but found something acceptable. It was well over $100, so at checkout I was looking for the coupon code for 70% off. Turns out that WAS the reduced price. The full price was $479!
I like the print, but not that much, so I sidelined the project and moved on to color printing some images from The Graphics Fairy to use in standard frames instead, via FedEx Office, where I found their framing service by accident. They have the same kind of online design tool, where you enter in your artwork size, and you can upload an image of it if you’d like to see how it will look. I ended up getting the lithograph AND a print Jim bought me for my birthday (another strange size piece) custom framed, with better mat color options, for $126, which included $30 of shipping, so each was about $50. I ordered everything online and the custom pieces arrived 8 days later. Couldn’t be happier with the results.
School of the Vestals by Hector Leroux was hung in the powder room, as part of the ongoing “make this a less sad poop-closet”. Sorry for the glare. But I love how dark the ink on the lithograph really is, now that it’s not covered in dusty plastic.
And the Eight Tea Cups print by Erin Barker, from her children’s book, Mr Pumpkin’s Tea Party, hung in my tea and coffee bar. If you like all things Halloween, and beautiful watercolor paintings, check out her book! I took it out of the library for Ada, fell in love with it, then bought it for myself. (Sorry for the mess on the tea station. It was busy-morning-with-a-toddler time when I took the pic.
Great tip, @MistressJennie ! Last year I wanted a small piece of glass for something and went to an art gallery frame shop. The kindly told me that I could get a much better price through someone else (they didn’t do their own glass or something). So I went to Michael’s and waiting around for quite a while only to be told that it would be, like $60 or something equally ridiculous, and I would have to wait for several days. So, I went to a glassier/glass shop and got it for just a few bucks! And they were able to do it right then. And they were super nice, too. I’ve since gone there for having a mirror cut, as well.
More, small progress on the stair rails! I got these “horizontal” support pieces, cut and filed, then installed. Doing the top one allowed me to put the final clip in for the bottom one (so I could make sure they lined up across that post). YEY! I think on Weds I might be able to cut, file, and install the finish rail piece. ANd perhaps by the end of the weekend have this bit done!
Tara, it’s looking soooo good!
THANK YOU!!! I can’t wait to stick a fork in this deck!
How do you like the 4 shelf divider for your kallax? I’m eyeing some to help store my growing stash of 12x12 paper. Ikea’s too far away to just buy things on a whim though.
