Exciting new RV upgrade/mod - Part 2 of 3

Ever since I saw Andy Baird's post on his new pantry I've wanted one.  Then when I met Andy, he showed me some of his motor home modifications that are documented on his website, and one was the pantry.

Then last winter, Jeanne was visiting her parents in Texas and she and her Dad built a pantry for her Lazy Daze, too.  After seeing hers I really wanted one!

I printed out their posts and Andy's pantry plan for Tom to see, and we followed that plan with some adjustments to fit The Palms.  Thanks to you both for your informative posts on how to do this. 

Here are the photos of the next phase of my new RV mod - the building of my new...

Tom finished up fitting the four sides of the outer box, attached them together, and added boards on the top, middle and bottom for stability.  (He used wood glue on parts of the pantry before attaching the wood with nails or screws where he wanted the extra hold. ) 

You can see, if you look close, the holes already drilled to hold the pins that will be inserted into the frame to lay the shelves on.

Then we walked over to The Palms to place the box on the wall to be sure it fit, and it was perfect.

We brought the pantry frame back to the garage.  The second piece of plywood was used for the back, which was attached next.  When we got the two pieces of plywood, we decided to get one with a finished side, in case we wanted to use that for the inside of the pantry.   After talking it over, we decided to use the finished side against the wall and stain the unfinished side to use inside the pantry.  We were both happy with that decision when it was done.

Tom had already blended stains to match the cabinetry in The Palms, and with the final stain can and a clean rag, I started rubbing it on. 

I've never done this before, and was surprised how easy it was and how nice it looked.

While I was staining the wood, Tom prepped the shelves, sanded the edges and applied the stainable  iron-on edging.  He had already done that with the wood edges I was staining.  The cabinetry in The Palms is Honey Maple, so everything we got was maple, and the stain matched the honey color.

Then he stained the door, and once they were both dry, he did a little hand sanding.
 

When they were dry, he sprayed on the seal.  It dried overnight, and the next day he sanded it and re-sprayed the seal for a beautiful smooth finish to match the cabinetry in The Palms.

I'm not sure of my timeline here - we worked on the pantry and also did other things and had Easter with the family all during the same time, over a few days.  Sometimes Tom was out in the garage working by himself while I was doing other things.  He got piano hinges to hold the door on, and decided to attach three of them to hold the door securely.

And he got the closure hardware, double roller catches with spear spikes.  He used four of those along the door and inside the cabinet to make sure the door didn't open while I was traveling.  The ones he chose keep the door closed tight, but are easy for me to pull open.  They were attached after the pantry was on the wall.

When it was finally done and we had some time, I moved The Palms up to the driveway, opened the door, and...

In the next post I'll show you the install of the pantry and how it looks on the wall.  Plus how much it holds.  Amazing!  :)

From me and Katie, have a great Sunday, everyone!  :)