DIY Small Pantry Makeover Using Peel and Stick Tiles

Pantry Makeover DIY

If you’ve never thought about placing floor tiles on a wall, you may be missing out on a great opportunity. 

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I had this very cluttered and boring kitchen pantry closet. 

It’s so embarassing, it’s dark and filled with paper towels and an absolute mess of dry goods and a dumping ground for everything that I don’t want visible in the kitchen.

Supplies for this part of the DIY Pantry Makeover

Starting my DIY Pantry Makeover

All it had to it were these old, and pretty ugly, wire shelves.

I cleaned out the closet, removed the shelves, and decided I was going to do something a lot more fun with the back wall.

Then I removed the shelf brackets from the back of the wall and set them aside to reuse them later.

I then grabbed some very colorful 12 by 12 inch vinyl tiles.

My closet was 23 inches wide, so I needed to cut a total of 1 inch off of the two tiles that would make up the space. In order to do this, I just took a razor blade and straight edge, and cut about half an inch off of each side of the tiles that I was using.

It was really easy to cut through these tiles. I just placed a cutting board underneath and applied a bit of pressure.

I placed the cut on the part of the tile that would go to the outer edge of the wall, so that that way I wouldn’t affect the center seam at all.

Placing the tiles

Once I cut it, I simply peeled off the backing that comes on the tile and exposed the adhesive. Sticking them into place was super easy. I just lined them up starting at the bottom. After this, I also used some painters tape just to hold everything together while I was working my way up against the wall. I didn’t do anything with the side walls because I felt that, at a certain point, it was just going to get too busy. 

As I was placing the tiles in place, I made sure to create a mark on the tile where the hole was for the wall brackets. I used a little piece of painter’s tape to mark where the hole was so that it would make it easier for me to visualize the right place to reattach the clips later.

Using the existing holes for the brackets saved me time because I didn’t have to use a stud finder and figure out where to mount new shelves. After all, I was just reusing the same old shelves anyways, so there was no need to spend a long time remeasuring or changing anything. Reusing existing items helps when you’re sticking to a small budget.

Holding everything in place

Within just a few minutes, the whole closet was looking so much brighter and cleaner and a lot more fun. The next step was to put the clips back in place, I just used my favorite pink drill to make a little pilot hole through the vinyl tile at the marked location. Then I just added the clips right back in their original spots.

The final step was to put the wire shelving back in place. and my closet looked totally different. It’s a lot brighter and more fun when I open the pantry door now and see the bright color and pattern greeting me.

The Result

My pantry space with the tiles added:

But I will admit it did make me notice how dingy my wire shelving was, so I took on a little bit of an extra project and created some floating shelf covers over the wire.

After all, those wire shelves just constantly look bad and allow any small things or food items to slip through the spaces. I also added new lighting with a motion sensor just inside the door frame, and it turns on when I open the pantry door. Here’s the end result. 

Taking it a step further

 If you want to see more on those pantry shelves, which look like floating wood shelves, follow me here so that you can get that tutorial as well.

This was the first step of a game changer in my small pantry makeover project.

The total cost of the tiles for my project was $30.00 because I used two boxes of tiles. The time it took me from start to finish was about two hours. It was definitely an easy and fun DIY and made a huge difference in the look of the pantry. I hope this inspired you to create a look you love using some fun and colorful floor tiles in your own pantry makeover.

Other places this “tile on wall” project would look great:

This decorative wall using peel and stick floor tiles would also look great in a laundry room.

And while I wouldn’t use it for the entire wall of a kitchen, it would look cute as an accent behind a small coffee bar area. 

By the way, removable wallpaper might look great here too. I like that the vinyl tiles are sturdy and easy to wipe down, but wallpaper would also work well.

Organization:

Now it’s time for me to organize my new and improved pantry. While it looks so much better, it’s still a small space and so I’m going to use storage containers to make the best use of space. I’ll also store some small appliances on the bottom shelf and maybe get some clear bins or plastic bins for storing some pantry items easier. If you have a favorite pantry organization idea or great storage systems recommendations, please send it my way! I can use all the help I can get. 

Upcoming projects:

Updating the kitchen cabinets by adding upper cabinets, with cabinet lights, all along the top

Floating shelves that fit over these wire shelves in the pantry