Nesting With Grace

by Brooke Christen

6 Hardest Working Areas in our Home

March 12, 2026

Sharing 6 of the hardest working areas in our home, besides the kitchen, because we know it works the hardest! From our dog door, pantry cabinets to our office table. Hope it gives you ideas for your home….

1- Back Door with Built-in Dog Door

Our back door has been a favorite of ours for years, it has a built-in dog door right into one of the iron panels. It keeps the cold out and the dogs can go in and out all day on their own. My niece’s husband business, High Country Doors, made it and installed it. Incredibly convenient for the whole family… especially our pups! It keeps the pets happy while letting us come and go easily, and the sturdy design looks beautiful too. It leads straight from out backyard to our drink room, so the kids can grab a drink or easily get to the bathroom without having to trek through the rest of the house.

2- Small Appliance Garage

We had our carpenter, Jesse, build this small appliance garage, and I absolutely love it! It’s the perfect spot to store appliances I want to hide away to reduce clutter, yet still easy to pull out and use. Right now we have our Wonder Oven and 7 qt KitchenAid mixer tucked inside, ready whenever we need them.

I love decor in the kitchen, so having a place to tuck away small appliances helps to lessen the visual clutter.

Cabinet Color: Bone Farrow & Ball

3- Table in Office instead of a Desk

In our office, I opted for a large table instead of a traditional desk. We can fit six chairs around it, so multiple people can work comfortably at once. On any given day, you might find Kevin, me, Ella, and my sister here or even Finn stopping by for a snack while I work. The extra surface space makes this my favorite workspace in the house!

We had a wood table when we first moved in and it quickly got worn down, switched to a marble top table, and was very happy with this switch!

Around the Holidays we host a lot of people, being able to turn the office table into another dining table is very helpful!

4- Wall of Cabinets for Pantry

Our wall of pantry cabinets is one of the most-used spaces in the house. With the right storage bins, we’ve maximized every inch. This setup keeps our pantry organized while making everything easy to see and grab. Our pantry cupboards are painted in Bancha from Farrow & Ball, painted and custom built.
The sizing is 9′ wide x 12″ deep (inside they are 10.5″).

I thought I had done this, but I really didn’t. All snacks are now in one cupboard. Dinner is grouped together and even an empty bin to put dinner meals coming up or dinner ingredients I don’t normally stock. They used these clear bins (them labeled them) and I had these containers with Airtight Lids BPA-Free– for cereal and chips.

Also LOVE that they added canned food organizers! These save so much space. I didn’t think I could fit that type of organizer in our narrow cupboards, but the professional organizers knew!

Lazy Susans were also smart to keep the nutter butters, syrups and condiments organized. I had one before that wasn’t being enough, so smart they did three by each other!

5- Lockers by Back Door

We have cabinets right off of our garage, which is very convenient. The pantry cabinets were custom made and painted in Bancha from Farrow & Ball and they are 20″ deep. Hold sunglasses, keys, lunch bags, backpacks and more!

I used this acrylic hook for keys and this acrylic holder for sunglasses. I attached them to the door with this double sided tape.

We mostly keep extra bags, purses, lunch bags, bags for shopping here! We used these wall hooks in each of the cupboards.

The last cabinet holds a vacuum! I only wish we had outlets in each cabinet to plug-in and charge things.

6- Hall Laundry

To make the most of our layout without dedicating an entire room on our main floor to laundry, we created a hallway laundry area. Built-in cabinets above provide storage, while curtains hide the appliances below. It’s functional, neat, and blends seamlessly with the hallway design.

These six areas showcase that with smart storage, multipurpose spaces, and thoughtful design, your home can work as hard as you do and still feel warm, welcoming, and organized.

Bonus Space

Our home gym really works the hardest! It can go from the gym we use daily…..

To a large hosting space! We hosted 60 kids in here for a school dance, it was so nice to have the option when the weather changed from sun to rain. Makes me try to think of more than one way to use more areas in our home!

Share this post:

PRIVACY