# The Butlers Pantry and Hidden Treasure ### The room in progress, the story so far, and the direction it's taking...! [Greg Penn](https://substack.com/@manwithahammer) Feb 06, 2026 *This is a post free for all to read… however it’s quite long - sorry - so you may struggle to read it all in your email so might need to open it up - I hope it’s worth it! If you’re not yet subscribed - I would hugely appreciate you joining this little corner of the internet - there’s free and paid for options and either way, I’m hugely grateful of all support of my work!* ### Firstly… what on earth is a Butlers Pantry? I’m glad you asked…! Ah haha, OK so, traditionally I believe (and please correct me in the comments if I’m wrong!), the role of a butlers pantry, was a room in a grand stately home, adjacent from the formal dining room where the butler could gather all the food, drinks and bits and pieces needed, ahead of serving it beautifully to the lords and ladies dining there… Think Mr Carson in Downton Abbey, with the hustle and bustle of the staff running around fetching the food from the kitchen (often a long distance from the dining room - for reasons of noise and fire risk amongst others), and getting it all ready, faffing with it if needed, plating up etc. and organising, so then the footmen could serenely and elegantly serve the food to the diners under the watchful eye of the butler, with any fuss happening out of sight. It’s fair to say, Admirals has absolutely no need of such a room these days… once upon a time, I’m reasonably sure something similar would have existed here, in a fairly modest scale. There’s actually a ‘dumb waiter’, a little hand pulled lift (elevator for my American friends), that connects the lower ground - where once all food would have been cooked, to the ground floor, next to what would have been the formal dining room (now the kitchen!), and I love to imagine the butler and footmen waiting for it to come upstairs in the relative serenity of ‘above ground’ whilst the chaos of below, 200 years ago, with the fires stoked and candles spluttering as the cooks prepared everything. Alas, it’s unlikely Admirals will ever again have a butler… or a cook… or any staff at all haha (a guys can dream!) so, why a butlers pantry? Well, mainly - I rather think the name has a ring to it! The actual use of the room is as what I’ve grown up calling a ‘utility room’ - a sort of back room in houses that have the space to afford them, usually just off the kitchen… that typically houses a sink and washing machine/laundry facilities, as well as being a place to do dirtier work than you’d want to do in your kitchen - washing muddy boots etc. and often having some overflow storage from the kitchen itself. ### Wow that was a long preamble about its name… Sorry folks, I’m still luxuriating in not having to worry about a word count like I would on Instagram - I’ll try and get better haha! ### Why am I working on this room? What order I work on the rooms in, is something I’m asked all the time - so at some point, I’ll try and do a whole post about it - but there’s always reasons, and in this case… given the aim is to get the lower ground ready for rental, this room needed to be done before that’s possible. It sits directly above the small, 2nd bedroom of the lower ground - and, over the decades, has inevitably seen its share of leaks and damage… there was a leak hidden away, that was then causing damage to the ‘done’ room below, so needed addressing, and it makes sense to get it done before guests come - partly, as we’ve been using the lower ground to plumb the washing machine in… ### The room thus far… Taken just after moving in… cleaned as best I could - I actually replaced all the lower cabinet fronts (grey rather than purple) as they were just… well… grim! There was no gas, so the cooker didn’t work… and those pipes were - interesting to eventually remove! When I moved in, this was the kitchen - as mentioned above, it had been turned into such I believe, in the 50’s… how do I know that? Well, I met a very fine gentleman indeed, called Albert Nix, who was once the private chef here to a great many of the officers that resided here for over 30 years… The always smiling Albert in the very same kitchen - I definitely prefer these units - I’m certain my Grandma had the same! But it had changed a bit since the Navy sold Admirals as a private, civilian residence in 1995. A chipboard and plastic, purple kitchen had been installed, with Formica worktops… a lime green paint chosen for the back wall, and basic tiles laid, over many layers of Formica - the cooker hood from Albert’s time here remained however! ### Hidden treasure…? Being on the ground floor, it’s tall in here - and the rest of the rooms have simple, but beautiful plaster cornice. I knew that a false plasterboard ceiling had been installed here, with spotlights added, that was a couple of feet lower than the original ceiling - but I’d assumed this was because the original ceiling and the cornice were absolutely knackered and therefore this was the only option - the room above here is the pink bathroom, that had certainly seen plenty of leaks over the decades, so made sense there’d be some water damage… So, imagine my surprise, atop some slightly wobbly ladders, when I ripped the ceiling down, and found a largely intact, original ceiling - JACKPOT! _this is the treasure I referred to in the title… alas I’ve never found any bullion stashed under floorboards haha but I’m sure any of you that have ever renovated an old house will agree, a find like this absolutely counts as long lost hidden treasure!_ ### A DIYer vs. Developer I’m going to add a note in here, as it’s something I muse on when I’m working on Admirals and probably is worth it’s own post… So much of the work I do, or decisions I make, is the equivalent of taking the very, very long, very scenic route, rather than the motorway, between points A and B. Ultimately, this is not a room you relax in (though I feel like I might once it’s done - it’s going to be pretty haha)… for most, it’s where you wash your socks… so certainly any developers, and probably most sane other people, would have looked at that false ceiling, which was solid, doing the job any ceiling needs to… and left it as it was, saving a massive amount of work, money and effort. ### With the room now stripped… Back to its bare state, the walls very rough, the old tiles up, the old ceiling revealed it’s been time to start putting it back together! First fix electrics went in, and I could then install the wide, Georgian style paneling around the whole room. It also really makes the most of the new found ceiling heights. The vertical lines draw the eye upwards, and I’ve added a 100mm deep ledge at the top, ready to prop art, platters and other pretty, but infrequently used bits to make it feel homely. ### Now, let’s talk about decoration… But first, I’ll share the CGI’s of roughly what the room is going to hopefully look like, once finished. At the opposite side, what I hope feels a bit like a big, freestanding cupboard… but on one side has a wine fridge, the other side is a ‘normal’ fridge and then in the middle, it’ll be dedicated cupboards for Cot’s baking. Down one wall, a beautiful display cabinet. The glazed top allows light to pass through into the otherwise very gloomy back hall where the main stairs are. And on the chimney breast, the old dresser I found… and above is going to be some incredible butlers bells Howard is making for me, that are going to look amazing. ### Finally… Wallpaper Ideas Now you’ve seen an idea of what the room looks like, here’s some of the wallpapers I’m thinking of to put above the paneling... First up, I quite like the idea of a stripe.. continuing the lines of the paneling, and really celebrating that long lost ceiling height… Next up… flowers - sort of! A small scale print… quite subtle with an aged feel. ### Now for the wild card. Two prints I’ve loved ever since I started using wallpaper but never had anywhere quite right for… And this room, potentially, can take something bold… it’s a room that you don’t (hopefully) spend hours in… so it can be a little wild! ### What needs doing before then…? Well, I had rather hoped this week I’d be at the point where I’d be painting today… but instead, I made the decision on Sunday evening, to spend this week launching this very substack. A really terrible image sorry - taken as it was getting dark last night. Then, finally, I can get the primers on! Zinsser BIN first, which will be knocked back, a 2nd coat on the knots… before a colour matched primer and a couple of coats of egg shell. ### Subscribe Phew - well done if you made it this far folks, and thanks so much for reading! If you’re new here and aren’t subscribed - I would hugely appreciate it if you did - as I can’t wait to bore you to tears with even more ridiculously long, wordy content… Happy Friday lovely bunch! Greg Xx