Open Shelving in Our New Kitchen

As you guys know, things have been moving slower than I would like in our new home because of all the time it’s taking to deal with the claim from our move damage.  The good news is that our dining room table has been repaired, and they are hopefully picking up the piano to take it in for repairs in the next few days.  Oh, and our washing machine was fixed last week so we’ve been able to do laundry for awhile now–that is HUGE!

When we first found this house, I thought that this space above the bar area would be a perfect place for open shelving:

I didn’t have a beautiful portrait to hang in that space like my landlady did (she’s a very talented artist), and while I love the look of open shelving in kitchens, I also like them in a limited amount.  These seemed like the perfect spot to get my fix while closing the upper cabinet doors on my kitchen clutter!

When I came up at the end of May to do a little painting, the kitchen got a coat of Sherwin Williams Sea Salt.  The blue grey tone does a good job of working with the cream color of the cabinets and the brown and black in the granite.  That being said, I’m not completely sold on this color in the kitchen (although I love it in other rooms!) so it might not last.  It only takes an hour or two to paint this kitchen because there is very little wall space, so just don’t be surprised if I change it down the road!

I already had the shelving; Amy wrote a tutorial on how she used stair treads and corbels to DIY a set for her Virginia Beach kitchen {here} and I used the same technique two houses ago to make my own set of two shelves.  Here’s how they looked in our Savannah house, in the dining room:

If you prefer the look of natural or stained wood instead of painted, then Amy and I built another great set of open shelving for her kitchen, and you can read the tutorial {here}.

But back to THIS kitchen!

I had my husband install the two shelves above the bar area.  One side went right into the studs so he just used wood screws; the other side went into drywall so he used drywall anchors (we really like Pop Toggles for this sort of project).

Since that section of the counter houses the wine fridge, ice maker, wine rack, and a small sink, it seemed like we should accessorize the shelves to go with the bar theme!

It’s the perfect time of year for a gin and tonic; I find them so refreshing in the hot weather.

A few bar and hosting books are nearby for quick reference…

I’m not quite sure about the mirrors in the corner, but they do reflect light and brighten up the space.

I also love how the nailhead bar stools worked out with this kitchen–I couldn’t be happier with that choice!

I’ll be back next week with the rest of the kitchen; it’s one of my favorite rooms so far!

Sources:

Open shelving supplies (stair treads and corbels):  HomeDepot

Wall color:  Sherwin Williams Sea Salt

Paint on open shelves:  Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint in Linen White

Glass canisters, white plates, bottle holder and bottles, topiary, apothecary jar:  HomeGoods

Clock and lamp:  Hobby Lobby

Greyson Linen Barstools:  World Market

Copper lanterns:  Wayfair

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Thanks for stopping by–