Hello? Hello? Anyone still reading this? Long time no see! We have been keeping busy with projects but some are taking longer than expected and quite honestly nothing worthy to blog about. One of the projects in question that took a lot longer than we anticipated was the building of the open shelves in the kitchen.
We knew we wanted to use wooden corbels and I really wanted antique ones but finding 12 matching ones in the dimensions we need proved to be a lot tougher (and costly!) than I thought. We decided to check out the Unfinished Mill Store in Canton and wouldn't ya know they had corbels for $2.50 each! I couldn't contain my excitement...corbels are at a cheap price and that I could paint?? I was sprinting to the register!
But of course we had to modify them due to the shelving's depth. Our dinner plates are 11" deep so our shelves needed to be 12" deep. But our corbels were only 6" deep. Not gunna cut it. The support brackets should be at least 2/3 the deep of the shelving unit. So Jim came up with a brilliant but still attractive solution. He took two pieces of wood that he ripped with his table saw (I even got to rip some boards!) and then mitered the top board to make it look fancy. I love the results! Isn't Jim getting so handy???
Enough chit chat...below are the open shelves on either side of the window. Ahhh I love them! They totally complete the farmhouse chic look I was going for in the kitchen.
A view of the right side shelves. Sooooo glad we decided on white dishes when we registered for our wedding 4.5 years ago (btw how has it been 4.5 years???). I love the impact they have all grouped together and I love how we've added pieces through the years...all from different places but yet they all go together.
Close ups! I tried to add some chotchkies on every shelf. You know me and my chotchkies...A succulent in a green vase for a pop of color behind a milk bottle that Babci gave to Jim.
I saved the top shelves for lots of chotchkies (while still be practical). Each piece has a story of how we got them...many were gifts, some we had before we were married and some I've bought from yard sales, thrift stores and antique stores. The back gravy boat was off our wedding registry, front gravy boat is an iron stone piece I bought at the antique store that I love in NH, the covered casserole dish was a house warming gift (thanks Alison and Bob!), the white ceramic bread basket was a Christmas gift from Mama Staunton and the stacked popcorn bowls were Jim's before we were married.
A lil pop of color on the middle shelf with that orangey/coral canister (thanks Target clearance!). Thinking of putting a tiny succulent in it for even more color. Here is where our drinking and juice glasses along with our round bowls, corn on the cob dishes and serving dishes are stored.
Side view of the the left side shelves. This is also a good picture of the corbels. You can see where Jim mitered the top board. I think they look like we bought them that way.
Another succulent (can you tell I love succulents!? Also thanks Krissy!) They're just sooooo easy to care for. I hope they do Ok on the shelves since they won't be in direct sunlight. Behind it is another glass milk bottle from the dairy farm down the road from us. And our dinner plates and luncheon plates are stored here as well.
On the shelve above is our appetizer plates and our rectangle dinner dishes along with a blue gurgling cod that Mama Staunton got for Jim for Christmas.
And above are two more pieces of ironstone...the cake stand and the pitcher. The cake stand I scored from Goodwill for $1!!!! And the pitcher I scored from a yard sale for $2!!!!!!!! Can you believe the deals I got on those??? Along with a mini strainer that Mama Horne gave us because she knows my love for all things mini (isn't it so cute?!), a french butter keeper (another Christmas gift from Mama Staunton) and a cloche I scored from Goodwill for $1.
We made the right side shelviing stop before the end of the peninsula so as not to hit anyone in the head when they sit down.
And since I'm a shortie I have to use this beauty to get things off the shelves. Mama Staunton did give us her great uncle's step stool that I plan on painting a fun color to replace this. But until then this works just fine!
Lots more projects in the works. I'll be back with some yard work that's been going down.
