We’ve always had this huge empty space on the wall above our stove/oven, and for the last 3 years it’s housed only a simple rack from Ikea to hold our frying pans. Aside from it being an eyesore, it’s also a waste of space. Since our kitchen is tiny, I would love to build some open shelving to supplement our lack of cupboard space; but because we rent, I can’t. So after a very lame 3 years, I finally had the motivation to come up with a solution thanks to my New Year’s resolution to revamp our kitchen (which began with this project).
I love open shelving and the industrial look, and because nothing in my home is too finished or fancy, I tend to throw in unfinished/industrial details here and there (like our rugged DIY coffee table). So to fill the empty kitchen wall space, I decided to create a shelf from nothing more than a piece of unfinished wood and some shelf brackets. I purchased a birch wood board cut to size (just over 3 feet), 2 shelf brackets (these are only about $1.50 a piece!), and a set of screws; all the materials came to around $15. Bonus: there was nothing to paint or build, and I had the shelf up in about 20 minutes.
The fun part, of course, was raiding my cupboards and finding fun things to put up there. I didn’t even have to buy anything new because I had plenty of stuff stowed away that was begging to be displayed. Like, for instance:
- My cookbooks that don’t fit on any other kitchen shelves
- A vintage-looking water pitcher bought on clearance at Ikea long ago
- A mini heart-shaped cake pan given to us for our wedding
- “You – Me” artwork that my husband gave me for our 6-year anniversary (and I wasn’t sure where I was going to put it yet, so that worked out perfectly)
- Some “A” and “B” mugs from Anthropologie (for “Amy” and “Bobby,” of course)
- Vintage hand-stitched kitchen towels that I received from my husband’s side of the family when we married; I think they were made by his grandma and they are too precious to me to actually use
- A chicken wire basket bought in the $1 section of Target a while back, which works perfectly for holding the kitchen towels
Once I decorated my shelf, I hung some artwork with thumbtacks (this way I can easily switch them out when I tire of them – plus it’s another great alternative to hanging stuff without frames). The “His” and “Hers” artwork I made myself; and it is oh-so-true for our household… The colorful bowls are a print from Etsy, and the baking conversions chart is a free printable from { here }
Every time I walk through my kitchen, I stop and take a look at my pretty new details. It was well worth the $15, and a perfect solution for our updating our rental.
