Open Shelving

Open shelving is a current obsession of mine. To be even more specific, open shelving in a kitchen. I originally wanted to have them where we now have new cabinetry, but the practicality of storage (and storage that keeps things hidden) trumped the beauty of open shelves. Boo for practicality!

You can imagine my excitement when, after the final layout for the new kitchen was established, I saw that there would be a spot for my dreamy shelves after all! It would be right here on the blank wall next to the new peninsula:

Since our kitchen’s design is simple, clean and slightly modern, we needed shelves that would fit right in! When we went to Ikea to purchase the shoe storage cabinet for the mudroom (which you can see here) we came across the perfect shelves.

I have to admit that originally I didn’t think they were quite so perfect. Although I wanted simple, these were even too simple for me at first. Mostly I think I preferred thicker, more elaborate support brackets. However, I wanted to give them a try before continuing my search for the perfect shelves. So, before I changed my mind for the millionth time, Pavlo jumped right into installing the shelves.

Shelf #1:

Shelf #2:

In the end I’m so glad I at least tried them because I really love how they turned out. Besides, they made the job get completed much more quickly then if I had to continue my search for new brackets! I should mention that we did make one minor change to the Ikea shelves by using white screws (which we had on hand) instead of the darker ones the shelves came with. This just makes it look cleaner and more consistent.

Finally, here they are all decorated. I can’t promise any of this stuff will sit here forever. In fact, I have a feeling these shelves are going to be a lot like a mantel and have rotating decor!
Oh, and the chalkboard is actually something we had in our previous home. It’s a piece of an old chalkboard that came from one of the job sites Pavlo worked on (a school of course). Remember how back in the day we had chalkboards in schools? Yes, well, now it’s all about the smart board! Anyways, it’s kind of a cool reminder of the school he helped build. Some jobs he likes to remember, others he’d like to forget all together!