The Kitchen Shelves

I am so excited to write this blog. Not because I love writing so much, or because I love to blog, but because the kitchen shelves are done enough for me to write about them!  Yea!

The picture below is the far wall of my kitchen/dining room.  We moved into this house 6 years ago and the entire time this wall has been blank.  I have had a million ideas of what to do with this wall, but it wasn't until a visit from my sister a year and a half ago that it was decided.  In talking about all the possibilities she suggested shelves.  She had built some at her house and said they were super easy.  So the planning began...

I poured over blogs and looked online to see how big and what color and what they should look like.  All of this took about a year.  Wow!  When Heath had a break from school over last Christmas I asked him in my best "Honey" please tone.  He complied because he is a great husband and viola! Shelves!

We painted them white because all of our trim is white and since they will be semi permanent I wanted them to match.  We hung them higher on the wall because they are right above our dining room table so we wanted to try to avoid anybody hitting their head on them.

I just realized that I didn't take before pictures of the decor.  I searched multiple thrift stores looking for the perfect picture frames and decorations.  This took awhile to figure out what I wanted up there.  It takes some time to find stuff that you want to look at every day.  The nice part is that the shelves are permanent, but everything else is exchangeable.  

After about $10, a few more dollars in spray paint, and a fun cold night in my garage...Finished!

I loved the arc shape of this oak picture frame.  It was big enough that it would hold a 8x10 sheet of paper or the weird construction paper dimensions.  I glued on these lobster clips and tada a interchangeable place to display all of Logan and Annabelle's master pieces.  

The scalloped edges of this next frame didn't end up really popping until I painted it red.  So pleased with my choice, love how rich it looks, and it will be fun to exchange the family pictures inside as our family ages. 

I found this big black frame at Goodwill at a $1 sale.  Another great place to display the newest creation and one of my favorite pieces as I didn't have to paint it.

This little frame was cute as a grey and silver stripped number.  One of the fun parts of this project was knowing if I ruined something, or I didn't like how it turned out, I wasn't married to it.  I was only in it a couple of bucks and if I didn't like the finished project, no biggie.  The fun part was creating the piece inside.

The dots are medication caps from my work as a nurse at the hospital.  They come on all kinds of vials to keep the top of the medication access clean.  A few years ago they became popular to collect to make badge covers out of.  I brought a ton home for Annabelle to count, sort by size and color and to play with.  It was fun to create this monogram letter with something that is usually trash. 

A few of the frames I filled with a few of my favorite quotes

This is got to be one of my favorite parts.  This is one of those "that would be fun" things that I pinned on pinterest.  It is a jar with some precut paper that you can jot down fun memories, quotes, or sweet things that happen throughout the year.  The theory is that we forget so much of what happens throughout the year and this is a non threatening, non time consuming way to capture it.   I love the quote on the jar and I have already written down sweet things that I wouldn't have ever taken the time to write down in either of Logan or Annabelle's baby books.  Looking forward to the end of the year and reviewing all of these memories.

The decorating experts say to put mirrors in places such as this in order to reflect light.  It does help make the shelves feel full but not cluttered.

So that is it.  Years later and a project that I am very pleased with.  I am excited to decorate them with the seasons and completely rearrange stuff.  They were fun at Valentines with a banner hanging reading "Be Mine".  Fall will be beautiful to display leaves and Thanksgiving themed items.  I can see a beautiful Christmas garland draped on the bottom shelf.  Hmm...the possibilities are endless.  It will be fun as the kids get older to have their input and decoration ideas.  Thanks for stopping by.