Can you believe that it nearly the end of January, because certainly can’t! I don’t know where the time has gone 🤷♂️. I hope that all those resolutions are still going strong! With this week’s #romancingthehome theme being “freshen up a forgotten space”, I have decided to show you what we have been up to in the kitchen. This space was not forgotten per se, but it was definitely tired. We have a long way to go, but it’s a process.
Right, so where to start… I’ve wanted to put open shelving in for a while. In fact, I spoke about it in my first ever blog post. Well, it turns out that Hubs reads my blog, if you can believe it! I got home from work one night to find that Hubs had removed some of the upper cabinets and was starting to make me some open shelves. I was shocked, to say the least.
All of a sudden I was thrown into: What do you want? What size? Floating? Brackets? I was like wait, wait wait!! I need time to think. To plan. I mean, I had seen things on Pinterest, but I hadn’t yet formulated a plan! I also had other plans – I wanted a hood vent and to change out the backsplash! Once I had processed everything, I realised that if I just go with the flow, I will get the kitchen of my dreams. It’s just going to happen in stages. Certainly a lesson in patience 😂
I thought that I didn’t have a before pic, because Hubs jumps headfirst into a project and I don’t get to take any before photos. Nothing new over here, folks! However, thanks to my friend Ramona, I found one.
Ready?
Anyway, that’s enough rambling from me! Here goes…
An easy way to update your kitchen
- Remove the upper cabinets
- Fill holes and paint where necessary. If you don’t have the right colour and you don’t want to repaint the whole kitchen, get it colour matched – Paint and Decor do a fantastic job of this!
- Decide what shelves you want and get creative! You can buy pre-made shelves from a hardware store, use reclaimed wood from your nearest reclamation yard, or build something from scratch. The last option is what Hubs did, using trusty old pallet wood which he sourced on Gumtree.
I just love the rustic detail of these shelves! And yes, that is me you see in the reflection 😂 - Hang your shelves.
This shot shows how Hubs secured the floating shelves. 
The shelf is hollow, which allows it to fit onto the brackets. Hubs screwed the shelves to the brackets once hung. - Style your shelves with your everyday items – pretty and practical! I don’t worry about the pieces gathering dust, because I honestly use these items every single day (at least the items on the bottom shelf).
I love storing my every day items here; it makes them so easy to use and put away. - Enjoy!
I’m so happy with the way that it turned out! There will be a few more changes down the line, but for now, they are perfect 🙂 
Tea time!
This is just the first of many little projects planned for this little space – I can’t wait to see it all come together! I am just trying to enjoy the process and not rush it. But it’s so difficult!
Now it’s your turn to share – what spaces are you hoping to refresh this year? I’d love to chat!
Until next time 😘
Looking for more great ideas and inspiration? Check out my #romancingthehome friends:
- Ramona – Ruffles and Rust
- Talia – My Shabby Shack
- Kylie – Our Unique Home
Perfect little corner now!
Thanks Ashley!
[…] decided to use the same wood that he had used to create the open shelving in the kitchen, it really is the cheapest there is available and it does the job. We love the […]