Burlap & Denim

I picked up these great shelf brackets from Pottery Barn at a local outlet (Down East Home) tent sale.  They were two to a pack and in perfect condition, never opened.  At just $5 a box, I couldn’t help myself and bought 10 pair!  I wasn’t sure where I’d use them so I wanted to have plenty to work with.  I looked them up on Pottery Barn’s website and noticed that they were selling them with either a glass shelf or a matching medium wood shelf both of which were unavailable for purchase a la carte (they are no longer on their site).

 I figured I could have glass cut and polished for shelves, make my own wood shelves or come up with something different.  I took the bracket with me to Ikea and found that one of my favorite shelves would work perfect!  The EKBY Mossby shelf at almost 47″ and only $29 would be the perfect complement for my warm wood brackets.  The ends are even perfectly finished (so you don’t have to use their matching brackets).  One thing I forgot to notice while at Ikea is that only ONE side of the shelf is stainless.  The other is a charcoal plastic like surface.  No worries, I just flipped the top two shelves upside down.  Only someone over 6 ft that is really inspecting the shelves would ever notice.

First I decided where I wanted them to go.  My nook/dining room.  I’ve used this space in many different ways.  Most recently it held my giant sand dollar (see below) with a table under it, previously I had a trick table that opened up into a dining table for 4 (perfect for extended family dinners), even my family computer on a vintage red desk.  Now it was the shelves turn to grace this little wall.  I started by measuring out how many shelves I wanted, the pink being 4 and the yellow 5.  Five for sure.  I didn’t need a lot of space between each shelf since most the items I planned on putting on the shelves were relatively short.  I left plenty of space at the top to add art or larger decor.

At the bottom I had to work around a few outlets and a return air register.  The bottom bracket would have to set on top of the air register and that was great, it gave me a nice big space on the bottom for a large basket and other things to “hide” the air return and outlets.  When laying things out, be sure to take into account light switches too, the middle shelf was originally lined up to sun right into the speaker volume switch so I adjusted it and the one above so that the top three shelves are slightly closer together.

It was a bit scary, but I installed all of these myself.  The left side did not have studs so I used the metal drywall screws that you slowly turn into the wall, then put the provided screw in the center.  The right side I lined up on a stud.  It would have been great to have all of them in a stud but the layout didn’t allow it this time.

Here is a diagram of my spacing.  My ceiling height here is 8 ft so you may need to adjust these for your own home.

I love how little space these shelves take up.  below you can see the view when walking by from my mud room where you see my family room in the background, and again from the hallway behind our family room looking into the kitchen.

I have loved the look of open shelving in the kitchen but couldn’t find a cabinet to part with, so this worked out perfect for me.  It is a non permanent solution.  If next week I want to move these all I have to do is fill a few holes and set up somewhere else.

The combination of the warm wood (which matches my floor, cabinets, table and chairs) and the stainless (which matches all of my appliances and drawer pulls) is the perfect match for my home.  I love the reflections of the stainless steel, it gives a mirrored look but much softer.

For now these shelves are loaded with what I call Restaurant Supplies.  These include glasses of all shapes and sizes, white dinner plates, salt and pepper shakers, pitchers and a few color coordinated cook books thrown in.

The shelves gave me a great place to highlight some of my favorite collectables too like these S+P shakers from my husbands grandmother, my vintage styled Milk bottles, some Jones soda bottles (all cleaned up), a vintage scale I picked up at a yard sale, Mason jars, baskets, burlap and more Ikea dishes.

I am loving how these turned out.  It was a great surprise when I realized that although busy, these shelves really lighten up the space.  The sun light reflects off of all the glass and stainless steel making it glimmer like a faceted crystal.  Bonus number two?  My kids can put the dishes away easily and the glasses are ready to be set at the table without mommy having to get them down!  Win Win, I love it!  So for a total of $35 a shelf times 5 shelves, it cost me a whopping $175 for this entire wall (I already had all of the accessories, most were hidden behind cabinet doors)!  Oh how I love to display.

 To see how these match with my kitchen, check out my Kitchen Open House

Linked Up: Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Crafty Scrappy Happy, The Shabby Nest, Too Much Time, Home Stories A2Z

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