white open spaces

you remember last summer when i got curb-stomped by my kitchen cabinet makeover project? 

yeah, i havent been able to even cope with the possibility of doing anything else cabinet-related until now, a full year later. i might have mild PTSD about that whole affair. 

here's where we've been  for pretty much a year:

unbelievably better than where we started (and you can totally tell the blue hue to the cabs b/c we've repainted only the left half of them in a true white so far)

but now that i'm finally getting over my stockholm syndrome i am finally ready to admit some of my captors' flaws and fine-tune some things cabinet-wise. the first of these things was to make an exposed shelf from the stand-alone bank of cabs over the bar/counter.

we removed that weird sink ceiling thing (for another project i'll share with you soon) and were left with a sort of strangely independent little square of cabinets, perfect for being somehow different than the other modules since it was totally detached.

i had seen really pretty examples of all-open shelving on pinterest and other blogs but doubted i was neat or stylish enough to make it work in our house. i neeeeeed my secret mess caches of shame and come cascading onto my head when i open them, you guys. 

but one pretty, open, organized cabinet? that i could do. definitely. probably.

so we took off the doors, patched the holes and i set to painting.

 ugh, painting the inside, every side of shelving is not fun. so many dimensions to remember.

but after the paint dried i could see it was totally going to work. just taking the doors off made it seem like we added square footage to the room and gave it a nice open, accessible feel.

so i set about finding my prettiest, most display-worthy kitchen items.

i found this beauty in my trunk. a goodwill purchase from about 10 months ago. i painted it with white ceramic paint (just like my ombre cannisters here) and baked it to set it permanently.

i am using a mothers day card from jesse as a dropcloth because i am heartless...and because i took a pic of it to keep it forever, duh.

we threw the rest of our pretties up there, spent a ridiculously WASP-y amount of time feng-shui'ing them into just the right places and then sat back to admire:

 ahhhh! love it. and nothing was bought just to fill this space up, we already had these guys already.

our black dishes are from our wedding registry and i am still so hard in love with them. the inverse colors are on the bowls and dinner plates (stacked) and having them right there in reach in the open has been a whole other benefit of this DIY that i hadnt foreseen.

that top shelf had been so hard to reach that it was just piled with junk that never got used (and threatened concussions daily), so i dont feel bad putting things up there almost exclusively for display. even if they dont get used too much, they are pretty and get ogled plenty...more than those free-loading squatter items living their before could say for themselves.

 my pretties are from target (honey), goodwill (cake stand...walmart brand i think), west elm (dipped cork jar), pottery barn (salt cellar), marshalls (lidded candle) and anthro (milk jug stacking measuring cups & chalk board cannister).

 and my pretty from jesus (hubface)

i lobe it! 

moral of the story: dont be scurred. if a dirty little disorganized packrat like me can pull off exposed shelving (even just a tad of it), anyone can!