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The Minimal-ish Mama

Kitchen Progress: Copper Open Shelving

in DIY, Home on 10/02/16

We did it! 
Our quick weekend project that turned into over a month of weekends is finally finished, and I love it!
First things first: here’s our before. 
Big, dated oak cabinets. With such a low ceiling, these cabinets made the kitchen feel very small.
Although I’d love to tear out the entire wall of cabinets and the double oven (which I’ll never in a million years use) and reconfigure the entire space for a better pantry … baby steps. And this baby step made the whole kitchen so much more inviting. 
Cabinets before: 
I liked the glass front cabinets that showed off my pretty dishes, and the other corner cabinets contained double-decker lazy susans, which gave us tons of storage. But, I regret nothing. 
The steps: 
1. Take down old cabinets. We donated ours to Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, although Edison would have like us to keep one for a playhouse. 
2. Paint and patch the walls. We also replaced the white outlets and outlet covers you see below for black ones that will blend into the granite.
3. Paint your hardware. After much back and forth, I went with these Ikea brackets and spray painted them with this copper paint. Actually, I spray painted them, and then I got too impatient while they were drying and I flipped them over too soon to paint the other side, and they had to be sanded and completely repainted. So, pro tip – don’t do that. 
Second pro tip – buy more paint and primer than you will need. I had to make two trips to Home Depot for the primer after running out, but most inconvenient was having to reorder the copper spray paint, since shipping was not fast. Waiting for the paint to arrive delayed this whole project, so be smart and buy three cans to start with. Besides, you’ll find uses for the extra. 

4. Build your shelves. This is the part that I can’t tell you much about, because Brian did all the work. As I told Brian, I’m the Johanna, he’s the Chip in this relationship – I come up with the ideas, and he builds it (Fixer Upper fans know what I mean). Here’s the tutorial we used.

We originally planned on sanding and staining the shelves. And then since this project had already taken forever, we decided not to. Our excuse is that someday, we’d like to replace these pine boards from Home Depot with actual weathered barn wood planks, so these are just temporary.

5. Install shelves, and begin never ending process of styling them.

A commonly asked question: Do you have to dust or wash all the dishes to keep them from looking grimy?

So far, no. The vast majority of the dishes I chose to put out are ones that we use relatively often, so they don’t collect any dust. and so far, the more decorative dishes haven’t either. I’m not sure if it’s because we have good air flow through the kitchen, or what the reason is, but honestly, if I did have to dust them once in awhile, I really don’t mind.

Another question: What did you do with all the stuff that used to be in the cupboards? 
Some of it, like the white plates, bowls, glasses, and most of the mugs, stayed. Other pieces were moved from lower cabinets, like the bigger bowls. I was able to move some of the dishes to the lower cabinets, and others, like all my Tupperware, to a cupboard in the laundry room. So far, I haven’t had any issues with the new arrangement.

There you have it: my copper kitchen! 
Would you ever do open shelves, or is that a trend you’d pass on? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook. 

« Life Lately: Birthdays and Braces!
DIY: Mini Living Room Gallery Wall »

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