A mini makeover in the kitchen

Hi friends! I have to apologize for being MIA lately. I've been pretty sick the past couple weeks {for good reason} and  have taken every opportunity to lie down and sleep whenever possible! The to~do list and dust bunnies continue to pile up around the house, hopefully the worst is behind me and I'll begin to feel like my old self!

Last week we finally completed a project I've been wanting to tackle for a a while now in our kitchen. It did require some convincing, begging and pleading but J finally signed off on my idea.

~Here's the before and after~

~Here's the progression~
The little corner to the right is the space in our kitchen as it looked when we moved in {the rest of the picture shows our entryway and living room as well}

As you can see, the previous owners had used the space as a sort of desk. We knocked the shelf down and it became an empty wall.
Here's how I had originally had it styled {unfortunately I have no real pictures of the space itself! This pic shows the space and the corner of our dining room}

I had a red bakers rack stocked with Anchor Hocking jars containing baking necessities & a galvanized tub for fresh fruit and produce. Once Little Man became mobile, this space was no longer baby safe {nor was the bar you see in the back}

Here is how the space looked up until recently

 With our growing family, my office and workspace is shrinking! My plan was to turn this area into a desk space. I frantically hunted high and low for a desk that would fit~ unfortunately as the space is rather narrow I never had any luck.
I then decided I wanted to install open shelving on the wall to for extra kitchen storage. I figured since I would be displaying my plates and serveware, a desk underneath wouldn't exactly "flow" and I expanded my search for any piece I could paint that would fit in the space.
 After much begging and pleading, J finally agreed to let me paint our hutch you see in the above picture. He, like most guys, gawks at the very idea of painting over perfectly good wood. So I thought this would never happen!

 I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White. It was my first time using ASCP, and I am so in love! Everything they say about ASCP is true. No prep work is required, NONE! That's right folks, I didn't sand, strip or anything. J came outside to find me painting right over the glossed wood and nearly had a heart attack. It went on like a dream! I painted in the bright sun which made it difficult to see how my strokes were doing. In hindsight I probably should have used a little less paint with each coat, but I'm thrilled with the results

Not only does it go on beautifully, it sands like a dream, coming off in powder form, giving you much more control over your work~ making it the perfect paint to use when you are adding a "rustic look to any piece"
For the shelves, I found these corbels on Homedepot.com. Thankfully, they had 4 of them in stock at our local store, it was my lucky day! I then just grabbed a wood panel that was 12" x 6 ft. and J cut it in half for me giving me two 3 foot pieces. J wanted to add some molding to the front to keep the plates from falling off in case of an earthquake {always thinking}. I can't remember the piece I grabbed, but it was similar to this.
We glued the corbels on to the wood, and then the trim pieces in front. For a wonderful tutorial that I referenced, click here. J reinforced the shelves with a nail gun, just for extra support. We then painted the shelves Sherwin Williams' Swiss Coffee to match our cabinets, as the shelves extend from them.

In the end, painting  took me two naptimes, only because I had to give everything time to dry in between coats. Installing the shelves took J only an hour or so. The total cost was under $50 not including paint. Love a project that gives you a big impact for little $$$ and time!

~Here's the finished result~

I am SO happy with the way it turned out, and thrilled to check this off my project list. I do have my laptop set up here still as well as our household binder, but I figure I can easily move them when entertaining to use the space for food or a drink station. I also haven't finished styling the shelves, I'm not at all happy with the way the top shelf looks, I need to take some time and really dig through my stuff to find my favorite pieces!

I promise to be back sooner rather than later, I still have a ton of kitchen projects planned so I'll be sure to keep you posted!

xoxo,

B