Open Shelving

The recycled kitchen project is steadily coming along, to the point even my husband was excited enough to search some potential ranges ovens. That’s a big deal. He is not the getting ahead of himself type. Basically the opposite to me 😝.

I’m waiting for the chimney to be swept this week and I can’t smooth the surface of the cement floor prior to that because it’s going to take three days to walk on. I didn’t want to start it last week, the heatwave was just too much. So, as we are currently operating out of a small kitchen, I’ve been moving our excess things onto the shelves.

Prior to doing that I’d been researching how and what to display on the open shelving. Originally I was going to leave all the former bookcases open, but I’ve since added doors, so there aren’t as many of these areas now. This is what I came up with for inspiration.

Whites

There’s a lot of predominantly whites in these displays. They help to keep an area light whilst the shapes themselves add interest.

Naturals and neutrals

To add a little more interest natural tones can be added…

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These look wonderfully classic. However, I don’t have this many whites even with the neutrals mixed in.

One colour display items

Grouping together a single colour gives a sense of calm.

In this one they’ve added secondary tones of yellow. As they’re in the same colour pallet the harmony is maintained.

It’s incredibly stylish, but I don’t have the same colour tone to try this.

Pictures

I just wanted to introduce this as an alternative to just crockery etc. These pictures displayed on the shelves. The ones selected here seem to add a little elegance, no?

Food as colour

To introduce colour into the mix you can utilise your food itself…

Background as colour

Either subtly like this…

…or more pronounced…

…which is more in line with the kitchen I’ve been working on. The second one also introduces colour into the displayed items as well as the background too.

Colour in items

Again the tones are in the same pallet, but the busier patterns gives it a more lively feel along with the sugary feel.

These are a lot stronger…

Pops of colour

Mixture of colours

These definitely give the impression of an evolving room, with pieces built up over the years rather than one that’s been styled. Even though I’m putting this kitchen together, this is probably where I’m headed. After all, all of my items have been selected over the years.