You guys! This little kitchen has come so far and I couldn’t be happier! And to think it all started out with these beautiful shelfology shelves! I have wanted open shelving forever in this kitchen, but Ryan wasn’t quite sold on it, and didn’t know how we could make them pretty, yet functional. Shelfology was the perfect solution! These shelves are the Aksel Stunning Stains
Nutmeg rough floating shelf system shelf system by Shelfology Not only are these shelves a gorgeous reclaimed wood, they are also 12″ and can hold a lot of weight, which is important for all of my decor…..I mean dishes!:)

So many of you followed along on this journey over on my instagram account, and watched me tile this backsplash and paint these windows black! So many easy tutorials that really updated this space! And speaking of updated spaces, lets look back to what this kitchen looked like when we first bought it, and the kitchen updates throughout the years! 

Amazingly, this is how the kitchen was when we bought the house. So much yellow and orange…can you take it?? We had a teeny tiny budget to work with when we did the full house reno, which meant the bare bones in the kitchen. This is how the kitchen looked after the initial facelift….

No backsplash, no real island, and pretty plain jane. This just goes to show that spaces can’t always happen at once, and it’s okay for it to evolve over time. Not only does it help the budget, but your style also changes! I taught myself how to tile and this decided I wanted a more farmhouse style kitchen and this next photo is what I ended up with! 

The subway tile added so much, and this was my version of open shelving that Ryan didn’t complain about because there was no real structural changes:) Although I enjoyed it for a long time, the clutter started to get to me…

I put the doors back on the cabinets and streamlined the look! No more clutter! This is before I decided to paint my lowers black, which made a huge difference! And all of this led up to what it is today, which of course if my favorite! 

I love how the open shelving opened up the space! It feels so much bigger now! The two most asked questions I got when I decided to do open shelving was, 1.) are you worried your dishes will get dirty, and 2.) where will you put all of your other things. Well, I’m happy to report that my dishes don’t have time to get dirty:) 

As a family of 6, most all of our dishes go through the dishwasher everyday. Of course some of the serving ware doesn’t, but I would wash out those dishes before I used them even if they were in closed cabinets! 

As for the lack of space, if you’re anything like me, you have collected unnecessary items that sit in your cabinets and never get used! This shelving forced me to keep only what I use, be intentional with what I buy, and honestly I don’t miss the space for one second! It was freeing to simplify! So now the question I’ve been getting the most is, where is everything from. So I rounded up all of my links and put them into one mood board for you! 

Let’s take a closer look at how to re-create this kitchen! Click on any of the words for the links! 

1./ Island, Stools, Pendant Lights, Sconce 2./Canisters 3./Cookbook, Art 4./Subway Tile, Shelving, Sconces 5./Dishes, Glasses, Wood Bowls, Cutting Board, Butter Crock, Coffee Cups, Greenery, Pot, Marble Mortar

The other most frequently asked questions I get is what color paint are my cabinets…

The lowers are Onyx by Benjamin Moore, and the uppers are Simply White by Benjamin Moore.  Also, you can find the gold pulls here and the gold knobs here. Also, my favorite coffee/ espresso maker of all time can be found here. It is a splurge for sure, but since we are over a half an hour away from any starbucks, and rarely get coffee shop coffee, this was my anniversary present to myself last year. And it’s a gift that just keeps giving, every single morning:) 

I believe the only other links I wasn’t able to add into the collage were this cute little wooden footstool from Target that the Mortar is sitting on, and the polka dot serving bowls on the top shelf! 

Thanks so much for following along on this kitchen project! It’s always such an accomplishment knowing you saved so much money DIY-ing yourself and creating something with your own two hands! Cheers to creating! We got this girls!!