DIY Open Kitchen Shelves

Last Saturday, my husband and I tackled a small DIY construction project in our kitchen. As renters of a basic 1950's duplex, we don't often get to do projects that change the "bones" of the house (nor are we equipped to, either in power tools or hanyman skills). Luckily, these open shelves are about as basic a DIY project as we could ask for-  all it took was a paint brush, a power screw gun, and a trip to Home Depot.

Below is the "Before" picture of our kitchen...

There was a large blank wall above the kitchen sink, almost as if the layout was designed to incorporate a window there. The only trouble is that a window above the sink would overlook our bed in the next room... Oops. So I hung up a mirror and pretended I had a window. But I grew tired of the heavy gilded frame in my farmhouse style kitchen (and tired of watching myself wash dishes), so a couple weeks ago I took the mirror down and started developing a plan to add some shelves.   

And I couldn't be happier with the result!

I wanted the shelves to look built in, so after a little advice from my dad (no use being a cabinet-maker's daughter if you can't get a free design consultation every now and then), I took some measurements and headed to Home Depot.

Here's what we bought:

- One 6' pine board, 1" x 10", which we had cut (for free) into two 34" pieces

- Four small wooden shelf brackets (which were conveniently stocked right next to the lumber. Hmmm, maybe we're not the first people who have done this...)

After sanding the edges of the boards and painting all the pieces, we screwed the brackets flat against the sides of the cabinets, laid the shelves into place, and secured them with screws. Instant open shelves!

Our small kitchen already had a surprising amount of storage, will lots of full-height cabinets, but it didn't have a lot of room for display. And I am all about display! These new shelves are perfect for showing off more of my antique yellowware.

After this quick and easy DIY project, it now looks as if the kitchen was designed with these open shelves from the very beginning. And the best part of the whole project? It only cost a total of about $16.00! The wood was $8.00, the brackets were less than $2 apiece, and I used the leftover paint from the kitchen cabinets.

Now that is kitchen renovation... renter's style!

Mustard Stripe Towels

These new mustard colored striped towels came in the mail a few weeks ago, and I've been so busy preoccupied that I haven't found the time to do a proper photo shoot with them yet. Until this morning! I finally got my sample towel stitched, photographed, and they are up for sale in my Etsy shop.

The mustard color looks so nice in my country kitchen. It's not a super bright mustard yellow - the stripes are more of a dark caramel mustard - so it looks great with farmhouse kitchen accents like antique yellowware, wooden bowls, old rolling pins, and rustic cutting boards.

It's always fun deciding what letters to choose for my sample towels. I've already stitched a couple with my own initials, but I like to show a variety of letters on the towels I photograph for the shop. I knew I wanted to do an "H", because that has been a popular letter on recent orders. And what could be more cheerful than adding an "I", an initial that often shows up on antique european grain sacks.

What a friendly little towel!

These new mustard stripe towels can be ordered individually HERE or in a set of 2 HERE.

A Cozy Place to Sleep

With the nights getting cooler and thoughts of a snowy season just around the corner, I've beefed up our bedding with new layers of patterned pillows and richly textured blankets for a cozy nights sleep and, just as importantly, a beautiful bedscape that adds a burst of inviting warmth and color to our tiny home.

The red and white quilt at the foot of the bed is an antique, but the rest of the bedding only looks vintage, with french-style stripes and classic woven patterns. The gray blanket with big red checks, along with the red coverlet pillow, are both new additions to my bedding from Family Heirloom Weavers, a small company in Pennsylvania that creates beautiful woven textiles patterned after early colonial antiques. Their stuff is gorgeous!

A tiny oval antique picture of a young girl hangs with a vintage mirror above the bed, creating a focal point in lieu of a headboard.  

With a bedroom this bright and welcoming, I think we're ready for a cozy winter hibernation. Plus, I can't help thinking that in a few weeks a Christmas tree would fit perfectly in that back corner.... In the two and a half years since we've been married, we haven't had a place yet that was big enough (or that we weren't in the process of moving into or out of) to put up a full size Christmas tree. Maybe this will be the year!

My Antique Ironstone Collection

I love antique white ironstone, and I know I'm not the only one - this simple heavy china flys off of the (virtual) shelves in my etsy shop. But have you noticed that I haven't had much for sale recently? Here's at least one reason why... 

I've been busy filling my own (very real!) shelves at home. The antique farmhouse cupboard in my livingroom was looking a little bare, so I've been loading it up with ironstone pitchers, platters, butter pats, soup bowls, serving bowls, and stacks of small oval dishes.

I like the discolored patina of old ironstone, and this rustic cupboard holds the more humble aged pieces in my collection, all with thick rounded edges and simple silhouettes. But wait, there's more!

The blue china cupboard in my dining room holds my more pristine white pieces with more formal shapes. I don't discriminate against antique ironstone - stained or bright, humble or high end, I love it all!

A Second Quilt

Quilting time again! Here is the second quilt top that I've finished. I've actually had it done for quite a while, as I literally did the entire thing in one weekend right on the heels of finishing my first quilt top. I told you, I can get a little obsessed :) But I found a golden yellow fabric with a simple small-scale print that I loved - it reminds me of the "cheddar" color often found in traditional antique quilts - and I was itching to try another block pattern.

Now, unlike most quilters, who end up with huge fabric stashes and swoon over all the newest prints and designs, I have found that when it actually comes down to making a quilt for myself, I am not motivated by fabric hardly at all. You won't see those eye-candy shots of my latest stack of fat quarters in modern prints and designer colors. I like solids, and I like traditional colors. I get very excited if I ever find a print that I love. And as you can see from this quilt, even the "prints" that I love are for all intents and purposes still solids. Instead, I am motivated by the overall pattern and layout of quilt blocks, most often old patterns from antique quilts. I could happily produce dozens of different quilts with nothing but a bolt of red or blue and a bolt of antique white (my favorite is "Bone" in Kona Cotton). But that's the great thing about making a quilt... you can do it exactly the way you like!

Which brings me to my second point. The actual quilting. I got so many positive and encouraging comments when I shared that I was going to be hand quilting my first quilt... About how glad I would be that I did it, how relaxing and addicting hand quilting was, how much I was going to enjoy it, and that it would be so worth the effort!!

Well, it's not. At least not for me. 

All the fun and sense of accomplishment I had sewing the quilt top went right out the window as I started hand quilting. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I just flat-out hated it. I gave myself pep-talks and tried hard to convince myself that I was doing the "right thing". And then it hit me. Everything I liked about making the quilt top - the pattern design, the mathmatical precision, the systematic rotary cutting, the well-ordered almost assembly-line contruction, and the instant gratification of seeing the pieces come together - was missing in the hand quilting process. Rather than a defined step-by-step creative process, I had a big blobby perpetual never-ending project. I like quilt-making for the same reasons I like soapmaking (and baking). They are all precise, almost scientific techniques that combine all of the carefully planned and exactly measured components into one fantastically designed and immediately tangible final product. I guess I like right-brain activities that employ left-brain techniques. (Nothing like a little self-analysis with your crafting...)

So for me, it's machine quilting or nothing at all. And seeing as my new hobby is such a complete expression of the many aspects of my taste and personality, I think machine quilting is a perfect match. I can't wait to show you this one when it's finished! And now it can be sooner rather than later :)

Wedding Day

I have weddings on the brain! Last week I booked my plane ticket to Ohio for my cousin's wedding in October, and just last night our good friend Sarah from Chicago called me and asked me if I would be willing to make 8 centerpieces for her wedding reception in November. My first foray into wedding design... Eek! I've already started pouring over wedding websites such as Once Wed, and I am drooling over all of those gorgeous inspiring photo spreads. I love the way the small details add up to tell the entire story. I can get seriously lost in all of the beautiful wedding details out there. No, seriously... Like "it's-1:00-and-I-haven't-done-a-stitch-of-work-yet-today" kind of lost. So in the spirit of love and obsessive wedding planning, I thought I'd share a photo spread of my own wedding, a little over two years ago. Enjoy!

And we lived happily ever after...

The End Beginning