rearranging the kitchen shelves

Our kitchen and dining room is the heart of our home. One of my favorite views in this room is the open shelving we mounted above a sideboard that contains our cocktail supplies. We made the shelves out of very, very old wood we bought at a shop in the country, and we spray painted the brackets gold.

Over time the shelves had gotten cramped, and I wanted a new look. We removed everything from the shelves and decided to rearrange them with a moodier vibe. Here’s the finished product!

The large art is from one of my favorite charities. I bought the painting unframed and put it in an old frame from Salvation Army. I painted the frame with Rub ‘n Buff (affiliate link) and hot glued a navy ribbon to the frame. Very cheap DIY project!

The painting on the right is by my younger daughter.

Many of the items here have special meaning for us. A few of the cocktail recipe books are from our favorite spots in NYC, and some of the others were gifts from friends. A local shopkeeper gave us the gold bell when we were renovating our house.

When arranging shelves, my secret is to arrange similar colors in threes using a triangle shape. Here, I used gold (the gold in the liquor bottle labels, the art frame, and the bell) and clear glass (the cups to the left of the art, the cups below the art, and the decanter on the far right).

And here’s what the wall looked like before this refresh. I like it much better now!

Sources: wallpaper