DIY Barnwood Kitchen Shelves

There's a trend in kitchens right now--open shelving. And while I LOVE the look, I knew when designing our kitchen, there was no way I could squeeze in a few shelves on which to display pretty things. Practicality won out and I maximized every square inch of our kitchen by running our upper cabinets all the way to the ceiling and installing a big pantry for extra storage. In a small kitchen, every wall counts and I knew I had to use each one to get the storage I needed.

(See more of my kitchen here)

I kinda gave up hoping for open shelving in my kitchen until the light bulb went on one day. Sure--I have ONE spot in my kitchen where I could squeeze in a couple shelves. See that wall to the right of our couch? Well I scooted that armoire over a bit and that's the area we're talking about. (more living room pics here, and yes, this picture is old--two couches ago!)

Just enough room for two shelves, and it's perfect above my DIY baking station. (I've been using my baking station a lot more now that I'm food blogging over at goldenbarrel.com.) 

This project was inspired by Rebecca from A Daily Something. I saw her post on Instagram and was smitten right away. I knew we could recreate the look.

(Bryce found the bird's nest in our backyard the same day the shelves went up so I thought it was only fitting!)

And it worked out perfectly--we had just enough barnwood (left over from our barnwood dining table) to make a couple shelves. Mitch cut the wood into 24" long boards, sanded them down, and installed two metal brackets in each of them. 

If you look closely, you can tell the brackets aren't centered. Mitch measured everything out and put the brackets where they can be screwed right into the wall studs. Smart planning, eh? That guy thinks of everything.

I wanted a more natural look, so I left the boards as-is with no stain or sealer. And I didn't want to see the brackets underneath, so Mitch put them so they face the top--which can easily be hidden with my "pretties" on the shelves. If they were a more decorative bracket, I would have put them on the bottom, but these guys are just your normal metal brackets you can pick up at any local hardware store.

I do love how they turned out. And this was a quick one-evening DIY. Gotta love those! So what have you guys been up to lately? Tackle any DIYs recently? What are your thoughts about open shelves in a kitchen?

Come check out my latest recipe over at Golden Barrel's blog. It's what's pictured up on the baking station--Zucchini Bread. You'll love it!

Follow MLST on Instagram in between blog posts!