open shelves in the kitchen

One of the projects on our list of things to finish on the house was to build open shelves in our kitchen. Because we repurposed the two existing cabinets that were in the home before we purchased it, we don't have a great deal of cupboard space. I don't mind, as I enjoy arranging my dishes and serving ware on display.  Finding the right style of shelf however, proved more difficult than I imagined it would be, as I couldn't quite find the style I was looking for. I wanted a substantial bracket that had a pretty silhouette to it, and I wanted shelves that were extra deep. The 12" depth allows me to not only stack wider pieces, like dinner plates and cake stands, it also allows me to layer pieces in front of each other, which I find visually makes the shelves much more interesting to look at.

We had our carpenter build a bracket that I had sketched, and cut large pine boards to our custom dimensions. The original design was inspired by Tessa of Nine & Sixteen. Though for anyone asking, I have seen very similar ones, also available to order extra deep, from Home Depot online. Whenever I'm styling shelves, as with so many other things, it takes a bit of tweaking and adjusting before I feel like I've found what I'm happy with. And of course, in time, it will change again, especially as the seasons change. I enjoy the few pieces of brown transferware and a couple pumpkins for autumn, but they'll likely change again come Christmas.

I think a good shelf style includes variety, but also uniform and balance. Mixing heights and depths is aesthetically pleasing. I try to mix a variety of shades of white, from more creamier dishes to cooler white ironstone. And because most are white, I like to add pieces that have pretty details like ornate handles and pretty patterns. I don't even mind a few pieces that are damaged, as usually having them turned a certain way can conceal that damage. Both of these pieces on the bottom right are significantly damaged, but you can't tell.

I also like adding texture, like these rattan highball glasses and my bamboo flatware.

The shelves are quite high, so high in fact that I need a chair to reach the top shelf at nearly 8' high. But the items on the top shelf aren't ones I use often, so I only need to reach to clean them occasionally. The height is also perfect as the ceiling in this part of the kitchen is vaulted and 18' high, so the higher mounted shelves help draw your eye upwards. The also balance the large, mounted cabinet on the opposite side of the kitchen. Having a lot of height to work with also meant that I could space them slightly higher apart. This is perfect for being able to stack items one on top of another, and also, to be able to stand larger old platters behind things.

I will eventually add a small strip along the back to keep the platters from slipping, but they were out. For now, thought they don't move, I made sure to put enough weight in front in the event they did slide forward accidentally.

Here you can see the profile of the bracket. Originally we were going to do a solid bracket, but given the extra depth, and the weight of the dishes, we decided to do a bracket in this design as it's a lot more strong.

I will remove the pumpkins this week. It's funny, I didn't realize until I was editing these photos that the one pumpkin has started rotting from the inside! You can't tell as clearly in person as you can in a bright photo.

While most of these are antique pieces, some of you have messaged for sources,

so I've listed what I can below.

White Dish Set - Antique White by Mikasa

Footed White Bowl and Cake Plate (on top shelf) - Martha Stewart for Macy's

Vintage Bamboo Cutlery - @baltimorevernacular

Rattan High Ball Glasses - Monika Hibbs Home

christmas in the kitchen

We awoke this morning to a winter wonderland!

And all the snow makes the whole house bright. So I made the most of the light and thought I'd show you the very minimal Christmas decor in the kitchen. It really is just tucking a bit of greens here and there. No snowmen tea towels or special Christmas dishes...

I like using Juniper for the shelves as it has pretty blue berries.

And I love that I can see just a glimpse of the tree from the kitchen.

But one of my favourite things about our home is my white dishes against the stone walls. It's such a pretty contrast.

I even made the most of a quiet snowy day and snuggled with this little one for a bit this afternoon.

New Year, Fresh Start

There's something so wonderful about the dawning of a new year.

It's as similar as an inviting bed with freshly laundered sheets, or a crisp white shirt not yet worn, or a new planner, awaiting important reminders to be pencilled in. 

It's fresh and full of possibility.

As much as I love readying the house for the Christmas season, there's still something so refreshing about boxing it all up and starting over.

With all of our celebrations now past, this morning felt like the perfect time to start getting the house back in order.

All of the greens came down, dishes removed, shelves vacuumed and then wiped down.

I packaged up some bits of Christmas decor that I will just reuse next year.

Then I rearranged the shelves and packed away most of the brown transferware.

For Christmas, my mom gave me this beautiful marble pastry board. As this is where I also keep my mixer, I just decided to set everything out and have this as my baking counter.

I love having everything - mixing bowls, measuring cups, baking tools - all in one place.

Very mise en place. 

It feels so fresh.

And of course, as this is right beside my laundry area, it also becomes a folding station of sorts.

You do what you have to do.

My organizing of the house actually started a few days ago. I just tried focusing on a cupboard or two each day, so the kitchen nearly finished. 

I'm in no rush, but it's nice to have things back in routine.

Happy New Year!

New Brown Transferware Pieces

Ryan has a few holidays left to use this year, and as crazy as it seems, our opportunities to use them are getting fewer as the weeks go by. So we decided to take a couple of days to work on the house, and then spend a night out of town with the boys. We planned a small road trip to see the Fall colours and pretty towns within only a few hours drive from our home.

While out and about, we would stop in a small town or port and we'd wander around. I would pop in and out of shops, the boys would play on a playground close by with Ryan. Then we'd search out a cozy little spot to eat, or a charming bakery to grab something warm and sweet. We just took our time, and did as we pleased and halfway, stayed in a hotel.

I'll share some more photos from this little adventure soon, but for now, I just wanted to share a couple things that I brought home with me.

Our hotel was in Woodstock, Ontario, and in Woodstock, there is a very large antique mall. In fact, it claims to be the largest in Canada with over 500 retailers.

 Now, before you start to imagine this massive antique mall, with aisle after aisle of antiques and treasures, I'll stop you. It's not. In fact it's more like three floors of industrial warehouse housing every person in town's left over garage sale items... And occasionally some handmade items, or some very sparse spaces that almost had potential.

Okay, maybe that's a little harsh. There were a few good vendors, and despite all of the clutter, I did actually come away with a box full of items. In fact, I came away with a box full of fantastic items.

One of the booths had a small collection of brown transferware, most of which were beautiful Aesthetic pieces. Because I couldn't justify purchasing every one of them, I spent some time deciding on my most favourite ones.

I loved the different shape of this plate, and the darker brown on this gravy boat.

I loved the deer and swallows depicted on this dinner plate.

I also found two smaller plates, a luncheon plate and dessert plate,

And this coffee pot was a steal because it was cracked in a few places. The little ironstone tea cup was another steal at $2.

So, with a few new pieces to display, it meant I needed to do some rearranging of my shelves.

I find it so soothing placing things and rearranging them until I feel like they're just right.

To give you some bearings, this is doorway leads into the living room. You can see the couch, which faces the fireplace in the background. The kitchen is an addition the runs along the back of the house, so you have to step through the stone wall. I love all of the casings from past years. It's just an interesting detail. I even love the dark, worn treads.