For the love of a shelf

Ever since I painted and updated our little kitchen, I have wanted to create more storage and eye candy by putting up a shelf in the soffit above our fridge and microwave.  I don't understand soffits, really.  It just seems like a huge waste of space?  Why wouldn't the builders make bigger cabinets?  Or put in shelves themselves?  I'm just not sure, but I wanted to do something about it.

Don't mind the messy kitchen...it'll get better.  But see?  All that empty boring space up there, needs something?  Doesn't it?

BOOOOORING!

So, I thought a lot about what to do with the space.  I went through a few ideas, and I think it took me a year to really figure it all out, but it was worth it:)

I bought a special piece of wood from Home Depot, and some iron-like shelf brackets.  Neither were the color that I wanted but that really isn't a problem because wood can always be painted or stained and iron can be spray painted.  I stained the wood the same stain that I used on our other shelves in the kitchen and I spray painted the iron brackets a lovely oil rubbed bronze to match all our hardware in the kitchen.  Then, it was a matter of attaching it all and making sure it fit up there.

Our soffit was 8' long, and so was the piece of wood that I bought, but I did have to shave a little off with the saw we own, to make it fit.  Can you see the groove in the shelf?  I bought this shelf for that reason, so I could prop plates and stuff up on it.  It's not meant for that purpose, but I made it the purpose;)

I hung the brackets on the top of the shelf, instead of underneath, so that I would have space up there to put up decor & all.

Here it is all ready to be installed.

At this point, I called on my lovely hubby to help me install it because, let's face it, the thing is 8' long and has to go up almost 7' high and I am only a 5'3" girl.  It took some leveling (always level!) and figuring out the best way to hitch it up there (use the drywall anchors for maximum hold!) and then presto!!  It was up and so so beautiful!

Seriously, I love it.  I love the scroll-y Tuscan like brackets and the warm but lovely colored wood, and I think it looks so cool hung up like this, with the brackets upside down!

After we hung it, I was itching to decorate it.  I made do with what we have here, but I definitely want to find some Tuscan plates to put up there, and make my CUCINA letters.  I have the letters here, I just have to figure out how to stain or paint them.  Oh decisions, decisions.  Anyways, here is what it looks like now, with a slightly more clean kitchen;)

I started throwing things up there...

Played around with it until I liked it...

Isn't it so cute?  I love that there is something up there now!

We actually meant for today to be a lazy day, but after sleeping and then napping and reading and playing Roller Coaster Tycoon (ahem, Dave) we decided to clean and get things done around the house.  I almost lost a battle with a broken towel rod in the bathroom downstairs, until I beat the thing out of the wall and decided to throw it away;)  Looks like we need a new towel rack!

For now, I'll look up at my pretty shelf that adds some character to our small, but lovely kitchen.  This room has come such a long way since we bought the house!!

Look at those brown cabinets!  Gross!

...and those plain walls, yuck!

So much better;)  Now all we need is upgraded appliances.  One day!

Thanks for sharing in my shelf journey, hope you enjoyed yourself;)

Linking up with A bowl full of lemons!  Great blog!

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