Floating Shelves: Dream Come True

There's been a longing in my life for open shelves with dishes stacked atop each one. I had accepted it would never be, since there's no place in my darling kitchen for them. But Pinterest kept presenting photos like these to me.

(Bread and Olives)

(REMODELISTA)

(Decor de Provence)

So you see, the torture became too much after a while. Especially when I started acquiring snippets of rose color depression glass. It was a shame to put it away in a cupboard where no one could enjoy it between meals! And I really wanted things I use to become my decorations because, in a house this large (as a minimalist) it seems like there's a lot of "space filling" that happens in order to make each area feel as homey as the main ones. Anyway, I felt my dishes could certainly be doing double duty. If only...

Then I realized I could place some floating shelves above my buffet in the dining room. After all, that's where the table setting happens. So I started where I always start when it comes to something sleek and modern: Ikea. I found their LACK shelves in white and a length slightly narrower than the buffet. At 14.99, I could get three shelves for under $50. 

So, when we trekked out to Colorado Springs for some of Brian's meetings, we swung by the Denver Ikea and picked these up. Brian installed them for me one evening and I stayed up to put the dishes on. He heard me gasp when I got them half filled! It was better than I'd hoped. 

What you're starting to see is how this has been the summer of the dining room. And as you know, these projects inevitably cause a ripple effect when items shuffle about because I shop my house before I go buy anything. It's chaos for a while and I wonder if I'm actually making things better or worse, but in the end, I think it saves me money. I think. 

This quote is how I want to be, so I need to see it often. I'd like a taller item to add to this corner and balance the lamp. Just not sure what that'll be yet. The turkey feet are place card holders I got free when I ordered my rug for the kitchen. They were white, but I painted these two gold. I'm not sure I'll paint the other two. It might be pretty to use both colors when they hold place cards. If I ever do that. For those of you thinking, "Why turkey feet?" Well, it's because they make me smile. I love a home that has gorgeousness all over, but then zings you with a little satirical surprise. I feel some relief knowing they don't take it all so seriously.

I collected mismatched white dishes to complement my rose glass because my old dishes were cream and taupe with some pattern on them. Getting them all at Goodwills made them .99 per piece except the serving dishes. And the two knobby bowls above. Those are from Target's lovely line of white dishes. It's fun to pull in older pieces we've inherited that are white with gold trim and newer pieces with clean lines. We keep half the dishes in the kitchen and half out here, so whether we're setting the table or dishing up in the kitchen, we don't have to go far. 

The windows above the buffet and the doctor's filing cabinet got shuffled down to the guest room, giving it some "real" furniture. Now I spend my time basking in the floating shelves glow. I even have a chair I can sit in sideways to just gaze at them. Someone pinch me!