trading cream for white

It's been awhile since I showed you the kitchen. Mostly because I didn't like anything that was in there originally. It's still not painted white, but it's getting so much better.

You remember this right?

This was a wall in our kitchen that I added a shelf to because there was so much empty space. But, you also have to walk through there {it's basically the hallway through our kitchen to our dining room} so I couldn't put a big piece of furniture {like a console table}. Here's the old view from the side.

I was so boring. Mostly because NONE of the colors that I like are represented there. It's like cream on cream on brown on cream. No contrast = bleh. It needed a heavy dose of white, less cream, more color, a little vintage, a little brass, and a little more function. 

So I started my search. I was looking for cheap half bookshelves. I was afraid if I got a whole bookshelf it would take up too much visual space from the side {you would see its side when you first walk in the front door and it would over power the open feeling we're trying to achieve}. First place I looked? You betcha. Thrift stores. I found two half bookshelves for $20 a piece. They were wooden {not solid real wood, but wooden colored anyways} and not really what I was looking for. If they had been $10 a piece I would have purchased them and worked with them. They weren't. 

Enter Target. For the same price at target, I could get two white half bookshelves that I wouldn't have to paint/refinish/hate. Deal.

I proceeded to fill the shelves with things we had hiding in our kitchen cabinets. I tried to mix finishes and sizes on each shelf, but apparently I have a thing for shiny dishes. Obviously the walls still need a coat of white paint, and the styling is far from finished. But you get the idea. Baby steps.