When I moved into my first apartment back in March, it was a solid 700 square feet. More than enough space for me and the pup. The only downside (besides a general lack of character – it was a cookie-cutter first apartment, to be sure) was the tiny kitchen with little to no storage space.
My mom was very disturbed by this.
While I tend to shrug my shoulders at things most people would find troubling, my mother was convinced that I needed more storage. And if I’ve never mentioned this, now’s the time to tell you: My mom has a lot of stuff. As the once owner/now executive director of a non-profit dinner theater, my mom has a warehouse of stuff. Some cool vintage stuff, lots of old junky stuff. People just give her stuff, assuming that any of their old junk will be useful in some play at some time.
So one day, while rummaging through her piles of junk, my mom sends me a picture text of what she says I can have to use as kitchen storage.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Yikes. That’s hideous. It’s actually upper kitchen cabinets turned upside down with a piece of countertop placed on top. It’s a testament to how desperate I was for storage that I agreed. So she loaded up her car and delivered them to me one day.
Of course, I had managed to dust off the cobwebs and apply a coat of primer when my apartment flooded. My new apartment ended up having even less storage than my old one. So finally, with a bit of elbow grease and a few bucks, I finally finished it.
And it turned my kitchen from this (painter not included):
To this:
I KNOW RIGHT?! Do you even recognize it?! This little corner of my kitchen has turned out to be perfectly useful. The open shelving was a minimal Home Depot purchase (less than $30 total). My mom returned to screw the counter onto the cabinet, so it’s stable and I can use it for chopping or whatever. The cabinet holds all my pots, pans and other baking needs since the two shelves in my kitchen were just big enough to act as pantry space.
All that was needed:
A quart of Behr paint : $11
New hinges from Home Depot: $7 for 3 sets
These adorable knobs from Anthropologie: $24 for 3
Total: $42
Yeah. You read that right.
rosemary on the tv 
LOVE it. Very nicely done.
this is lovely.
hey, what color are your walls? and do you like it? i’ve become obsessed with trying to find the right shade of warm light beige/grey, but am having trouble deciding on one … it can’t look sallow, or too yellow, or too this or too that … any suggestions?
Girl I wish I knew! Unfortunately, I am a mere renter and the walls were that greige color when I moved in (but I’m very happy with it). My last bedroom had a very yellowish tint that made me hate my life every day that I was in it.
If I ever find out from my landlord what color it is, I’ll let you know.