We've always needed more storage space in the kitchen. We have around 4 cupboards which we use for our appliances, cups/glasses/plates/bowls, tinned food and cereals, and a cupboard designated for general items we have no where to keep such as vases, tins of paint, dusters etc.
We had a largish amount of blank wall that I knew I wanted to do something with, but other things in the flat always took precedence.
Thanks to Instagram and Pinterest, I noticed that a lot of people were making shelves out of old bits of wood or scaffolding boards. Purely by chance a while ago, my other half was given 2 scaffolding boards by someone who had no use for them.
Finally during some much needed annual leave, I pestered my Dad to help me with my project! I couldn't decide what brackets I wanted. I didn't want modern style brackets as that isn't really the "vibe" I go for. I was torn between antique-style cast iron brackets from Amazon, or some white distressed looking brackets from B&Q.
After some deliberation I decided to go with the white brackets as they would look a bit softer on my magnolia painted wall. I picked up these for under £10.00 each!
My Dad cut the scaffolding board to size, and we both decided that the board looked too "new" and needed roughing up a bit. My Dad used a combination of treating the wood with a mineral oil such as this one: Amazon Mineral Oil. After this had dried, he used bees wax to put on top. I believe this was a clear wax, but you can get different types such as Antique Pine and Dark Oak which will obviously alter the colour of the wood.
This was the wood in its natural state. It was too light for me, and I knew I wanted a combination of rustic, old looking wood and antique style brackets to really add some character.
I was a little surprised when my Dad suggested taking a blow torch to the wood next! I thought the whole thing would go up in flames, but apparently this is a technique used to distress the wood even further. It really did make the grain and knots in the wood stand out, and it also turned darker.
I think the heat from the blow torch split the wood slightly, but in my opinion it made it look even better and more weathered!
This was the finished result with the wood. You can't really tell from this picture, but it is considerably darker and so is the grain in the wood. Once it was fixed into place, I got to work decorating it with my ever growing Emma Bridgewater collection! I obviously had to add in some pretty little white lights too. I'm so pleased with the end result. At some point in the future, I may decide to use this shelf to store recipe books or jars or coffee and tea, but for the meantime, I'm happy just admiring my crockery!
Have you done anything similar in your home?
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