...Living in the back end of yonder: Kitchen Shelves Part 1

I had to divide this into two parts because it turned out way too long. All of this should have been blogged about over the last couple of months but for some reason I wasn't blogging. I guess I took a break.

I was so excited to finally get the kitchen shelves up (last May or June!) so I could put all the stuff I had been saving on them.

I messed around with them for days....

And I couldn't get them to look 'right'. I had too many old things and not enough color. It all felt too blah and lifeless. Out of frustration I decided to just ignore them while I thought about it. And everything just gathered dust in this woebegone unloved state for weeks.

All I knew for sure was that I still wanted to use this dog print I had. (A sweet friend helped me with this! Thanks, Gloria!) This dog reminds me of our beloved old Boomer. He was a treasured part of our family for many years. Such a beautiful and wonderful dog he was!

One day I put the print in that black frame on the bottom right shelf and it didn't look good at all....

So I painted the frame green. It still didn't look right- it needed something more besides solid green and I had a few ideas but couldn't settle on one.

So.

Here is how it sat among the rest of the unloved shelf decor.
I knew the shelves needed some modern things mixed in with the old but WHAT?

I really, really didn't want to have to buy anything new. I already have been trying to get rid of as much stuff as I can from our house and I didn't NEED anything. I was sure I could make it all work if I just thought about it for long enough.

Then a couple of weeks ago, they were bugging me again. I looked through my kitchen inspiration photos and found these two from

The Handmade Home

(Although, I can't find the exact post I got them from. So frustrating!)

All I had to see was the striped frame and the little vases of flowers.

AND I WAS OFF AND RUNNING.

I took everything off my shelves that I didn't absolutely LOVE.

I painted stripes on the frame.
(For some reason, the stripes photograph almost neon- they are much more subdued in real life)

I found a blue coffee mug I liked at Walmart and dug out an old ceramic bird I had. I loved the bird's shape but that depressing color....not so much.