Rustic Wood Shelves in the Kitchen

We made some major progress in the kitchen over the past couple of weeks.  

First of all, the open shelves Doug build for the space beside the window were installed.  Originally I had planned to do white painted shelves to match the ones on the opposite side of the kitchen, but I kept seeing pictures of  rustic looking natural wood ones and just had to give it a try!  Turns out it was a pretty good option for the budget too since they were free-- instead of buying more materials to construct paintable shelves and then pay to have them sprayed Doug was able to use wood already sitting in the shop to build these two shelves.  I wanted a wood tone that contrasted with the dark floors so I opted to seal them with a clear coat and skipped the stain.  I love the tone of this wood-- they're maple-- in case you're a wood nerd-- like my hubby.  Bet you wouldn't be surprised to find out that Doug in a huge fan of the natural wood shelves...

Once the shelves were installed the tiling could continue.  Like the open shelves on the other side of the room, Doug took the subway tile right up to the ceiling.  It looks so great.

The shelves are so awesome for our everyday dishes and cups... I unload the contents of the dishwasher  below and put it all up on the shelves... so quick and easy to put everything away :)

After getting those shelves in and the tile work done I figured we'd be waiting a while before the grouting could happen, but Doug randomly had some time off during one afternoon this week and he was able to get it all grouted in a few hours with the help of his brother.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd decided to go for a light grey grout-- and the colour/brand we ended up selecting looks exactly like I wanted.  It's not too light, not too dark, not too beige-y, defines the tiles without drawing too much attention-- pretty much perfect.

I love my tile backsplash.

Got a few more things to finished up and then this kitchen will finally, be completely and totally done.  The end is near.  I can't wait.

And on rare days when I have a little bit of sunlight streaming through my kitchen window, I get pretty excited to enjoy this beautiful (and finished!!) kitchen this summer!!  A sunny and warm kitchen is one of my favourite things...