(Almost) Free Kitchen Update: Phase 3 - Old Window Pantry Shelf

I'm so excited to tell you about the next phase of my (almost) free kitchen update. If you haven't read about what's happened so far in my crazy adventure, you can catch up here:

• Introduction
• Phase 1: Buh-bye cabinets, hello window
• Phase 2: Backsplash and walls

With the walls spruced up with a fresh coat of paint, I'm ready to reintroduce some storage to the room. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've opted for open shelving to make the kitchen feel bigger and brighter. The first space I tackled was the narrow wall beside our front door where there used to be a pantry cabinet, as you see in the photo here. The cabinet stored spices and dry goods for the most part, and I wanted the new shelf to serve the same purpose. I'm delighted to say that all the materials for the new shelf for this space were salvaged from the trash. Hooray! 

This beautiful old window is the foundation for my new shelf. I found it, along with two others, at the end of someone's driveway on a bulk garbage day in Burlington. All the windows are in beautiful shape: perfect glass, hardware intact, and just enough wear on the frames to make them most charming. And even more exciting, they match the vintage of our 1940's house. All the windows are different sizes, and this one is the perfect width and height to fit the narrow wall space where my old pantry cabinet used to be. Anchored to the wall, it's a sturdy and unique support for shelving. I removed the hinges and latch, and after a good scrub with hot water, vinegar, and soap, it was good to go.

The shelves were another fortuitous bulk garbage day find. And what a find! Look at the beautiful detail embossed into the wood! Oh man. When I found these, I knew they had to be in my kitchen somehow, and the new pantry shelf would be the perfect venue.

You can probably tell from the above photos that the window and the shelves were different shades of white. The white of the shelves was a pretty close match to the white I already used to paint the backsplash, so they didn't need much work. But the window clashed a little. I didn't want to paint it because I wanted to maintain its beautiful heritage and character. So, I improvised by rubbing some white paint (the same paint I used on the backsplash) over it, just to tone down the window's off-white tone. I did this pretty roughly to keep things rustic.

The next step in the process was to prepare the shelves. 

I had to shave down the depth and width a little. Thankfully, Dan recently taught me how to use the table saw, and though it still intimidates the daylights out of me, I am getting more proficient with the machine. I ran the shelves through the table saw to narrow the depths, and then used our compound mitre saw to cut down the widths. Through the sawing process, I discovered that the shelves are made from cedar, which is the perfect wood for a pantry shelf because it wards off moths. Ha! And it sure smells nice.

With some 100-grit sandpaper, I smoothed out the rough edges left from sawing. I also sanded the embossed details on the front edges of the shelves to bring out the beautiful pattern. Now, I was ready to assemble!

macho table saw

100-grit sand paper

I weighed a few options for shelf brackets. I had a few kicking around in the basement, but most of them were too big. I had some white metal brackets that were the right size, but they totally detracted from the character I was hoping for. So I took to Google and Pinterest to see about making my own brackets. After looking at a few ideas, I came up with a simple design to make brackets using the off-cuts from my shelves. They're pretty basic brackets: two pieces of wood forming an L-shape, reinforced by another piece cut at 45 degree angles (courtesy of the compound mitre saw, bless!).  

If you don't really care about how I constructed the brackets, skip this part. I won't be upset.

I cut six each of 6" lengths, 3" lengths, and mitred reinforcements (I think they were 1.8" wide at the narrow edge). Using the same expert painting technique I used on the window, I roughly rubbed some white paint over all the pieces to match them to the window and shelves. I glued the straight pieces together into an L-shape, and later reinforced the joints with wood screws. I marked and pre-drilled all the holes where more screws would go to assemble the brackets and attach them to the window. Pre-drilling prevents the wood from cracking when the screws go in. Part of my pre-drilling process was to use a countersink bit, which creates an inverted conical depression in the wood so the screws sit flush with the wood. 

A countersink drill bit creates the fancy holes you see in the predrilled bracket components.

I screwed each L-shape to the window and made sure each was level before attaching the mitred reinforcements. I won't go into all the details because this isn't a tutorial (and I'm certainly not qualified to give a tutorial on this), but hopefully you get the general idea. Anyway, here's how things looked with the brackets fastened to the window before I attached the shelves.

I wanted the shelves to line up with the "muntins" (the pieces of wood between the panes). I measured the height of each shelf, marked the height from the top of each muntin, and mounted the bracket below. Can you see my expertly-measured lines?

With brackets firmly affixed, I attached the shelves to the brackets with wood screws. Once again, I pre-drilled and used a countersink bit. 

Once the shelf was assembled, I had to get it up on the wall. As you can imagine, this shelf is pretty sturdy and heavy, so it had to be anchored to a stud. And let me tell you, finding studs behind plaster walls is very challenging. We tried a couple stud finders (which Dan is always quick to remind me, never fail in finding him), but got nothing conclusive. So in the end we took an educated guess that a stud would be sitting 16" away from the side of the door. And thank goodness, we were right. The shelf is now solidly in place, and I'm ecstatic.

I'm so happy with how it turned out. I love how the reflective surface of the window panes add brightness to the kitchen. I love how the embossed details on the shelf edges complement the ruggedness of the window. And I'm quite fond of my quirky makeshift brackets. Dan and I have both been pleasantly surprised with how much the shelf holds. Almost all the contents of my old pantry cabinet fit on the shelf.

This is going to sound ridiculous - and it probably is: when I come downstairs in the morning, and turn into the kitchen, the shelf is the first thing I see, and I literally feel my heart lift. It is so much lighter, brighter, and more colourful than what was there before. 

And of course, it's so much more unique and interesting.

I spent absolutely nothing on this project, except my time of course. Even the wood screws were left over from other projects. So here's where my spending on the kitchen (almost) free transformation stands at this point:

The Almost Part (including taxes)
  $ 100.64 spent to date
+       0.00 (old window pantry shelf)
  $ 100.64


Next, I need to trim up the lovely window that I uncovered by removing cabinets. This will be another adventure because I know nothing about trimming windows, and the window is arched. For my mathematically challenged self, this should be interesting to say the least.

And now for one more fancy Pinteresting process collage of my old window pantry shelf . . .