By unused I mean absolutely nothing on it except the same paint color as the rest of your house? I generally do not... there is almost always something on the walls in my home... even if it's just wallpaper.
I do think that blank walls can be soothing and give the eye a place to rest but I guess it's just not me.
Maybe my eyes don't need to rest because I prefer to either decorate them (paint them an accent color, hang wallpaper, do an interesting wall treatment with molding or other textural elements, hang art on them, or have something useful like shelves).
I also think when you live in a smallish home, you should take advantage of every space you can to make your homework for you plus be beautiful and pleasing to your eye... not everyone else's eye, just yours.
Granted, I share my ideas and home decor decisions here with you but I make those decisions based on what I like and what's best for me and my home life. It's a bonus when you like my ideas too and an even bigger bonus if you are inspired to use my ideas in your home 😃
In our new-to-us fixer-upper house, we have a tiny kitchen and we need more storage space so I created a floor-to-ceiling plate rack in the dining room (right outside the kitchen) that will give us a little more storage space for platters, cutting boards... and well... to decorate!
DIY Plate Rack Wall
This is what the wall in our dining room looked like before.
Don't mind the mess in the kitchen, that project is still on the horizon.
It's a small wall as you can see and you have to pass between it and the dining table to go out to the backyard so we can't have any actual furniture or anything that sticks out too far.
I created a video sharing how I built this and it also shows the decorating process.
I may have mentioned it before, but black is having a moment at our house lately ❤
I built the plate rack for the portion of the wall on the left and I made it floor to ceiling.
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Supply List:
four 8 ft. 1" x 4" boards for the sides, top/bottom, & shelves (I used pre-primed MDF boards)
one 8 ft. 1" x 3" board (cut into 3 sections the same measurement as your shelves) for the back supports to attach it to the wall
24 ft. of screen molding for the plate support pieces that go across the front of each shelf (cut to the width of your shelves plus the width of each side piece)
Kreg Jig pocket hole system + screws (optional but so handy) I have THIS one
I used my chop saw to cut all the boards to the length and widths I needed but if you buy your supplies from Home Depot they will cut them to the measurements you need making this project even easier!
Then I used my Kreg Jig to create the pocket holes in the shelf pieces. You don't have to use this but it is so nice and creates a very professional-looking end result. But you could also attach small strips of wood to the insides of the long sides for shelf supports or use shelf support pins.
I built the whole thing out on the patio and then installed it on the wall.
I just found the studs in the wall and screwed through the little back support pieces that I added to the top, bottom, and middle of the plate rack right into the studs.
I hung it right above the floor molding so I didn't have to remove it, patch the wall, and paint.
Then came the fun part... my favorite part... decorating!! Everything I used is either thrifted or from shopping my own home.
The painting was $1 from a yardsale, the brass candlesticks are all thrifted and no more than $2.99 each.
I already had the faux trailing plant, I think it adds so much to the decor.
The serving platter is something I already had, originally from Big Lots the cutting boards and the old bottle are thrifted.
I had the pineapple cutting board, originally from TJ Maxx, the cookbook behind it, and the basket and spice bottles are thrifted.
The pig cutting board, brass deer, large deer platter, and ampersand are all thrifted.
This helps with our kitchen storage. When we moved, I went through my collection of cutting boards and I just couldn't part with these or the platters and we needed a place for them.
I also love the decor aspect of this, I think it adds to the vibe I'm going for in our dining room.
With this and the arch wall on the opposite side of the dining room, I think it's all coming together, what do you think?
Such a smart idea for that narrow wall! I love the contrast of the warm natural wood slats against the black. Nice cutting board collection and styling!
It looks awesome! I love that the strips across the sections are wood tone. they contrast so nicely with the dark background. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteSuch a smart idea for that narrow wall! I love the contrast of the warm natural wood slats against the black. Nice cutting board collection and styling!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWhat is paint color?
ReplyDeleteHello, it's Dark Secret by Behr :)
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