Kitschy Kitchen

A wind chime in the kitchen

The kitchen in my previous house was rather tiny and if someone happened to be standing in the passage between the counters, the other person would literally have to walk sideways to get through. So when I moved to this house, I was rather relieved that at least now people would stop rubbing against each other in my kitchen! Don't get me wrong, it's by no means massive but it's double the size of the previous one, nevertheless.
The weird part is that even though the kitchen was larger, the storage space had gotten smaller. The built-in cabinets did not even have a bottom shelf, one could see right through to the floor! I wonder how the previous occupants were managing...or did they just walk off with all the bottom shelves?? You never know.

The good part is that I was forced to give away tons of random things that I had been stowing away in overhead cabinets without having used them even once in the last ten years! So feeling lighter and brighter, I set about the task of giving the poor cabinets a bottom shelf and creating some extra storage. However there were quite  a few constraints when it came to building new storage:

1. It had to be wall mounted, there was not an inch of floor space left

2. The only wall space available was over the sink, but it had a window right next to it

3. Making a cabinet would mean closing in the space and cutting off the natural light 

4. It had to accommodate my numerous mugs and jars

Thus was born the idea of the floating shelves. They were perfect as they met all of the above criteria. I even built some into the window without compromising on the light, in fact the glass objects placed on the window shelves looked even prettier with the light passing through. And I am still able to open and shut the window with ease...

I like my mugs to hang from hooks coz they add so much colour to the space, it'd be such a pity to hide them in cupboards. Besides it's not even practical...each one is a different size and shape, making it impossible to stack and would only eat up precious shelf space. 

Isn't it wonderful when practicality meets aesthetic?

Another corner that I love in my kitchen is the crockery shelf. This nook was probably meant for a refrigerator or a washing machine but it was not large enough for my fridge, so I decided to put my wooden shelf in there...

Here's a closer look...

Another part of the kitchen is covered with a wall-mounted Ikea unit that serves well to hold all the daily knick-knacks...

On the whole it's quite a compact space and everything seems to have found a place for itself. 

For anything new that comes in now, something else will have to go out. Maybe that's best for someone like me, it keeps my life clutter-free!

Hope you guys enjoyed this coz I had a great time putting it together for you!