About a year or so ago, my husband and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house and put up a folding table in the kitchen to add for space for the food. Days after the holiday, the table proved to be so useful in holding things we needed that we decided to leave it up longer.
Longer ended up extending to weeks, then months. And I began to hate it!
Cause a folding table with a tablecloth thrown over it and nothing else on the wall or in the area just looked crappy.
I hate the table and I began to hate the whole wall. It just looked sad and junky and just needed to be better. So I began searching for pantries and other food storage options. I found some I liked but hubby and I could not agree.
Then I saw a Buzzfeed article on how to use Ikea furniture for different purposes and liked the idea of using a bookcase for kitchen storage. Hubs was on board but went a step further and suggested hanging all our pots and pans on rods on the walls an getting metal shelving. I also wanted to add a calendar and corkboard for to hang things we need like date sensitive mail, cards, coupons, etc.
So we set off to IKEA and we're both pleased with the results. We picked up the KALLAX bookshelf (which replaced the beloved EXPEDIT) and the GRUNDTAL rails and wall shelves with accessories.
For the corkboard, I actually found these great 12 x 12 corkboards at Michael's that you can mix and match with chalkboard and a magnetic calendar.
I chose 2 patterns from Joann fabrics and covered the cork and added the family initial and little flower. Michael's even had cute decorative pushpins.
And voila! Gone was the rundown looking folding table and bare wall. In its place, lots more storage, not to mention all the extra cabinet space from moving the pots and pans.
Hubby feels like a professional chef with all his cooking toys out on display and I get to have a nicer, less craptastic-looking kitchen!
Double win!!
