Iron in the kitchen

So this is my latest project.  The problem?  Well there were several. First I had a white cabinet hanging from the ceiling. It  was originally over the island, but I moved the island to make more space and the cabinet was just dangling strangely.  It needed to go, but I liked the storage space for my vases and bottles.

Then the microwave which was mounted under the cabinet, was old and not working so well.  Also the spices on the counters were always messy.  And my family uses lots of spices in big jars (not little bottles like most people)!

The solution?  

 This beautiful wood and iron shelf!

I picked up the iron pieces at a local hobby store.  They were white, so I painted them metallic black.  They were just the perfect size.  I cut slits in 2x2s with a table saw and made frames for the tops and bottoms. 

Then I screwed 2x4s to the ceiling, and screwed these frames to the 2x4s after attaching the shelf on the bottom.  I painted trim in the same metallic black paint and glued it to the pieces, covering the screw holes.

Then I added more trim to the bottom to cover those screws.  I used a little black caulking to make sure it covered the screws completely.  

And I put all my vases as well as my coffee/tea/sugar containers.  It looks great!

When I finished the ceiling mounted shelf, I added similar wood shelves to the wall next to the stove using matching iron brackets.  These shelves hold my new tiny microwave and all my jars of spices.

The only tricky part about this project was cutting the wood at the right angle.  I'm terrible at geometry (hoping my kids see me struggle and study more), so I made a pattern out of poster board and used that to mark and cut the wood.  

I love the look of wrought iron and stained wood. Together, both shelving projects look great and blend in well with the rest of the house.