Awkward Kitchen Space Gets New Life

(Warning: I went a little overboard on the pictures)

I don't post much about my kitchen because, well, it's ugly. And awkward. When you walk in the kitchen door from the driveway, this weird space meets you to the left.

 It's currently home to cookbooks, McCarty serving pieces, cat/dog food, towels for muddy feet, tennis shoes, etc... There was a weird desk that attached to the wall and wrapped around to the right, but we knocked that out and put beadboard over the tile when we moved in. It also sports some really old art and a home-made shelf painted to match the cabinets.

 Oh, and a boob light. Those are so stylish...am I right?

So I cleared everything out. No pics of this...believe me, if my kitchen had been on Restauarant Impossible (you NEED to watch this show), we would have been shut down immediately. Some gross stuff going on behind that shelf.
I also took this opportunity to re-organize that cabinet to the right. It was holding all of my seasonal serving things.

 I decided to move all of that to my new painted console, and it turned out to be the perfect place!!

 Everything has a place and is out of the way. And I still have a few open drawers to spare, which means I can buy more stuff, right!?
Now all of the dog/cat things that I want hidden can have a nice home in the cabinet. Can you tell I have a dog with some major allergy issues (hence the "special" shampoos, "special" food, entire basket of meds, etc...).

I then carried dragged (and possibly pulled a muscle) the really heavy shelf outside and spray painted.

I used this color that you might remember from my mailbox...I'm all about using what you have!

I wanted to add some sophistication to it, so I decided on this wallpaper that I picked up at Goodwill several months ago.

I just cut the paper to size and sprayed the back with adhesive. It was super easy. Then I brought it back in and put my cookbooks and accessories back up. You might have noticed that my pottery is gone, but it has a new home. Look for a post on that soon! I also sprayed the cat/dog food containers with copper paint to coordinate with my thrift store cannisters.

MUCH better already (ignore the gross wood-laminate floor), but next up was art...

 You may remember those posters from my "Thrifted Thursday" post on them... I think they are great here! Here's a closer look of the shelves.

 Some fun antique bottles and this cute quatrefoil tray to hold keys or a phone.

 All of my cookbooks (there aren't many) and some antique bird plates from a garage sale a few years ago.

 My Pottery Barn mini chalk board.

 Some of my glass collections.

Here's the view from standing in the kitchen. I would say MUCH better. The boob light is still there though...baby steps people.
PS, every time I look at those stripes I can't help but think about one of my favorite rockers, Nikki Sixx:

Source

Anyone else? No? Just me? Ok...carry on...

I'll see you tomorrow for "Thrifted Thursday"!!