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Lisa M. Frame

home design

Open Kitchen Shelves

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I think I am in the minority when I confess to you, dear reader, that I do not like open kitchen shelves. They are pleasing to the eye when I first gaze upon their aesthetically pleasing utilitarian free-range displays of colorful porcelain. I want those open shelves. I crave having them in my home. Thankfully, this is where my practicality kicks in. If I had open shelves in my kitchen they would become a magnet for greasy dust build-up and would look like they were shoved onto a shelf without a care in the world.

open white shelves with bottles and dishes
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Now that I am an empty nester we don’t use as many dishes as before. Not like we did when the kid was home and I had a house full of teenagers. Back then I was lucky if there was a clean dish left for dinner.

Don’t get me wrong, we considered open shelves when we built our house four years ago. That lasted a whole hot minute. My dreams of artfully styled gorgeous crockery meant two things: 1) I need to learn how to style and 2) I would need to procure gorgeous crockery. 

Of course, I can also picture my grandmother stopping in for a visit. Nearing 90, she has issues many women her age have — she forgets things on occasion and is moving slower. But, I can also guarantee the one glass she would grab off of my beautifully styled shelves would send her to the sink in search of a bottle of Dawn dishwashing liquid and a scrubber. Hazel knows a thing or two about household storage and this would be a calamity in her eyes.

The kid still comes home frequently and is, at best, a bull in a china shop most days. I think the chips in our cups and dishes have increased due to his shorter visits. He has been gone just long enough for all of the bad habits of college life to kick in while the established good habits leak out of his brain to make room for something… When I ask him what he learned, it’s the same answer he’s given me since kindergarten — “I don’t know.”

Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash

There is also the issue of clutter. The older I get, the less I like clutter. It exhausts me, so I take time every day to tackle spots that are clutter magnets and clear it out. (I’m cleaning out my closet soon – if you don’t hear from me in a month, send help.) The less clutter you have, the more organized you are and since I am not the naturally organized woman my family members are, I will do anything I can to stay on track of organization. This means hiding dishes behind a cabinet door as the stacks, no matter how neat they are, look like clutter.

There are a few instances where I would try open shelves. If I had odd-sized spaces where a cabinet wouldn’t work, or if I was a master of vignettes. I do have collectible dishes that I can display, but there are usually only one or two pieces out at a time. A friend told me I might like them better because I cook a lot and they make it easier to put my hands on the things I need, but I learned long ago to approach cooking with organization, so I gather everything ahead of time.

What are your thoughts on open kitchen shelves? Love or hate them?

Blank Wall Project — Part 2

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My husband and I sat down over the weekend to discuss our plans for decorating our house. What I have is essentially a blank canvas — all white walls that are 10 feet in height. After listening to some podcasts, and laughing ourselves silly over the suggested budgets, we realized that any collection, whether from an artist or box store, we’ll hang what we like. We’re the ones who have to live with what we have hanging on our walls and that is what is most important.

I’ve been combing the internet, hitting up thrift stores (there are amazing gems found in them!) and walking the aisles trying to figure out what I want to see. As I shared in my previous post on walls, we’re looking to add bold color, but we have to love it. I have a small collection of Haitian art and metalwork, so the colors will blend and harmonize.

I want to add this piece titled “End of Summer” to my kitchen. The end of summer signals the start of a change — school starts back, the days grow shorter, and we start preparing for winter. My end of summer always culminates with me gleaning the last of the tomatoes for canning n

End of Summer
Art Deco Los Angeles Print Green

My husband is from the Washington, DC, area and this would be a great addition so we can pay homage to his hometown.
Map of Washington, DC

Of course, this beautiful photo print would have to go in my bedroom.
Goodnight Moon

There’s certainly a lot to think about in this process. Designing a home that represents our tastes (which can be wildly different) is proving to be a big challenge. My husband is going to read this post and say “Lisa, you’re overthinking it.” I’d rather overthink it than it be something we both can’t live with together.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

The Home Design Process

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As previously written about, we’re building a house. It’s affordable and not far from where we live now, with the added bonus of being in the center of two great high schools for the kid. Yesterday, I went to the design center for our builder to select how I wanted things as part of the home design process.

My brain is still fried.

In three hours, I pored over more hardwood floors, tile, cabinets, crown moulding, and accoutrements than I thought humanly possible. I had a good idea of what I wanted already, but when you’re totally immersed and focused, you have to keep your brain from acting like Ricochet Rabbit and bouncing all over the place.

Imagine your brain yelling things like “Shaker,” “Beadboard,” “Java Stain,” “Hardwoods, “Cohesiveness,” “Light Fixtures,” “Brushed Satin Nickel,” “More Windows,” and “Wet Bar” over and over and over.

Thank goodness my best friend went with me. While I would have loved for my husband to be there, he started a new job this week and that wasn’t in the cards. I took my camera and took photos of all of my selections to show him last night and thankfully, he thought I was spot on.

Everything will flow from room to room. I chose not to make every room different with colors in cabinetry, sink tops, etc., even though it’s very “in” right now.  That’s just too much for me. I like order and continuity.

What will it look like? Well, clean and airy. At least that’s what I’m going for. A blend of contemporary meets mid-century modern meets industrial. Don’t even try and guess. It will confuse you. I will say though, my mother has seen some of my ideas/selections and loves it — and her tastes in decor, while not mine, is immaculate. Check one for pleasing the every-picky Southern Mama.

So, if you see me and you’ve built a house before, offer me a pat on the back, maybe a kind “there, there.” If I burst into tears due to your kindness, you’ve done nothing wrong. Subway tile backsplashes make a gal emotional.