Once upon a time....

there was a very lonely corner in a kitchen. It had a very ugly blank switch plate and giant old inoperable wall heater from the days before central heating and air that couldn't be removed and patched because of the tongue and groove wall paneling but its owners were just grateful they painted it white instead of the ugly poo brown it was before. Anyhoo this corner was lonely. I knew it needed plates. The more I thought about the plates, the more I knew that the plates needed a shelf to prop their pretty selves on. I'm pretty much like the mouse in "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...". Actually, I think the book is written about me.

Sad corner. Sad face :-( The corner is much improved by the artwork of Larissa Herbert. As I looked her up to link to her, I noticed she has new artwork of herbs that would just be perfect for my kitchen. Herbs people! Herbs!

Well one day I was perusing a the Goodwill and I happened upon a fantastically ugly shelf for $2.98! This shelf even had grooves in the top to hold plates! Be still my heart!

The fantastically ugly shelf in my fantastically ugly carport. Holla.

I immediately knew what I was going to do with that puppy; sand it, prime it and douse it with every home decorating bloggers dream: HEIRLOOM WHITE spray paint by Rustoleum. What they don't tell you is that stuff is incredibly hard to find. Lowe's discontinued it several months ago. It now appears that Home Depot is following suit. JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby sell it for $4.99 a can! I checked at three Home Depot's and finally found mini spray cans that they had on clearance for $1.99. Yeah, I bought six of them. Obsessive much?

The shelf, primed.

Giant trash bags make great drop cloths. When the paint dries, you can use them for their original purpose.

My shelf in my kitchen. I am seriously in love.

I even used Nester's Hide me some ugly thermostat trick. Goodbye ugly switch plate! Unfortunately the really ugly vent is still there, but my shelf draws your eye down so it isn't as noticeable.

Can I tell you that I have seriously become addicted to thrift store shopping? To those of you who have known me for a long time this will come as a serious shock!