How To Build & Style Open Shelves In Your Kitchen – Fun Summer Orange Themed Kitchen

Hello sweet friends! I thought it would be fun to share something I’ve been up to- I’ve been hinting on social media that I wanted floating shelves, but I just kept on holding back from pulling the trigger. Today I’m going to share some tips on how we built and styled our open shelves in the kitchen, and how I styled them in a fun summery orange theme. My kitchen is smelling super sweet & amazing today. It seriously smells like an orangesicle. Not even kidding. I am in heaven. Haha!

It’s been a while since we finished up the renovation in this space, so I wanted to do something to change up our kitchen a bit. Since I’ve always been drawn to floating shelves, I decided to just go for it & add some to our kitchen.

Disclaimer: This post was a partnership with Crates & Pallet, Farmhouse Canvas Co, and Antique Candle Co. They sent me products to use in this space, and there are affiliate links in this post. But all opinions are my own, and I only share things I love & think you will too.

I tend to gravitate towards minimalism. Mostly because I want to only own things that are beautiful & serve a purpose. So I’m not going to lie, I’ve been holding back on floating shelves because I truly loved this space left blank. I think blank space is important in decor. There is a balance between having nothing and too much on your walls. But I decided to take the plunge and at least try out shelves here. I mean, I am OBSESSED with the ones in my walk in pantry and laundry room.

When I got the brackets from Crates & Pallet I couldn’t wait to put them up. Fun fact about their brackets: they are made of forged steel and can hold the weight of a grown man standing on them- sold!

We used the 8″ ones. Silas screwed the brackets into the studs, and I painted the 2″ shelves white. I barely let the paint dry before I already had stuff up on them. Haha!

I knew right away that I wanted to do an orange themed shelf. I’ve been obsessed with the Orange Grove candle from Antique Candle Co ever since the first time I smelled it. I am 1000% not kidding when I say if I could only have one candle scent for the rest of my life, I would choose this one in a heart beat. It’s a fun, creamy smelling candle. Fresh like orange sorbet.

In fact, I just gave an Orange Grove candle to a friend, and it broke my selfish heart. Haha! I want to keep them all to myself.

Oranges are also all my kids seem to eat these days, so we have an over abundance of them laying around all the time. Free decor. Haha!

I grabbed some of my vintage blue and clear bottles to put on the top shelf. I have some of our every day dishes & items on the bottom shelf, but I wanted to use some light and airy items on the top shelves.

Several weeks back, I got my hands on this orange tree botanical canvas from Lindsay Letter’s new line of artwork: Farmhouse Canvas Co. It’s seriously perfect!

I turned it on it’s side to fit it on the bottom shelf.

Together all these elements have made my fall in love with floating shelves (and eat a lot more oranges!)

I love how the open shelving gives me a little more storage (and a nice, playful pop of color!)

I am burning this candle on repeat ya’ll. I think I’m going to buy myself a stash of this Orange Grove.

A couple tips for styling shelves:

-Use strong brackets for your shelves, and make sure they are screwed (with long screws!) into the studs to hold up all the weight. Nothing’s worse than a bracket that doesn’t hold up.

-I always reccomend trying to keep your shelves stained wood. But if you don’t like how it’s flowing with the space, consider painting the shelves to match your wall color.

-Layer translucent items like jars & candles in front of each other. They fill up space without cluttering it.

-Try and stick to 2-3 colors for a nice flow.

-Invest in pretty every day items so you can incorporate them in the decor without feeling like everything feels cluttered.

-I love scenic and botanical artwork in kitchens. But instead of resting art on the shelf, hang it for extra visual interest.

This space has come so far. Can you believe it looked like THIS a few months ago?!

One of my favorite things I moved from my pantry to the kitchen is my Rifle Paper Co Recipe Box. I use it on a daily basis, so it’s only natural that it should be here on my kitchen shelf.

I still don’t consider this space complete yet. But that’s okay. We are slowly adding elements we love to this fixer upper home of ours, and I think that’s the best way to do it.