Open cabinets make for a much more open feeling. The trick is always keeping them organized in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
I used the Elmer's Glue technique to achieve the crackle finish. It took some practice.
I decided I had to add faux framing to the doors to breakup the huge palette of white, to accentuate the molding around the doors, too add texture as well as breakup the texture of the crackle. I used found wall slats for this. I had to wash, lightly sand, handcut and paint them. The door handle here is from Anthropologie.
Look for the swinging door in the before picture to the left of the orange post.
This is another angle on where the swinging door leading to the bedroom was. It didn't open fully because of the post. When it was open, which it almost always was, it took up so much space. I wanted to get rid of it all together but decided we needed the function so I came up with the solution of converting it into a sliding door. It is amazing how much of a difference it has made.
Even though I had previously refinished this door like the others in the apartment with the crackle finish, I decided it looked better if it blended in as wall space as opposed to standing out as a door so I painted over it again.
The whole project cost me around $40. I used the existing door which is hollow and very light. I bought a kit for closet doors and after a lot of rigging and recalibration got the door rolling smoothly on two rails. I had to reframe the door slightly on the left so it closes snuggly into the molding as well as mount the horizontal piece to hide the rail. On the floor I used a piece of the scrap from the kit to make a guide to keep the door from moving in the wrong direction.
I had to fill the hole from the existing door handle to fashion this knob.
This area across from the fridge leading to the bathrooms was for a long time one of the most problematic spaces to make the most of. We used to have a mismatch of shelves none of which made any sense.
Over time we collected these crates. I rebuilt the wall and mounted a single shelf just above the radiator on which all of this rests. For the most part, gravity is doing its thing here but some of the crates are anchored to the wall for additional support. This way the whole unit will be easy to disassemble someday. It was important that everything would be flush with the wall for maximum space and off the floor for easy cleaning.
This is a space for our recycles. The drum holds plastic and metal. It hangs from the wall to allow for space below as well as to the side for cardboard.
It is always hard to maximize the space above a fridge. Since ours is right next to the stove, I built this pot rack. One flange secures it to the wall while the two vertical legs rest on the surface of the fridge. I made it two sided so that on the open end we could easily acces anything that is stored on top of the fridge in the open space this rack creates. I was happy to find these S hooks that fit around the pipes perfectly but only when it in pieces. In other words, they don't fall off when we lift a pan off the hook.
I think a general rule for small spaces like ours is the more that can be put out in the open, in an organized and pleasing way the more use can be made of the stuff that needs to be stored away because it isn't used as much or doesn't look as good.
I found this old file cabinet a few blocks away from our apartment. It is heavy as hell. The drawers are deep and tall and hold a ton of stuff. It is banged up a bit but all the parts work. It is definitely one my favorite scavanges ever.
I made this simple light for above our prep area. It has a touch dimmer.
To the right of the espresso machine you'll notice a pipe below the outlet. I cut a hole there for the cords to run to a power strip in the cabinet below. This keeps the cords to minimum. Our phone chargers run from that power strip to the drawer just below this shot to save counter space and give us a safe place to charge.
This is below the crate wall. I had to replace the drywall here.
Just to give you an idea of the general shitiness of things before. I built out, remasked and filled in all of the nooks and crannies around all of the outlets and junction boxes. Previous occupants slapped paint everywhere as you can see on the right. All of the mouldings radiators were to some degree victim to this.
