Veronica Hughes: Open Shelving Holiday Touches

Last week, I shared my kitchen, dining area, and living room for the holiday housewalk. I wanted to give you a closer look at my open shelving on the right side of the kitchen, above the painted buffet, and how I added some holiday touches.

When we remodeled our kitchen in 2010, we took out the original cabinets that were there. They were really just a place where clutter gathered. We then had a hutch there, until we replaced it with my Gram’s buffet. That’s been the best move so far. It’s been great storage, and prep space for us.

Jennifer Rizzo's white holiday kitchen with vintage chandelier

We added the open shelving to that area a few years ago, after I painted the buffet. For a long time, we had a large mirror there. I loved the way it looked, but we really needed the shelves for some storage.

Open kitchen shelving holiday styling ideas

We keep our cookbooks, and baking supplies on the shelf, and some of our serving pieces.

Open shelf styling idea

In front of my large wood bowl, I put Santa, a reindeer, mercury glass ornament garland, and a fun sleigh,full of bottle brush trees, that I had on my mantel last year.

Shelf decorating idea

I keep our appetizer plates under a dome so they stay clean while were not using them. My kids put the dishes away. As you can tell, they either didn’t really care how they put them back, or were going for the Tower of Pisa look. If you ever come to dinner at my house, I am going to warn you now. They unload the dishwasher, so always double check your silverware, and glasses before eating.

Fresh greens in vintage bottles in a kitchen shelfie

I did add a few live sprigs of pine in vintage bottles. I love how the green of plants are a neutral color.

Open kitchen holiday shelving idea

Under the open shelving is where we keep our coffee command center. That’s my first go-to in the morning before I even crack an eye open. I love my family like crazy-cakes, but they really need to not speak to me until I have that first sip of magic in the morning.

I know many people are hesitant to remove cabinets for open shelving, but for is it was an awesome decision. It actually gave us more storage than having a ton of drawers and cabinets to shove things it. It actually made us use the space we had better,and I love being able to add some simple holiday touches.