Today is confession day. Yep. That’s almost what every Ugly Truths post ends up being. Are you new here? If so, I’ll link up a few more posts in the Ugly Truth category below. We all make mistakes. We all cut corners. We are all human and this is my way of showing you all that. You love me for it, right?! Ha, hope so! So, here we go… The Ugly Truths :: How I Cut Corners with the Kitchen Shelving.
So, you all know we installed the shelving ourselves. See our tutorial for the Heavy-Duty Floating Kitchen Shelves if you missed it the first time. Or, check out our kitchen reveal which includes all the DIY projects for the kitchen as well as sources!
What you may not know was that I was in charge of staining and finishing them. Well…
I might have cut a corner and decided not to put poly on the shelves. My thought process was that they weren’t going to get messy. Well, that’s kinda right and kinda wrong. You see, weirdly enough, they don’t accumulate lots of dust. I know, strange! BUT, as much as I’m aware of what I’m putting on them, this happened:
Do you see the coffee cup rings? There are two of them side by side.
Well, to be frank, I was annoyed with myself but not heartbroken about it. BUT, I am smart enough to realize that I’m lucky that nothing terribly bad happened to the shelves.
So, after reaching out to Brit over at House Updated (she’s my go-to for asking questions or chatting design) she encouraged me to go with matte poly.
So, that’s what I did.
I wiped the shelves down with a microfiber cloth to start with.
Then, I prepped my supplies.
I put a super light coat on all sides.
After following the dry time, I gently sanded. I wiped the shelves down again and put another coat on.
What about the coffee cup rings? Well, I left them. They really don’t bother me. If you had staining on your shelves and you wanted to get the staining out then you would have needed to sand them before you applied poly. Here’s a great tutorial on sealing butcher block that would help you do this process for your shelves!
So, I encourage you to not be like me and to do things right the first time.
Want to see more Ugly Truths… You know you do!
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Brit | House Updated says
March 17, 2017 at 2:50 pmSo glad you finished up your shelves and they look great! I like your styling skills. 🙂 And thanks for the shout-out – I’m so glad we have each other to talk about all this stuff!
Ashley Mayes says
March 21, 2017 at 2:07 pmThanks Girl! Of course!!
Tracey (From KY) says
March 19, 2017 at 11:10 pmShelves look so good! Love them!
BTW, saw your story in IG about the living room situation.:) You should paint the return vent cover the same color as your wall. That way it won’t stand out quite as much. I did that to all of mine and it looks so much better, but of course still not as good as if they weren’t there at all.
You don’t need to take the covers down off the wall either. Just get a hand brush and give it a couple of coats.
Ashley Mayes says
March 21, 2017 at 2:07 pmThanks Tracey! I LOVE the idea to paint the vent cover the same color as the wall!! Totally doing that soon!
Jessica says
March 21, 2017 at 7:51 pmYou do such an incredible job that I can never tell. I know how you feel though. I cut cost by painting my living room floor and I regretted it since. We plan to lay flooring and already have the wood cut, but now that has to go elsewhere (in another room) and I do not have the moola to fork over more wood for the living room. I only show the pretty, but trust me if you saw the ugly, you would be like whoa!
Ashley Mayes says
April 2, 2017 at 2:46 pmThanks Jessica! I hate that you regret painting it! I bet that was a chore to paint it in itself! We have major ugly too, so you aren’t alone!
Julia@Cuckoo4Design says
March 27, 2017 at 7:55 amI use the same poly cycle for projects and love it. And love your kitchen 😉
Ashley Mayes says
April 2, 2017 at 2:46 pmIt’s so simple to do… just wish I would have done it right the first time.
Toni | Small Home Soul says
March 29, 2017 at 10:15 amIt’s such a drag when stuff like that happens in our new kitchen. I’m glad it’s something you can change now and protect them from future damage. I didn’t realize water hand dripped off the counter and onto the top of one of my cabinet doors. It swelled the seam a little, what a burn. Thankfully it’s not visible when the door is closed.
Ashley Mayes says
April 2, 2017 at 2:47 pmExactly! We drip water off the sink all the time! I hope ours doesn’t swell but then again… we just need to tell ourselves that we are living in our homes and things like that just happen.
Steve C says
August 9, 2017 at 10:37 pmWhat color and brand paint is on the cabinet?
Ashley Mayes says
August 10, 2017 at 7:08 amIt’s Cracked Pepper by Behr color-matched so I could use Benjamin Moore Advance.
Abby says
May 8, 2018 at 9:18 amLove your shelves; do you mind sharing the ceiling height and how many inches above the counter your first shelf is?
Ashley Mayes says
May 15, 2018 at 7:20 pm8ft ceilings and 18 inches from the bottom of the bottom shelf to the countertop.
Sara says
July 14, 2018 at 11:06 pmHello! Your work is beautiful! Do you mind sharing what type of wood you used for the shelving??
Ashley Mayes says
July 19, 2018 at 2:51 pmThanks Sara! We used Ash.
Cassandra says
June 21, 2018 at 9:59 amLove the shelves thanks for posting this it’s so helpful! Was wondering where the flush mount light is from? I love it and have been looking for one for my kitchen!
Ashley Mayes says
June 25, 2018 at 3:11 pmThanks!! Here it is (affiliate link): https://rstyle.me/n/c584rxb5yhf
sheri l cabral says
December 28, 2018 at 11:01 pmwhere did you get the shelves or if you made them please share how and what wood, etc…
Ashley Mayes says
December 29, 2018 at 2:02 pmHi Sheri,
I made a floating shelves guide! Here’s the link: https://biggerthanthethreeofus.com/project-gallery/diy-open-shelving-kitchen-guide/
You’ll find that it answers all your questions + some that you probably didn’t think of!
Thanks!