Bar shelving

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we went to a salvage shop and bought some gorgeous oak planks to make shelving for above the bar in our dining room.  After a lot of preparing and then deliberating, we decided not to use the oak planks.  At the end of the day, they just really competed too much with the bar.  

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned the bar or the epic deal we got on it from a thrift store a few years ago.  It's this amazing vintage piece that was priced for $190 at a nearby Salvation Army.  It was well worth the price tag, absolutely gorgeous with inlaid wood. It did have some damage to the back but nothing that affected the integrity of the piece.  I wanted it so badly when we spotted it but at the time we couldn't justify the price.  A couple of weeks later it showed up at our local Salvation Army with no price tag.  I asked the cashier how much they wanted for it, he looked over it and said, $15.  Are you kidding?!?  I could hardly contain my surprise and excitement and bought it on the spot.  

Here's a quick (unstyled & maybe slightly out of focus) shot of the bar and the shelving we chose to go with.  You can also see the finished walls with the gorgeous Hale Navy color (so happy with our color choice).  Unfortunately, you can also spot the anchors from the previous placement of one of the shelves, oops!  That's what happens when you are chasing a baby around and trying to instruct your husband on where you think the proper height of said shelf should be.  Our painter will be coming back to patch that little mistake soon.  

We went with a simple stainless steel shelf from Ikea.  The bar is such an amazing piece and we didn't want anything competing with it.  I'm still in love with the idea of reclaimed wooden shelving so we are going to head back to the salvage shop to find something bigger to hang on the other side of the dining room above our white credenza.  We tested it with the planks we got and it looked amazing, a really nice offset to the modern look of the credenza.  It instantly warmed the space up and looked so good on the dark navy walls.  I think the stainless shelves are a great stand in for now.  In my vintage and thrift shopping I'm hoping to come across a great vintage medical cabinet that we could hang to store glassware, etc.  For now, these do the trick and look great, thanks Ikea for always coming through!  

Photo: The Design Boards