Open-face cabinets...

...Are a pain in my tuckus. I have been absolutely obsessed with the kitchen in our house since the first time we ever walked through it. It has the original cabinets... The big ones on either side of the sink as well as the cabinets above the island all have glass inserts. When we first moved in, other than tossing a few plates and putting the extra pots I wasn't quite sure what to do with yet in them, my open face cabinets had no decoration. See below: 

You can even kind of see our original dining room set, in the background of the first picture, too! (And the hideous pendant lights from the previous owners, lol.) We also have a cabinet next to our stove that holds all of our spices with an open face as well. Once I got to the point on my household "to-do" list that I was past the big things and could focus on the details, I had to try to figure out what the heck to fill these cabinets with. The cabinets to the right of the sink already had one shelf full of an antique depression glass set (two sizes of informal glasses as well as two sizes of formal stemware) that we were gifted by a family friend. You can kind of see them in the second picture... As well as little baby Sadie!!

The problem is that it took forever to figure out what to do with the rest of the cabinets! I think that part of it is the fact that they don't need to serve a purpose. We have more than enough cabinet space for pots, pans, canned stuff, etc. and so the shelves that can be seen through the glass are purely for the sake of looking pretty! I went through all kinds of decor and couldn't find anything I liked enough to "stick." I've had plate sets, and a collection of vases, and a mix of both and everything has just been a big ol' thumbs DOWN.

So, I did what any 21st century 20-something would do. I searched our BFF, Google, and came up with two gems:

Even though these are shelves and obviously NOT cabinets, they're open to the room and so I figured it was close enough. :) I love the mix of artwork with all of the dishes. I also love the pop of teal, since I've planned to incorporate pops of color in my cabinets.

I am 100% smitten with these cupboards. The mix of glass with porcelain and then throwing in some sterling silver pitchers? I'm like, gaga over this. I love the big vase of fruit on the counter, and I think I might start keeping my fruit this way too!

Over the last few weeks, I've been slowly acquiring little knick knacks to help fill my cupboards. Cake plates, platters, creamers, tea pots... All in cream ceramic. The pop of color I'm using? Red. I've gotten a few red vases, a few ceramic chubby bird statues in red, chargers... I bought a few things in a butter-nut squash color, too, to bring the color of the walls in to the cabinets. I think my favorite find, though, was a set of four small pictures. All of them are in distressed black frames, they're all vintage scientific prints -- two of red corals and two of anemones. I'm so excited to mix them in it's not even funny, lol. Right now everything is up haphazardly  on the shelves until I can plan out how I want them in there. Y'all know me and my lists... This might take a while, haha.