The Corner Shelving in This Kitchen Is Brilliantly Stylish & Simple
Adrianne, her fiancé Dylan, and their cat Scavenger were renting a two-bedroom in Champaign, IL, when they noticed that their complex was renovating the units just across the parking lot. When Adrianne, who is a photographer, saw them ripping out carpets and replacing them with wood flooring, she suddenly felt the urge to break their lease. Their landlord was cool with it and now the trio live in this three-bedroom home, complete with a room just for her photography (she’s a professional photographer!).
And if there’s one thing we noticed about their House Tour on our sister website, Apartment Therapy, it’s how cohesive the design of the space is — woven seamlessly throughout the bedrooms to the kitchen. Adrianna’s artistic touches are visible in every corner of their cozy home — especially one corner in particular. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
This custom-built corner shelving unit is our favorite thing in the entire kitchen. It acts as a mini pantry, plant shelf, and a place to keep pretty knick-knacks and statement pieces. It’s a brilliant use of otherwise unused space and makes the kitchen feel even bigger and more efficient.
This shelving unit is where Adrianne decants pantry staples and keeps things like cookbooks and coffee supplies — all the necessities.
According to Adrianne, their style is “earthy, cohesive, handmade, and thrifted,” and their kitchen is proof of that. Adrianne even admits that she keeps a photo of their home’s color palette saved to her phone, so if she’s out and about and sees something she likes, she can see if it will fit in their space. (Total side note: We love the visible magnetic custom knife rack that holds their white Cuisinart knife set.)
Interestingly enough, she explains that “the kitchen was something I wasn’t too excited for. These oak cabinets kind of killed my all ‘white + bright aesthetic.'” But a year later, she says that the wood is responsible for her new photography style. “This wood grain has honestly helped my interior style flourish so much more.”
Adrianna also drew inspiration from the Southwest, the desert, and the woods, which all play nice together in this vintage kitchen rug.
For Adrianne, renting an apartment with limited natural light could have been a deal-breaker, but she decided to just roll with it. (Remember, she’s a photographer!) “I will say that this apartment has zero natural sunlight compared to our last unit so I’ve really had to learn to work with it. I’m a sunshine addict!” One way to solve the problem was by keeping everything light and adding accent mirrors to reflect the light that they do have.
“After kind of embracing that low-light feel, we’ve made this apartment super cozy and a place I really don’t ever want to leave.”