Okay, this is less of a tutorial and more of a ‘show and tell’ but you’ll have to excuse my excitement. Because this is just too easy and tutorials are really completely unnecessary.

Looking for a new way to display your kitchen accessories? Find out how to glam up a Ikea grundtal rail with my super simple tutorial.

If you are familiar at all with my kitchen, you’ll know that I’m not adverse to ‘letting it all hang out’ – not that I am starkers when I cook (I mean, who wants hot oil splattered on their nether regions? ……… Oh wait, I suppose some people do) but no, no, it’s not that. It’s that I like SEEING STUFF. I know that there are many people out there who are what you might call ‘open storage adverse’ so if you are one of these people and you want to look away now, that’s completely fine with me. Everyone else, read on.

Now,Β as I said in my 2015 Goals post, I really want to go back to giving the kitchen the attention it deserves. The poor thing had a ‘good enough’ stamp stuck to it’s forehead about a year ago and it pretty much hasn’t changed much in all of this time.

One of the things I’d been itching to do for AGES was to change the finish of the Ikea Grundtal Rails (just Β£4 each guys) where my mugs and utensils hang. I think they are supposed to be installed on the wall but I decided to hang them directly underΒ the cupboards which gives them a slightly different look.

Gold Ikea Grundtal Rail

I’ve introduced a lot of brass and gold to the kitchen and while I don’t mind at ALL the look of mixed metals (I’ve certainly had it in here for a long time), I really do want to start considering bringing in more brass/gold and replace some of the chrome/stainless items.

All I did was take down the rails, spray painted them with two coats of Montana Gold Gold Chrome, left them to dry for 24 hours and hung them back up. For those who need more details, here you go.

Spraypainting Rails

I told you it was unnecessary.

But my god, I love them. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?

Gold Ikea Grundtal Rail

Ikea Grundtal Rails Before and After

Now, I know this is not exactly a meaty post (“Ughhh sure, you spray painted something gold, Kimberly, that’s great, can we get on to actual real DIYs now please?”) but it’s SO effective that I hope you’ll excuse the fact this isn’t exactly rocket science.

White kitchen with brass accents

There are two other areas that I’m hoping we’ll be addressing rather sooner than later as well – that stainless steel cooker hood (extractor fan for my US readers) and the stainless steel splashback have got to go. It looked fine when we had a stainless steel cooker but now, I look upon it like some kind of demented King: “You no longer please me! Away with you! Off to the dungeon!” So I don’t have a dungeon but I have a few ideas so that’s good enough.

The second thing I am desperateΒ to address is the lighting. I get a lot of love for those pendants but the stainless steel ‘Industrial’ look is as far away from my style as it really gets and I just feel like they no longer ‘speak’ to the rest of the space. I am trying desperately to find something affordable I love but it’s been a little bit of a battle. Trying to find brass lighting that isn’t either very traditional or very industrial is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE in this country. I have actually wailed about this on Twitter but it doesn’t seem to have miraculously birthed a lot of lighting options for me out of thin airΒ (not surprisingly).

kitchen with open storage

So I may be DIY-ing something in the future. I haven’t decided yet.

In the meantime, here’s a little before and after action because you know how I love me a good before and after.

Ikea Grundtal Rails Before and After

Ahhh so much better, no?

Ikea Grundtal Rails Gold

So what do you think of this simple swap of finishes? Any ridiculously easy DIYs that you’ve done recently that have made a big difference? Do tell…

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