Another Something Clever with Old Windows

While we were waiting for our counters (They came home today - update on those later this week!), we tackled another fun project for the kitchen. 

Ever since we moved to the small house, I have had a stack of cool, old, wood windows just waiting to be re-purposed into something clever. We finally had the opportunity to do something about that.

I tried to find another photo of these windows, but this is it:

See way back in this photo of the big house great room? In the opening over the fireplace? The windows?

Yep. Those windows. We had a plan for those little beauties.

See way back on that blank wall? Right behind the awesome new light? The gray space?

Yep. That wall. The wall and the windows are going to be great friends very soon.

Hero got those windows all set up to be functional. No, not as windows, as in letting in light and fresh air, but  to be an awesome display place for serving platters.

What?

For whatever reason (okay, I tend to collect things. This may or may not be one of them.), I have 12 platters. A few are so big and do not fit anywhere, but I love them. I received a few as gifts, a few I found along the way and several are family hand-me-downs. 

My plan is to get eight up on the wall. Something fun to look at, easy to get to and easy to use.

Hero is in on the plan, as usual.

See these nifty frames built up all around? Scraps from the garage that has most everything. 

(This is just another one of the 748,398,534,801 reasons that I love Hero. He almost always has what we need hiding out in the garage for projects. If he doesn't have it, he was wanting to get it.)

The windows needed to be built up for a little more support for the platters. It just took some thin boards, a few little nails and lots of glue.

And clamps, to hold it all together while the glue dried.

I painted the whole thing the same color as the trim in the house (I have lots of it), and then rubbed just a little bit of glaze over them to make them not too matchy and help them to look like they have been loved for a good long time.

Got one up. I am such a pro with the measuring tape now after my drafting class last semester.

We put them up high for a few reasons - One, so no one totally walks into them, and two, we may do something with the lower part of the wall.

The funny thing is, with all the measuring, we realized that one of the windows is just a little tiny bit taller than the other one. 

It's all good. We just worked with it.

Are you seeing how this is going to work out?

Um, exactly as I had envisioned!

I just tossed some of the platters up in there to see how it all worked out - And it all worked out just swimmingly!

Before:

And After. 

They are awesome! 

Now all the platters are handy for using, instead of ignoring them because they are too hard to get to. And a bonus, they look so great.

Love getting some of these fun projects done that uses stuff we already have, reduces a pile of project supplies, creates something useful and something cool, and we spend time together making our house our home.