We now have a kitchen sink, and worktops, and a shaker peg shelf that I've dreamed about forever! I'm so so happy that the kitchen is almost finished and before I start sorting through all the photos to write a post about the whole thing, I thought I'd share Ben's DIY shelf today which I feel really helps to finish the kitchen off. And it's also been one of the most requested posts through Instagram. He's made one for the utility too and I can't decide which is my favourite; in different colours and settings they look so different. You could use them for a million things, the kitchen shelf so far is more decorative whereas the utility is more utilitarian with brushes, colanders and towels hanging from it. I love that you can use both the top and the pegs and would look equally good in a child's bedroom or by a back door for coats etc. A how to guide below;

Note - as with all of these DIY guides that I post, they will probably make more sense if you or your partner/Dad/whoever is DIY minded/handy when it comes to wood and tools etc. I myself couldn't make this or if I did it would be wonky or the wrong way up or something! But I hope it is of help if you know your saw from your drill and if not, some inspiration anyway!

I'd seen a lot of shaker peg rail shelves incorporated into high end kitchen designs recently and showed Ben who is always up for starting a new project. We worked out the size that we wanted for each and then he bought wood to start on it. 

He purchased; 2 different sizes of timber. One to mount to the wall which was 12cm x 2cm redwood/any pine. And a piece to sit on top as the shelf which was 14cm x 2cm. This meant that the brackets are 45 degrees as the internal measurements are both 12cm. He screwed these together from the top and filled the screw holes with a two part wood filler {this one is the best}

Then he added the brackets which were cut from the 12cm x 2cm at 45 degrees. We worked out how many pegs we wanted and ensured that the spacing was even. 

Utility shelf pre paint and pre pegs. The utility shelf is longer so we put an extra bracket in the middle of it for extra support whereas on the kitchen shelf we just had one at each end.

Marking out for the pegs. We went for 10cm spacings between the pegs and 6cm up from the bottom.

Then he drilled the holes for the pegs.

Next was priming and filling the wood. We used the filler on any imperfections in the wood and to smooth the joins before painting.

This grey is the primer undercoat before the top coats go on to seal the wood and give a good base to adhere to. Then the fun part for me was choosing which colour to paint them.

For the utility we used Farrow & Ball Downpipe in estate eggshell which is the same colour as the panelling and units in there to blend in. Ben fitted the shelf with slotted brass glass plate brackets {here}. The slot allows you to lift the shelf off and on and hides the fixing from view.

We had a wait until our pegs arrived {we got them online here} so we put the shelf up for a bit until they arrived.

Even without the pegs I LOVED it.

For the kitchen shelf we used Farrow & Ball Shaded White Eggshell paint which is kind of an off grey/green/white that we had in the cupboard and goes fairly well with the rest of the kitchen. I find most Farrow & Ball paints do work well together, especially in those kind of shades.

We were using these medium sized pegs which arrive as bare wood so we primed and painted them once they were in the shelf. Ben drilled holes and then used wood glue to push them in.

Priming them before a final coat of Downpipe/Shaded White.

Finishing them off.

To fit the kitchen shelf on the wall, Ben countersunk the brackets into the shelf using a wide drill bit and a chisel which makes the shelf sit flat and stable to the wall.

All finished! The really fun part was deciding what to put on her. I love arranging shelves. It's not quite finished, I'll probably be forever changing things around but I don't want it to look too busy in here. 

The utility shelf is up too but again I haven't finished arranging, I've just chucked things out the way up here for now but want to find some time to properly sort everything.