I know you're all over chevron, but I'm not

So chevron (the pattern) has been around for a few years now. And I know most of you are over it. I'm not. I still love it!

So guess what. About six months ago, I bought some shelf paper to line the walls of our pantry with, but I've never gotten around to it because, well, that little project involves EMPTYING OUR ENTIRE PANTRY.

Do you know how big of a job that is? Yeah. I didn't really think that through. So yesterday afternoon when Grayson went to the Y to work out, I pulled a roll of that paper out and decided to see how it would look if I lined the shelves in the island with it.

Here's what it looked like before I got my mitts on it:

I emptied it out. Professionals would tell you to wipe it out thoroughly with a damp cloth or something like that to remove all the dust and other particles. Particles, schmarticles, I say. I kind of took the edge of my T-shirt and ran it through there. Seemed okay to me.

Here's a link to the shelf paper I bought. I wanted something pretty neutral (but still in my beloved-if-now-cliched chevron), and I definitely wanted it to coordinate with the granite that tops the island.

I bought it in Graphite, but it comes in all sorts of cute colors and patterns.

After I got it down on all six shelves, I threw a couple of scraps up on the rear wall of one of the shelves to see if I wanted to do the backs, too, but I decided it was too much. One or the other, I decided, but not both.

Since you're standing up when you open cabinets, in general, this gives you a better view of what you see from that vantage point.

I will happily share this tidbit with you: The instructions say (as they always do in cases like this) that you simply measure the contact paper, lay it down and smooth out any air bubbles. Easy as pie. WELL.

While it's not rocket science, and while it didn't bring me to tears or cause me to cuss on Sunday, it's not like it was the EASIEST thing I've ever done. This little project took me about 90 minutes, and the island is only four feet wide. And it was broad daylight. So.

Still, am I happy that I did it? Yes. Would I do it again? Yes. I would even like to take the rest of the rolls I bought and attempt to do the rear walls of the pantry, as I originally intended to do. (I'm not going to line the pantry shelves, because I don't think that's practical. We move things in and out of there all the time, and I'm afraid the paper would get ripped up. Also, I think the visual impact would be much greater and it would be a more customized look to do the rear walls in there.)

Once I finished with the island (which involved trimming up the edges with an Exacto knife; that's a lie -- I just used a plain old box cutter), I loaded everything back in.

If I were a home blogger, I would have styled it all up for you. But I'm not, so I just put everything back in the way it was before I took it out.

If I ever get all classy and go to all-white serving dishes or something, maybe I'll take the cabinet doors off altogether. But for now, this stuff has to stay behind closed doors. And whomever I ask to get out the cake plate is just going to have a nice little chevron surprise waiting for her when she opens them.

The shelf paper links are Amazon Affiliate links. That means that if you click one and buy something, I will earn a small percentage of the sale. You will pay no more than you would have if you'd purchased it the normal way. But I will certainly appreciate it more than if you had.