By Elizabeth Seward
New York, NY, USA | Fri Apr 24 14:00:00 GMT 2009
My old roommate moved out and took all of the kitchen gear with her. My father made a nice gesture and surprised me with some gifts for my kitchen and those gifts, although absolutely warmly welcomed, included a knife set fully equipped with a knife rack. It didn't take my roommates and I very long to conclude that the knife rack was something we had no use for, but for a while, we gave it a go. We put those 'special' knivesin the rack when they were cleaned while all of the 'other' knives just got tossed into the drawer. But it just didn't make sense. Had the knife rack been larger and more able to house all of our knives, the issue of whether or not it was necessary probably would have never come up...but alas, the size was just wrong for our home.
The knife rack wound up in the 'stuff we don't want anymore' pile in our apartment and I set out to find a new use for it. I thought of a few things, but the idea that made the most sense to me was a simple one: a bookend for my cookbooks. Cookbooks aren't something I normally go out and buy, but keeping it no secret from my friends and family members that I love to cook has ushered in a lot of gifted cookbooks over the years. A lot of unorganized gifted cookbooks, that is.
I set out on a mission to upcycle my knife rack and personapze it into a unique bookend and you can do it, too.
How to turn your knife rack into a cool bookend:
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Locate your knife rack. Clean it if you need to clean it. And by all means, remove the knives.
Image courtesy of Elizabeth Seward
Use cardboard to create a stencil. I won't lie, I chose a heart because I knew it was a design I wouldn't screw up.
Image courtesy of Elizabeth Seward
Combine paint with water and spread it over the knife rack. This will give it a cool distressed look all over the knife rack. But if you don't like that look and want to opt for a second paint job, suit yourself.
Image courtesy of Elizabeth Seward
Use your stencil to create a main image. (Yes, I made mine messy on purpose). Fill in your design if you'd pke with a piece of a page from a cookbook. I filled in my heart with a heart cut out from a recipe in one of my books (a recipe I never use).
Image courtesy of Elizabeth Seward
Enjoy! Using your knife rack as a bookend is easy. Using your knife rack as a bookend for your cookbooks is even cooler, though. Doing this is a cute way to keep your cooking theme going strong in your kitchen—even down to the bookends. On top of that, it spares a common kitchen item from being wasted.
Image courtesy of Elizabeth Seward
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