Are you familiar with corbels? They look like decorative brackets or transition pieces in doorways, staircases, overhangs, and much more. I have always admired old vintage corbels salvaged from buildings, but they can be difficult to repurpose if the wood isn’t square and they’re quite expensive. I purchased new corbels (disguised as vintage) over a year ago, and I finally found a purpose for them. For this DIY, all you need is a set of corbels that enhance your style, and a piece of plywood.

Over a year ago, we visited Kansas City, and had a blast! We usually research where to find vintage shops when we visit a new city and Kansas City has an entire district called the Historic West Bottoms. There are huge vintage shops and pop-up vintage shops using old industrial buildings all located in an abandoned, and repurposed, industrial area. All of the shops open one day a month. However, there are a handful open during regular business hours six days a week, and one of the new retail shops was having a crazy huge sale because they were moving to a larger location. I don’t recall the name of the shop, but it’s where I found several decorative treasures on sale, like 75% off, including these corbels (can’t believe I found them somewhere online). I went against my rule and purchased them without having a plan or idea in mind. They were less than $20 each, and had the coolest finish and unique shape, I had to have them. Well, I’m embarrassed to say, they’ve sat in my closet for the last year. I had debated on whether or not to sell them on FB Marketplace or hold onto them a bit longer.

Lately, I’ve been moving our two Pothos plants around the house to find where they will do well and look good. Pothos grow well in spite of me, but they begin to droop when they don’t have descent light. Our kitchen nook provides wonderful natural light all day long, but there’s not really space for a greenhouse in this eating area. One day, I moved one Pothos to my Magnolia stool in the corner and thought it would be great to incorporate the other Pothos in the same space, and that’s when an idea came to life. I usually get a vision for a space and them begin to plan it out.

The nook is a fairly colorful space compared to the other large spaces in our home. I hung light blue vintage shutters on each side of the nook windows, the rug is colorful, and the built-in chinet is painted a rich dark green. I’ve always kept the gauzy white curtains because they add texture and let the light in. The blue shutters are what connected the dots for me. I realized the blue/yellow/grey distressed corbels might look great with the blue shutters, and it will solve my Pothos problem too.

I measured, marked, and installed the corbels on each side of the back door in the nook. The tops of the corbels line up with the top of the door and I love how the corbels and shelf encase the doorway. It looks cozy and has the vintage cottage vibe that I adore. Fortunately, I had a piece of scrap plywood that could be the shelf, I just needed to wait for the weather to cooperate so that I could trim it. Once the plywood shelf was sized up, I added edge banding to finish the raw plywood edge and then stained it a whitewash weathered grey to coordinate with the corbels.

You can watch the plywood shelf process on Instagram, but I’ll explain it here as well.

• To add a professional finished edge to the plywood, use Veneer Edging. Follow the veneer edging instructions (be sure to wait until the edging is completely cool before trimming the edges)
• Sand and wipe clean the plywood
• Apply a coat of pre-stain conditioner, wait 30 minutes
• Lightly sand with 220 grit paper, always in the direction of the grain
• Wipe clean
• Apply the first coat of stain, wait 2 hours
• Lightly sand with 220 grit paper, always in the direction of the grain
• Wipe clean
• Apply a second coat of stain, wait until dry
• Sand with 220 grit paper if necessary and wipe clean
• Apply matte polyurethane if you want to protect the surface

There are so many corbels out there, but here are a few to consider.

Do you like the look of adding a plant shelf above a doorway? It works well for me in this space, and I love creative ways to displaying things, so I highly recommend considering doorways as a place to add a plant shelf, using corbels. Thanks for checking out this post, be sure to sign up for my free email to get updates on more DIY, decorating, crafts, and party ideas and inspiration.