One Hour Makeover: Kitchen Coffee Station

I had a wall cabinet with a wine rack in my kitchen that I wasn't using. Rather than let the cabinet collect dust and take up space, I brainstormed over what to do with the cabinet. I didn't need to hold wine since I built a bar in the living room. I had a pantry for canned goods. Hmm...

I decided to make over the cabinet as a dedicated coffee station. I have a Keurig (once you go Keurig, you never go back) and tons of K-cups floating around my kitchen. Also, my coffee mugs were stored in three separate areas (very annoying when putting dishes away and more annoying when you are dying for a cup of coffee and can't find a cup in the morning).

Step 1) I removed the wine rack that was installed in the cabinet
Step 2) I added two shelves to the interior. To make the project simple, I purchased two laminate shelves that were a similar color to my cabinet from The Container Store for $8 each and trimmed them down to size. Hey, it's a one hour makeover.
Step 3) I filled candy jars and a Keurig storage case on the bottom shelf. On the second shelf, I displayed white cappuccino cups and matching saucers. On the top shelf, I displayed white decorative teapots. I had two storage spaces on the right hand side of the cabinet. I used these spaces to store  mugs that I use the most.
Step 4) I placed my Keurig underneath the cabinet and plugged it in. I found some really cool jumbo sized mason jars from Target that I filled with all of my coffee essentials (such as Splenda, sugar and cookies)
Step 5) In the bottom cabinet, I stored ALL of my mugs that were in various places around the kitchen.

I LOVE my new coffee station and I use it all the time.

If you build it, they will come...over for drinks

We have a huge kitchen island in our house that takes care of all our dining needs. In our home, it didn't make sense for us to have a separate formal dining room. We are always eating at the island and we are not formal dinner party people. I really feel style and decor should be based off function and needs of the people in the living room. In our case, it made most sense to have a large bar area and entertainment space. Cocktail hour followed by poker night, anyone?

Before: This was a pretty simple plan. I would build two shelve units that would house a small counter with storage in between it. There would be plenty of room for drinks (lots of drinks, haha), glassware and other miscellaneous bar ware.

Bar in progress: Since I was adding a backing, I decided to use two pictures I already had around the house for a back splash effect. 

Bar in progress: I decided to add shelves above the counter. More storage for drinks :-)

After: I added trim, two coats of Minwax Ebony stain and one coat of semi-gloss polyurethane.  The center storage unit has plenty of counter top space for drinks and our mini kegerator. There is also plenty of room inside to hold various party supplies (appetizer plates, extra glasses and two huge beverage tubs). The shelf unit on the left has a dedicated space for our new wine refrigerator ($148 on sale at Home Depot this week). I also left a dedicated space in the other shelf unit for our future  cooler or another wine rack.



 
No bar is complete without a game table. This is a 3-in-1 game table that has a removable dining table top to reveal bumper pool. The dining table top can also be flipped over for poker night. I found this gem on Craigslist for $150.