Before & After: Coffee Cart Gets Shelved

If you’re a caffeine junkie, coffee stations are a great way to streamline your morning. Yet, Anna wasn’t jiving with her java setup. So she gave this area a free makeover by removing things and shopping her home:

From Anna:

The original look of our coffee station wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either. I loved the bar cart, but the wood surfaces, brown mirror, wooden objects, and wood floor was just too much brown! I wanted to de-clutter the space and take away some of those brown tones, without spending any money.

So, I sold the cart on Craigslist and put the mirror in another room. The shelf came from my son’s room–I had listed it on Craigslist after I began redecorating the nursery, but then I realized I could use it here. The artwork is from my living room, and I replanted one of my succulents into the cream pitcher (because heaven knows I’m not throwing a tea party anytime soon).

The other great thing about this transformation is that eliminating the bar cart made our dining room seem so much bigger. (I call it a dining room, but it’s more like a small open space between the kitchen and living room that we’ve squeezed a table into.)

To catch any coffee drips from our Chemex, I put a charming little silver dish under it. It’s actually from my dad’s baby set from 1948, and I love how the slightly tarnished silver contrasts with the glass and wood.

I kept the three cookbooks that I use the most out on the shelf where they are in easy reach, but the rest I decided to put in my kitchen. You can’t tell from the photo, but our puppy actually had a ball the other day chewing on my Joy of Cooking.

I edited the number of objects I needed for this space to be functional, and I think the new look is bright, colorful, and uncluttered. The best part? It was free!

For more photos and details, check out Anna’s blog, Annabode.

Thank you Anna!

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