I’m probably a coffee snob. Okay, I’m definitely a coffee snob. I have some amazing friends here in town who brew their own blends of coffee {complete with roasting imported beans and all}, and now that I’ve had those, it’s not the same to have just any old cup of coffee. That said, I love my Keurig, you guys. I got the Keurig Hot for Christmas {in white, of course} and some Starbucks pods to go with it, and it’s been amazing! Yes, I still kept my coffee pot. I’ve got bags of Nate’s Sumatra blend and, most recently, a bag of Dry Stack Nicaragua {thanks to my friend Liz for sharing that with me!} in the pantry that I absolutely love! And since I don’t have one of those refillable pods yet, I’m keeping the coffee pot on hand for my favorite blends and for those days when sleep seems elusive, which are more often than I thought with a toddler.
No one tells you that when you get past the baby phase and enter into the toddler and then little girl phase, sleep gets less frequent. I thought it was the opposite! Lawsy. Ash has been in bed with us almost every night by 5:00 a.m. and waking up every few hours with nightmares leading up to that {any advice for how to help with that would be greatly appreciated. I feel helpless except to reassure her that I’m there and she’s safe}, so I’m not sure I really remember what a full night’s sleep is. At least this time around, I’m not nursing, so I can have as many cups of coffee as I need want the next day! When number two comes along… well, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Anyway, back to the coffee, I’ve always had a dream of having a coffee bar. We don’t have a terribly large house {::read:: it’s small}, but something about having a dedicated space for coffee just appeals to me. Not to mention, it means I don’t necessarily have to have yet another appliance sitting on my countertop which is also not all that large. So when I got the Keurig for Christmas this past year, I decided it was time to make the coffee bar happen!
I’m pretty sure this piece of furniture is called a server… but it could be a sideboard or even a buffet. At any rate, I’m calling it a server because I’m using it as our makeshift coffee bar in the dining room. I’m honestly not sure which gets more use — the coffee bar or the dining room table, but it’s going to be close either way! I head to this sidebar first thing every morning to brew the perfect cup of coffee {served in a Rae Dunn mug that states clearly my mood for the day, of course}, so it’s a pretty integral piece of furniture.
When I first got this cabinet, it was solid black with glass front doors and a beadboard backing. I love the doors and the beadboard, and at the time, black was totally my furniture color of choice. Since then, though, I have done a complete 180 style-wise and now want everything white with maybe a few black accents. The doors on this cabinet and that beadboard, though… I couldn’t get rid of it. So I decided to flip it! Why not?
This was such an easy flip, too, because all it required was a paint job and some chunky legs and voila! Farmhouse at its finest! I found the legs at Home Depot for a little over $2.00 each. Add in two cans of Rustoleum primer and two cans of Rustoleum satin enamel spray paint, and you’re looking at a complete transformation for less than $20!
Before I painted anything, I took the doors off the server and removed the shelf. Then I flipped it upside down and drilled holes for the leg bolts to thread into using a 1/4″ drill bit. I had to be a little careful to avoid the grooves for the doors to slide in, but that wasn’t too difficult to get around.
Once the legs were connected, I used my vaseline trick to mark spots where I wanted distressing to occur. There is a benefit to the server already being black. I didn’t have to spray those spots first! Next, I sprayed the whole piece with primer, waited 30 minutes then sprayed another coat. Once that had fully dried, about two hours, I sprayed the server with two coats of enamel in bright white then sealed it with a clear coat. While that was drying, I did the same to the doors, taping off the glass, and the shelf. I didn’t distress the shelf because not that much of it is actually seen when it’s inside with the doors closed. That was it! Of course, I could barely wait until it dried to take it inside and set up my coffee bar!
I made the coffee bar sign using our transfer paper method and the same distressing method as the server. The boxwood wreath came from At Home a few years ago, and I used the chalkboard sign I made for my cider bar this past year as a backdrop.
I found the wooden toolbox turned coffee pod holder at Michaels a few years ago on clearance. It’s served many purposes over the years, but this one is probably my favorite! Now I just need to find some cute baskets/bins to go in the cabinet to hold all of our not-so-attractive stuff, and the area will be set!
Do y’all do the whole coffee bar thing in your homes? My sister-in-law has this cute coffee station set up using an antique metal table she found, and she hangs her mugs from a pot rack. I love seeing pieces used in unexpected ways! What’s your favorite farmhouse {or otherwise} piece in your home and why? I have a feeling this server will be with us a long time now that it’s been transformed, and is quickly becoming one of my favorites!
As a quick side note, we IG’d a couple weeks ago about some herb planters we made {which will be up on the blog soon!}, and I had some leftover mint that made needed a home. You might remember these DIY pallet planters we posted last year, which are also available in our Etsy shop. I don’t think I ever envisioned them quite this way, but I put that mint in the planter and am using it as a centerpiece for the dining room and L.O.V.E. it! As soon as it’s warm enough, I’m probably going to make another one for the farmhouse table on the patio and fill it with succulents. Bring on the spring!
You also may notice that my dining room table looks a little different since my last dining room post. It got a makeover while I was going all white paint happy on the server/sideboard, and it turns out, it’s one of those things where it looks like it should have been all white all along! We don’t have tons of natural light in our house thanks to smaller and really spaced out windows, so all the white is really working for me in there. I’ve recently painted our den and am slowly making my way around the house to help brighten things up as well. We’re going with Almond Wisp by Behr which sounds tan but is actually pretty greige thanks to its purple base {it sounds awful, but y’all, it’s dreamy!} and is light enough that my 2-year-old thinks it’s white. I’ll be sure to post updates as I make progress.
In the meantime, I’m working on framing some canvas art I got last weekend, and will show you the tutorial on that tomorrow. So, hey, let’s go enjoy some coffee! That’s where I’m headed. Thanks for following along!
