Today’s project is a coffee bar revamp.

At first glance, is not necessarily about lowering blood pressure. However, one of the things I learned in 2021 is that being intentional is important. Loving your space that you look at on a daily basis, especially when you’re stuck in your house during a global pandemic, is important. Little things that make you happy are important. Having fun is important. Incorporating joy into your daily life is important.

One of the habits I implemented into 2021 was to make sure I’m living joyfully. And this is one of those things that falls into that category.

When I was making the “What I Eat in a Day” videos in the past two weeks, I noticed that my coffee bar area was not bringing me joy. It was feeling a little dull. It wasn’t unattractive. It was just uninspired. I wanted something that could make me feel an extra little jolt of happiness when I came downstairs every morning. This is my first stop every morning, so I might as well make it beautiful!

We are working with some limitations of course. This house was built in the 90s and the kitchen has not been renovated since. We did paint the cabinets about five or six years ago. They are builder grade cabinets and we have formica countertops. This was not a complete renovation. What I did was change the functionality a little, so everything is a little easier in the morning, there’s fewer steps I have to take before I have my morning cup of joe and it’s more beautiful. I’m excited to show you the results.

What I started with was very plain. In the cabinet above the coffee maker I store all of the things I need first thing in the morning. I have vitamins and cups and coffee and maple syrup. And of course a fun little sign that makes me happy and nostalgic for my youth. 

A plastic container holds vitamin containers for myself and the kids. My husband prefers to keep his at his desk. I take these out every morning so everyone knows they have to take them, then once they are taken they put them back in this container in the cabinet. 

My favorite tea at the moment is a lavender chamomile, from Chai Diaries, which I love.

We have a stabby stabby tool that we use to clean out the reusable pods. It came in a cheese board set I received as a gift. 

We have a coffee scoop that came with a previous coffee maker we owned and kept because it’s so useful.

Evaluate your needs

The first thing I did was evaluate what we we like about this area and decide what to change.

In the morning I take all of the things I need out of the cabinet above, which is one of the things I want to change. Pulling it all out to use works as a great system, but it’s just not working for me anymore.

I also want to get rid of the compost bin we keep on the counter. We do use this bin, to empty the used coffee into and spread into the garden. So the system itself we want to keep, but since this happens only once a week or so, I decided I am going to store this under the counter so it’s not always out anymore.

Another thing I’d like to remove is the water pitcher. Again this is useful, as it stores all our used coffee pods until we are ready to empty them, but we’ve come up with a better system than that.

So I’m going to start by removing these from the counter.

The plan is to replace these things with containers full of our coffee and other things we use in the mornings. Right now we store our coffee in mason jars with bamboo lids, which I do like, but I decided to buy a matching set of containers to keep out on the counter.

The rest of the coffee process goes pretty smoothly, so really we’re just changing a few things and sprucing this area up.

Today I’m using oatmilk in my coffee. And of course the usual maple syrup for sweetness and collagen for my joints. And for a little antioxidant boost, a little chai spice mix.

I have a new container for most of these things. And I also am adding a container of spoons I’m excited about having within close reach of the coffee pot.

Start with a clean slate.

We’ve evaluated our needs for this area. We know what we want to change. The next step is to get in and clean it up.

We do have a black plug to the Echo Dot on the wall in our kitchen. I love this tool for making grocery lists and playing music while we cook, so this is essential. And until we find a better way, we just have to live with that cord the way it is. I’m just going to come up with a way to mask it, 

The drawer beneath the coffee maker houses all the lids for our mason jars and other food saving containers, so I’m going to clean that out and put those lids somewhere else. And I’m going to wipe that down as well. 

To make this drawer useful, I got some small plastic containers I’m going to fill with tea, and then a large one is going to be for our used coffee pods that need to be cleaned. I wanted to use a container to catch any mess those pods might make instead of just putting them directly in the drawer.

Put it back together

Into these drawer containers, I’m adding the tea bags, of which I don’t have many left. So that makes me think transferring them to a clear container will help me to realize when I’m running low on them. To the other small container I put my kid’s chai bags. I do have chai sometimes too, but my kids are the real fans of this in my house. 

So, my drawer setup is now complete.

I then washed my new containers and got them ready to go.

And here is something I’m really excited about. I got cork holders for the coffee pods that adhere to the wall. So we’re going to put these on the inside of the cabinet above to hold all of our reusable pods. Which means I have to move my nostalgic sign. But that’s okay, I just found another place for that joy.

The amazon reviews for these say that the adhesive on the back doesn’t stick for a long period of time, and they start falling off the wall. So far we haven’t experienced that. But we do have double sided tape on standby in case that happens.

I started by stacking these on top of each other on the cabinet. But this actually didn’t work. Because when the pods are in the middle one, they hit the shelf in the cabinet, which my husband pointed out to me when he came to get his morning cup of coffee. 

So he suggested I take the middle one and move it up so it clears the top shelf as well. 

Sometimes, it takes more than one intelligent mind to hang cork coffee pod holders. 

I also replaced the night light plugged in here. The one we had works great, but I found this cute little one that gave a more cozy glow to replace it with. And I think it just adds a little something cozy to the space.

For the counter, I started with the idea of using a tray to put the coffee pot on. Something that would anchor the area and contain everything. I’m a big fan of trays so I had a few lying around the house that I decided to reuse.

I started with a small wood one, and I liked the way it looked, but it seemed a little too small. When I put all the containers on this, it just felt too crowded.

Sometimes you just have to try a few things before the right one sticks.

Then, I decided to paint. I didn’t do any heavy painting. But I touched up some of the spots that our hands had rubbed on the paint over the years. And to prevent that from happening in the future, I asked my husband to install knobs on the cabinet doors. I had some knobs just lying around. I got them at a Habitat for Humanity Restore a long time ago. And we had yet to do anything with them. Anyone else do things like that?

So now it’s my favorite time. It’s time to decant into the new containers.

I filled the top cork board with some decaf coffee pods. Especially now that it’s getting cold outside, sometimes I like to have a cup of tea or coffee at the end of the night. And to make sure it doesn’t disturb my sleep at night, I use decaf for that.

To cover the Echo Dot cord, I added some jasmine from my garden in one of my grandmother’s medicine bottles, and it worked perfectly.

I also added a crock of extra spoons I had lying around. They are some mixed materials that I got at a garage sale.

The coffee I love is Purity coffee I buy straight from their website. Though, my neighbor works at a holistic pharmacy that sells this coffee and so she gets me some sometimes if I run out before my next auto shipment.