Transforming a useless Wet Bar into a fabulous Butler's Pantry

We've lived in this house for eight years.  It was only two years old when we bought it and, in January, there were only two rooms we had not touched.  One was this wet bar, between our kitchen and dining room.  When we first looked at the house, I thought it was so cool.  I thought we'd actually entertain and use it and I loved that it had running water.  I think my husband disconnected the water the first or second year because we never used it.  Sure, we stored liquor in the cabinets and junk in the drawers and glasses in the cupboard and wine rack.  The problem was that it became our junk space.  Anything and everything got tossed into it.

So I started thinking about how we could transform it and make it not only functional, but beautiful. I've grown to love the comfortable look of modern cottage style and I'm a firm believer that moldings and architectural features not only make a house a home, but add much to the resale value too.  I also knew that we had too much stuff in our kitchen cabinets...so much so that some of it was stored in the basement.  I wanted easy access to my baking pans, without having to pull out all of them, sort through them and try to re-balance them in an awkward lower cabinet.  So I started deciding the finishes I wanted and the smartest ways to utilize the space and Ed got out his power tools and curse words.  Both are necessary for any project in our house.

Forgive the before photo...seriously, Ed and I are HORRIBLE at taking the befores!  This was after he removed the wall cabinet and wine rack (of course!).

This was after he removed the lower cabinetry.

Next he had to close off some of that space to add a door.  I debated about this because I knew the space would be beautiful, but open concept shelving in kitchens, while trendy and pretty to look at, are a pain the rear to keep clean and dust free.  I wanted a more practical approach.

He removed the moldings...

then built the frame and added drywall.

The next step was adding beadboard eight feet up the nine foot walls.  Trim would come later.

He figured out a way to box in the plumbing without taking away much space and we began to research and decide what depths we should build the shelving.  At first we thought the deeper, the better.  Then I began reading about the dark hole pantries where things get lost and wanted nothing to do with that.  We decided to build the bottom shelves 16" in depth for larger items and then began tapering the depth of the shelving as we went higher.  I bought storage baskets I liked (at TJ Maxx) and we made sure they fit in the spaces.  The one here holds all of our liquor.  I'm not even sure why we have it...we are not big drinkers.

Here you can see the box around the plumbing and how we made sure the baskets fit properly. 

Deciding how to build the pan rack I want, while still reusing the wine rack and having additional storage for glasses.

I definitely wanted a pan rack.  This is vital to my happiness and peace of mind!  Ed began planning his strategy and ended up building a great space to vertically store my muffin pans, cake racks, 13x9 inch pans, and a sandwich maker and I was thrilled.  I made sure everything fit before be made the finishing touches.  

The next phase was planning custom "cubbies" for my round cake pans and my pie plates.  This took some measuring:

Sophie, the dog, thinks he's cooking something.

And when we were satisfied with the build, he installed it.

A level is crucial!

Yes, there was blood.  There is always blood.  Be prepared!

The next few days were filled with finishing off the shelving, painting the pretty corabels and deciding where they would look best.  Ed installed an egg-dart type of molding to the edges of the shelves, installed trim, and spent lots of time caulking and painting.

I also visited TJ Maxx again to find jars for dry storage.  I happened to also find cute little chalk paint labels.

I have to tell you, this is my new favorite room in the house!  I can't stop looking at it!  

I love the trim work.

A wide angled lens helps capture the details.

I love my cake pan cubbies!

A seriously fantastic transformation!

Autumn Decor

Table in Foyer

I found this gorgeous McCoy white pitcher and dish at an antique store recently and just fell in love with its lines and curves and petite size.  I filled it with dried hydrangeas and found a few more spots for little orange pumkins.

Autumn

Using the little pumpkins and hydrangeas we grew (and dried), I made a nice kitchen display for autumn.  It's so gratifying to grow things to eat and things to use for home decorating.  This morning my breakfast consisted of two fresh figs and a handful of raspberries I picked from our gardens.

Fall has arrived!

A good friend of mind and I went antiquing all day Saturday and it occurred to me that autumn has arrived!  I couldn't wait to get home and start decorating.  We grow a lot of our own pumpkins, but the crop was smaller this year.  Next year, I want Cinderella pumpkins and all white or blue, large and small.  They are just beautiful.  This year, I used more seasonal, traditional colors, although I incorporated a lot of the white.  I love this vignette I made for my coffee table.  Makes we want to curl up with a hot cup of tea, some pumpkin candles, some classical on the stereo, and a good book!

Refinish a Dresser with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I'm going to do a few posts to catch up on some of the projects I've done this past year.  I bought this lovely dresser at an estate sale when I lived in Texas and, after hauling it home, my kids found a love letter from a soldier to his girl, which was written in the 1940's.  We somehow lost that in the move to Virginia years ago, but this pretty little beaten up dresser made it just fine.  I loved the dark wood and the pretty carved details, but I didn't love the many nicks and scratches so I bought some Annie Sloan Chalk paint and set to work.  I love chalk paint; you don't have to do much prep work.  I did sand down the top but that's about it.  This was my first real chalk paint project so I wasn't thrilled with the dark wax over the blue, but this paint is so easy it wouldn't take long to redo it.  If you paint with it, just be sure to watch a video on the waxing technique to get it right and always was with clear first, then the dark.  I may redo the drawers one day but, for now, I've got autumn decorating on my mind.  

I think it's time to start blogging again.  The dog days of summer are over I realized today as a friend and I drove through Maryland farmland in search of antiques and pumpkins.  It was a rainy day, a bit dreary, but I noticed a few trees with patches of brilliant color and several times, driving through the quaint small towns, a flurry of yellow leaves would descend at once and swirl in lazy patterns as our car drove through them.  Every shop had pumpkins and fall decor and, suddenly, I just couldn't wait to get home and decorate.

I've closed my photography business.  It got to be too much with working a full time job and doing all the things we do.  So from now on, my blogs will be about my projects, my decorating, mine and my husbands adventures in organic gardening and preserving our food, and maybe some photography too.  I hope you'll enjoy it.

Hannah