Coffee Bar, Yes or No?

Do you have a coffee bar in your house or want one? I never really thought about it before, but ever since I found out about them, I've wanted my own, so I created a space for it. I've found myself enjoying coffee a lot more and I've started getting up early every morning to make my husband and I a cup. First I started with my twelve cup coffee pot. I found a glass cutting board that I wasn't using and laid it in the middle of my coffee bar. On the cutting board, I put my cannister's and other items. In the left corner, I put an antique coffee pitcher, with a handmade cotton decoration and hung my coffee cups on the wall to the left. This is what it looked like.

After a while, I decided it just wasn't functional enough for what I wanted, so I went back to the drawing board. I kept some elements and added others. I stopped by the Dollar Tree and bought a few more items just for this project. I also got a one cup pot from my mother, that she wasn't using.

We use it more than we do the twelve cup pot. I'm still going to keep the big pot just in case we have visitors. The items I bought were two office items, a couple of black baskets like this. 

I use the pen basket for trash, such as used sugar packets.

I use the long basket for the sweetener packets and the lids to my travel mugs. I also got two small cannister's with a flip down latch and a friend gave me another jar that was also a Dollar Tree item. In the two cannister's I bought, I keep sugar and creamer. In the one my friend gave me, I keep stevia, just in case I run out of packets. 

I should also tell you, the coffee mugs came from Dollar Tree also. My husband bought them with plates and bowls, for my Christmas present. Also for Christmas, I got four metal travel cups with lids while playing Dirty Santa. I incorporated them into the project as well, for those days when we're on the go. My husband uses them on those mornings he works. 

I bought the cow creamer at Walmart. It's one of the Pioneer Woman dishes. I use it to keep my stirring spoon in for now. I have thought of buying those small coffee straws and putting them in it, but I kind of feel like for us, that would be a waste of money, so I will just keep using the baby spoon, I'm currently using. I always just wash it after the morning rush and put it back. I also keep a set of coasters out and available, so that my tables don't get that coffee ring on them. I keep my tea boiler and my tea bags here too, because of how convenient it is to just grab the pot, toss a couple of bags in it and fill it up at the sink. We're Southern, so sweet tea is a must in our household, though, I've really cut the sugar down a lot, to save us from being diabetics someday. I do think once we're moved into our new house, the tea boiler will go somewhere else. I want the coffee bar to be just that, a coffee bar.  

Here's a picture of the final project. 

I admit it's a little busy. My husband says it's too much turquoise, but I like it. I would love to be able to stack items, but I don't have much room under the cabinet. I hope that once we get moved, I can set it up on a table with no cabinets above it. I want one of those two tiered galvanized trays I see everyone else using. 

Since doing this, I find it easier to get up in the morning because I don't have to wait long to get my caffeine fix. I get up at four thirty, put myself a cup of coffee on then clean up any mess left in the kitchen from the night before, while I drink my coffee. I then put my husband a cup on around five, because he gets up a little after that for work. While it's making, I will get his lunch box ready for the day, then go back and fix his coffee the way he likes it. At five thirty, he gets his coffee and lunch, walks out the door, and heads to work. I then wake my daughter for school. She likes her coffee a little weak, so I just reuse my husbands coffee grounds to make hers. I'm sure all of this would be easier with a K-cup machine, but mine isn't made for those, and to be honest, I like that about it because I can buy my coffee in bulk and fix it as strong or as weak as I need to, depending on the person. 

After my daughter leaves for school, I sit down and relax until my son wakes up, then it's breakfast time. I've thought about the idea of a breakfast bar, as well. Maybe if my kitchen wasn't so small, this would be a good idea. Then again, I'm a stay at home mom, I can just fix breakfast. Oh well, maybe that's something for all of you working moms on the go.  

     

Family Command Center Update

Every home needs a family command center.  With all the different things going on and our schedules being so busy and hectic, it's nice to have it all organized.  Kids need a chore chart.  Bills need to be organized in a way that makes it easy to find, and sort.  An excellent way to do that is to have an incoming, outgoing and a to be filed area.  The blue box with the circles is my to be filed box.  I'm going to label it later.  I made it out of a box that goes on a book.  This was actually from my college years and I still had the book, don't need it or the case so I took the case and covered it with contact paper.  I wrapped it just like I would a gift except where the opening is at the top.  Then I put two holes in the back to hang it.  The board on the left was just one solid marker board on right and bulletin board on left.  I used washi tape to divide the marker board into sections.  My children's chores are listed in the two bottom sections and the upper section is for notes.  I glued and taped three envelopes together with washi tape to make individual files for things like coupons and receipts.  The to do list to the right of the notes and chore chart is a picture frame with a note card inside decorated with washi tape and check boxes drawn on.  To the right of that is where I tack up business cards and sort my incoming and outgoing mail.  At the bottom of that is a place to hang keys, but since I don't hang my keys up I used it to hang a basket to put dry erase markers and a marker board eraser in.  At the bottom is my calendar with a section on the left to make my grocery list.  I still have plenty of wall space available to the left but I haven't figured out what to do with it yet.  At the top of the wall, I plan on putting some inspiring words and a picture frame with a family photo.  I have seen a lot of different family command centers and all of them had great qualities, just not many that applied to me, so I made it my own.  I don't need a menu board as many of the command centers I've seen online.  I like to plan it all out that day not a week ahead or even a day ahead.  For moms who work out of the home though, a menu is probably a great idea that way you know what to lay out that morning before you leave for work.  For me I like instead the idea of having a grocery list here, because I can write stuff down as I discover I'm low on it or out of it.  Then when I go shopping, I just snap a picture with my phone.  As for the to be filed box, I hate filing things.  Its just easier to me to put it all in a box like this one and when it gets full, I have to make myself file it.  It would be ideal for me to have a desk under all of this so I can sit down and write out bills as needed, but there's no room for one because of the island.  Anyway, I usually pull them out and stand at the island sorting through them, going from one website or app to the next paying them, then I put them in the to be filed bin.  The two that I have to write a check for, do not have a website for me to go and pay, so I write those two out and stick them up in the outgoing mail section, until I get around to heading to the post office, usually the next day, or on the way to do my grocery shopping.  I like to run my errands all on the same day if possible.  I am still looking for new ideas to improve my command center.  Anything that will help me improve my hectic life with two kids is great for me.  Maybe some of these ideas will work for you or maybe you can throw some ideas my way.