Wet Bar to Coffee Corner

On the house hunt, we looked at several houses built in the 80's and one of the more common themes was having a wet bar in the open space. I really didn't know it was such a common thing. For our home, there was a smaller one, tucked away near the living room.

1980's Wet Bar Living Room

For us, a wet bar would remain pretty empty and since any hard-core demo was out of the question, I wanted to turn it into a place that would actually be useful: a coffee area for me and guests! Coach doesn't drink coffee...at all, but he can have some hot chocolate if he wants, right? 

A 1980's Wet Bar to a Modern Coffee Bar

We were a little nervous to see what was behind this large box shelf before removing it. Our house has a very distinct wall texture and I didn't know if it would be on the wall under it. Luckily for us, the only thing different beneath was the paint color. Super win for us! 

The first things we did to change the space was to paint the cabinets white. We used the same process as our kitchen - a quick cleaning then two coats of Rust-Oleum's Ultra Matte Interior Chalked Paint in Linen White. 

1980's Wet Bar Living Room
Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint

The walls inside got a good two coats of regular white base interior paint. Then, we started to measure out the screws for the three IKEA GRUNDTAL rails that would hold all the coffee mugs. Of course, there weren't any studs where they needed to be for the rails. I didn't want to chance not having studs under something holding so many breakables. On to plan b....

1980's Wet Bar Living Room

We bought some white boards that would stretch across the back wall from one stud to the other. In a shiplap-esque style, we placed a spare piece between each board to "measure" out the next placement. From the bottom to the top, we covered the wall in boards until we were ready to add the rails. 

Fake a Shiplap Wall
Fake a Shiplap Wall

Next came the hooks and the variety of random coffee cups we've collected over the years. Not really a color scheme going on with these, but I kind of like the randomness, even having the "Christmas in New York" one up year-round. 

Living Room Coffee Bar
Living Room Coffee Bar
Living Room Coffee Bar
Living Room Coffee Bar
Living Room Coffee Bar with Hanging Mugs