Coffee talk

I find it odd that we've been doing this DIY thing for over a year now, frequent Home Depot and Lowe's 2 or more times per week,  yet I posted this instagram photo on Monday night and I had more than one person ask me why we were at Home Depot. Umm...you should know I'm constantly doing things by now! ;)

Anyway, we made an impromptu run to Home Depot for this (among other boring things, like air filters):

Yep, I finally put up my shelf for my coffee bar! To be honest, there was a little switching around shelves and I'll post an update of my bathroom soon, which was on the other end of the switcheroo. Regardless, we have shelving! And I love it!

I think Mark likes it too...

Just for fun, I decided to do a little styling session so you could see different ways I might style it and give me some feedback too! When I style things, I typically walk around my house and pick up things that will fit in the space. This time was no different! I just futz with it until I'm pleased with how it looks.

So here we go:

Option 1 - eclectic mix

This was a little funky and also too busy.

Option 2 - simple and natural

Super simple and nice, but didn't add enough height!

Option 3 - height and variety

The mirror here was TOO tall, almost hitting the ceiling. Plus, it's permanent home is just a few feet away on the wall perpendicular to this coffee bar.

Option 4 - modern farmhouse

I LOVE this option and will probably end up doing this most of the time. 

For now, I ended up going with a mixture of options 1 and 4. I'm going to call it "farmhouse chic" just for the sake of calling it something. I like the black and white picture of Mark and me, the hydrangea (duh) and the coffee sign that Mark bought me on our anniversary because he knew I wanted to do a coffee bar (who knew it would take me almost a year to get it done). I added some plain bowls to match the coffee mugs for a more rustic open-shelving look. 

So what do you think? Who's coming over for coffee? :)

Bookshelf diaries

Bookshelves are underrated.

Built-in bookshelves, especially.

Just look at how a well-styled bookshelf gives the room (and it's owner) a defined personality:

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I can only hope to one day own a home with built-in bookshelves, but for now, I have to start small. I did so a couple weekends ago by purchasing this bookshelf from Ikea. I had seen this Pin previously and had similar ideas for my new purchase:

I'm not convinced (and neither is hubby) that we should spray paint it, although that is what drew me to the original inspiration. What do you think?

Here's where we are so far:

Obviously, I need more books!