buffet, before

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I am not sure what this space is actually called, but I call it the buffet. It’s a nice little storage and display area, but I just don’t know what to do with it. I’ve just been putting random stuff there without trying.

Get a load of what it looked like when we moved in:

So much wood, right? Way too much. It was suffocating. Already it’s a big improvement over that.

Right now it’s a really sad space. I have actually moved things around since then but it doesn’t look a WHOLE lot better. This is the most central spot of the main part of the house so I like having the speakers there, but they are pretty ugly. We use those little drawers to hold cords and chargers but I am not sure if they’re my style or not.

In the upper cabinets I store vases which I will probably continue to do.

The bottom cabinets have mostly games, but it needs to be organized. My goals for this area are to organize the cabinets and make the horizontal space pretty and functional. Mostly pretty, because we don’t really need it for much. So, any thoughts?

Comments

12 responses to “buffet, before”

May 13, 2013

Katy

You could paint the back of the inside of the cabinet to subtly make the vases and other stuff pop, maybe? And what about removing the doors?

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1. May 13, 2013
  
  kapachino
  
  Ooh, I LOVE the idea of removing the doors!! I have wanted to do that in my kitchen forever but never thought about it here. I’ll take a look to see if it would be manageable. Thanks Katy!
  
  Reply
May 13, 2013

Nora

Since cabinet space is at a premium in my house I would LOVE to have this kind of area (and I love that you have the space into the kitchen through it was well. so neat).

You could go thrifting and find some neat handles and knobs to use that are full of color and life to replace the handles you currently have (some people love doing that, others hate it). I second the idea of taking the doors off and adding some curtains or something similar to it. Depending on the color of the vases that you have you could use them for display and put things into them (marbles, rocks, buttons, etc.) to liven up the space with color.

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May 13, 2013

San

The white looks supernice! I love it!

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May 14, 2013

Sarah

Yes, the white paint is a big improvement. I don’t think the little drawers go with the style of it, though. What about chucking your cords in a basket inside one of the cabinets? How about adding a plant (real or fake)?

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1. May 14, 2013
  
  kapachino
  
  Yeah, I don’t find myself excited about the drawers so I think they should go. I like the idea of putting the cords in a basket, I just need to figure out a way to keep them organized and separate. Plants are definitely in the plan! Probably fake ones because this area doesn’t get great natural light.
  
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May 14, 2013

lauren w

I like this post on cord organizing: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2012/03/you-asked-organizing-cords.html

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May 14, 2013

Becca

Buy succulent plants. They don’t need much water or light, plus they look awesome. You could fill up that whole space with plants in my opinion, you can NEVER have too many plants!

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1. May 15, 2013
  
  kapachino
  
  For some reason I thought succulents needed a lot of light, but not much water. I will look into it to be sure! I love them and plants are definitely in the plan, even if I have to get fake ones. But I’m going to research low light plants first. :)
  
  Reply
  1. May 16, 2013
    
    Becca
    
    Oh, also look for fun and interesting ways to pot your plants. Don’t just settle for regular pots. Make it interesting, like this girl… http://smileandwave.typepad.com/blog/2013/05/testing-out-my-green-thumb.html
  2. May 16, 2013
    
    kapachino
    
    I love her blog! That post was really inspiring. I also like the look of a plain terra cotta pot. I think I have some of those lying around.
May 15, 2013

Naomi

If you had another outlet on the counter or even an outlet strip, this would be a great place for a charging station for phones and devices

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