Thursday, September 20, 2012

63 UHeart Organizing: A Crazy Cool Coffee Station

Do you love coffee as much as I do?  It is my morning bliss.  However, I can't just keep it simple.  A couple of pretty mugs {mug hoarder alert}, sauce, a frother and spoons, and I feel like I touch every nook of the kitchen just to make a cup o' joe.  My organizing brain has wanted to do a little coffee station for a while now, so I was thrilled with Ashley, stopping by from 7th House on the Left, decided to share her version with us today.  Here she is now!


Over the past year, Greg and I’ve been working on a major kitchen renovation. We’re finally bringing the project to a close by putting some of the small finishing touches in place. Something Greg has wanted in the kitchen since day one is a coffee station. Not a big, fancy espresso machine or anything, just a little section of the kitchen where he can easily put together his morning coffee and indulge his inner coffee geek. While Greg looked at this as a morning necessity, I saw an excuse to organize!


Having a coffee station is a great way to get your morning started on the right foot and makes those extra early mornings a little more enjoyable. When you’re half-awake and up before the sun, it’s great to have a nice, organized area where you can prep your coffee without having to think too hard – especially if you’re not a morning person, haha!


When making a coffee station, you obviously need to start with a coffee maker, right? We just got around to buying a coffee maker this past weekend, which is what spurred this project on in the first place. We decided on Cuisinart’s 12-cup drip brewer and hot water system, and we LOVE it. I promise I don’t work for them, haha. The hot water dispenser is what sold us. You can use it to make anything from a cup of tea, cocoa, oatmeal, soup, to ramen. We eat oatmeal around here quite often, and we both enjoy a cup of hot tea from time to time, so this feature comes in especially handy. Which, I guess would make this more of a
coffee/tea/oatmeal station…?


Next to the coffee maker, we have a small tray with a few of our daily necessities. I like to keep the kitchen counters as uncluttered as possible. That being the case, I decided to keep things simple and corralled just a few things and put them on a small tray. That way, if I need the counter space for anything, I can easily move it out of the way. I filled a small creamer with tea spoons for stirring and placed it on the tray with a jar of nutmeg and a glass votive candle holder turned Starbucks Via packet holder. I plan on switching out the nutmeg for other seasonal flavorings as the holidays roll around. I have a bottle of gingerbread flavoring waiting in the wings!

Like I mentioned earlier, in the mornings, the less hassle the better. In that case, I’m more of a Starbucks Via person {their Carmel Macchiato is really good} while Greg, no matter how much of a hurry he’s in, avoids any form of instant coffee like the plague. That’s why the Via packets are sometimes replaced with a container of Greg’s favorite coffee. Yep, marriage = compromising from time to time.


I designated three shelved in the cabinet above the coffee maker to the rest of our coffee/tea necessities…


Let’s start at the top. Here, I put the things we don’t need to get to on an everyday basis – extra coffee, extra filters, scoops, boxes of specialty tea, etc. I designated one basket for tea and one for coffee by hot-gluing bookplate labels on the front. Next to the baskets are the coffee grinder, a silver sugar bowl and matching butter dish that I only use every now and then.


On the middle shelf, we have the tea bags and sugar {which is actually Splenda}. I put the tea bags and sugar in glass jars. Ordinarily, I’m a label fanatic, even when it comes to clear jars like these. However, in this case, since you can clearly see what’s in them, I decided to refrain myself. But it might not stay like that for long, haha. Next to the jars are our to-go mugs for hot drinks on the go.


I put the things we use most frequently, like coffee mugs and {more!} flavorings, on the bottom shelf. To keep things simple, I decided to keep only four mugs on the shelf – just enough for the two of us. I keep the rest of our mugs in another cabinet and only bring them out when we have family/friends over. Next to the mugs is what we call the “flavoring tray”. I filled a silver creamer with individual French vanilla creamer cups. The saltshaker is filed with cinnamon {one of my favorite coffee flavors next to nutmeg} and the little ceramic owl is a sugar shaker for “real” sugar for people who prefer it over Splenda. It’s fun to pull it out when people come over so they can have a variety of options for their coffee.


Now that we have a totally organized coffee station, it makes mornings a little more enjoyable and a great way to get the day started right. We’ve only had the new coffee machine for a few days but I’m already getting the used to my new morning coffee ritual. Coffee and a muffin, anyone?



"I'm Ashley from 7th House on the Left - a blog where my husband, Greg, and I talk about renovating, decorating and living in our first house here in Hanover, Virginia. I’ve been an interior design enthusiast and a long-time fan of all things organizing. Yep, I was the kid with the perfectly arranged Disney stuffed animals, alphabetized coloring books and the categorized and color-coded sticker book. When I'm not busy writing or doing projects around the house, I love classic TV shows (particularly I Love Lucy) and curling up with Greg, Bentley (our 9-pound Pomeranian), a blanket and a good black and white classic movie – I’m a complete sucker for Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant films. I'm thrilled and honored to be a part of the IHeart Organizing team and excited to get to work!"

63 comments:

  1. We don't drink coffee in our house, but this makes me want to start. I LOVE it!!! It's so great to organize things to have everything right together :) Great job.

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  2. I love this. I just stocked up on my instant VIA for when I run out of grounds. Beautiful organization and such lovely photos. Nice place to wake up to in the morning!

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  3. Thanks so much for this post! I'm working on a coffee station for my husband as a part of his birthday ins few weeks. Thanks for the ideas!

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  4. Great organization. We too have a coffee/tea station. Make mornings so much more enjoyable!!

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  5. i have that same coffee maker! and mugs! and grinder! about that maker: i love it, too! but, it's annoying when i have to put water in it. i have to slide it out from underneath the cabinet to open up the top all the way. any suggestions on a cool, organized, pretty way to fix that? i was thinking something that rolled out but wouldn't take up any more space.

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, I know what you mean about that! You could always try adding some ball bearing rollers to the bottom of a pretty tray? Hope that helps!

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  6. I love your idea of corralling the coffee and teas into individual baskets. Mine just jump out of the cabinets at me every time I open the door :(

    Doing it!

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  7. Great job on the coffee station--so important when coffee is how you wake up!! Also, I have to comment on the beautiful way you have used white in your kitchen. We are currently renting and we have an old brown kitchen. Soon we will be starting the search for a home and I have been thinking and dreaming in white these days. Thanks for more inspiration on that!
    Anita Y. in southern California

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  8. Love the little, blue tray! Would you mind saying where you found that?

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  9. I love the prints on the kitchen wall! Did you make those or buy them somewhere?

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    1. Thank you! They are available for purchase in our shop, Brown & Barkley. Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BROWNandBARKLEY

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    2. Those prints are SO cute!! I love the rest of your shop, too! (Time to go warn the hubby -- this could get dangerous!)

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  10. Your post makes me want to tweek out "coffee station". I am alittle curious about your lack of a coffee cup collection.
    1) we don't run our dishwasher everyday so we need more mugs
    2) We would need more for when we have company
    3) Coffee cups seems to breed like rabbits in our house

    Do you have another spot in your kitchen that you store more?

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    1. Thank you! Yes, we keep extra mugs (just like the clear ones in the photo) for when we have company in the cabinet over the fridge. Hope the helps!

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  11. Definitely helpful to have a station! I love how everything is organized and when the cabinet is open, it's so pretty.

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  12. This is a fantastic post! I can't wait to make my own coffee station!

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  13. OMG- I just love this! I couldn't live without my coffee in the morning and REALLY look forward to it! Great coffee bar Ashley! And seriously, that last picture is just awesome- pinning!!

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  14. I love this! What a perfect way to embrace the morning. Thank you for all your tips and pretty photos!

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  15. where did you get the coffee mugs with the letters? i love them!

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    1. Anthro has them, but there are usually some at TJMaxx or HomeGoods - happy shopping to you! :)

      http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/shopgifts-monogram/78404.jsp

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    2. They are beautiful, indeed!

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  16. Gorgeous!! Now if only I drank coffee....

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  17. Where does the "every day" coffee go? Am I just not seeing it?

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  18. I know what I'm doing this weekend!! What a great idea.

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  19. Love the Black baskets. Where did you find them?

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    1. Thanks! They are from Target (about $6). They actually come with a fabric liner, but I liked the look without it. Luckily, they come right out. Hope that helps!

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  20. First of all: I love your kitchen. It's crisp, clean & empty. But I wonder: where do you keep the teabags and flavour cups, and all the other refill-things that just don't come in small packages?

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    1. Thank you! We keep extra tea bags and creamer in the baskets on the top shelf. Anything bigger is kept in our closet in the utility room where we keep extra gallons of water, paper towels, etc. Hope that helps!

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  21. Love this! I'd drink way more coffee if everything looked this pretty :)

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  22. Love the organized coffee station!!! We have a small "hot beverage" station at our house, but it's nowhere near as organized as this! I need to use this as inspiration! My main problem is too many cords from the electric tea kettle, coffee maker and Nespresso machines. What I really want is a small mini fridge in the cabinet for milk since I feel too lazy sometimes to walk the 5 feet to the fridge :)

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  23. I seriously need to trade coffee stations. Mine doesn't look this fab.

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  24. And you inspired me to go rearrange my coffee supplies in the kitchen. With three teenagers and a million coffee cups, our "supplies" were spread out around the kitchen, but no longer! I am hopeful for more simplicity in the morning! Why didn't I think to do this before????

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  25. Oh, your cabinet. Ohhh, your logical, organized, uncluttered cabinet. Love the coffee station but luh-HUV the cabinet :)

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  26. That kitchen makes me salivate... ohmygosh! The subway tile alone!

    I adore her coffee station!!! I'm uber inspired to work on mine now! Thanks dahhling! =)

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  27. This is so cute and functional! I'm jealous of the hot water dispenser on the coffee maker! And I'll have to try Starbucks' Via for when I'm in a rush!
    ocsummeroflove.blogspot.com

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  28. Oh my heavens! This is the cutest thing ever. I am going to steal, I mean, appropriate this idea in my kitchen. : )

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  29. I love me my morning coffee so this is like the happiest cupboard ever! I love this whole corner...the station, the cupboard and those charming prints - beautiful, Ashley!

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  30. Beautiful! I really like the different containers you used to hold everything. I want to try it in my own kitchen. :)

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  31. Ashley - your beautiful photos make me want to start drinking coffee. Lovely idea!

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  32. LOVE IT!!! Gosh I love that subway tile of yours!!!
    Lots of Love
    Ashli

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  33. I LOVE the framed pictures in your kitchen... where can I find them?!

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    1. Thanks! You can find them in our Etsy shop! Here's the link: brownandbarkley.etsy.com

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  34. I'm dying to know what you store in that cute little owl on the bottom shelf... is it functional or just decorative? And where did you get it? Thanks for the inspiration!

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  35. I'm with Lauren, I love those pictures! Where did you get them?!

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  36. Thank you! You can find them in our Etsy shop. Here's the link: brownandbarkley.etsy.com

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  37. I have the same coffee pot . By the way, it works best with No.6 coffee filters. I love my pot! I have a coffee center as well. 2 pots of coffee a day for me....

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  38. This is going to have to be a must in the next house! Our little 'tea station' seeing as I don't like coffee and hubby only has it now and then. Beautifully done! So inspiring :)
    Kim xx

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  39. Nice organization, but lots of waste generated with all those individual servings.

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    1. exactly what I was thinking too....and so much wasted space in the cabinets....says the woman with a tiny kitchen and no pantry.

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  40. LOVE THIS!! Simply ADORE it!!! My fiancé drinks a lot of coffee while I'm more of a tea person. I love the idea of combining both of them in the same space! Definitely pinning this!! Thanks!
    xx

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  41. PERFECTION! We are a hot beverage family! We love all things coffee, tea and hot cocoa and have several varieties of each in the house. I have a cabinet that I keep all these things in, but this is inspiring me to go re-organize it immediately! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  42. Fantastic space! I wish I had a corner I could devote to my love of coffee. P.S. Your kitchen is beautiful!

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  43. Cute! I have been wanting a coffee station for a while...now I just have to find a spot :)

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  44. Yes to the coffee and muffin and the coffee station! :) Love the clean and spacious look of the cabinets!

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  45. I am absolutely in love with this, it has inspired me to finally get around to setting up my husbands own coffee station. To everyone who is in love with the blue paisley platter, you can buy it online if you can't find it in stores (the site says it's not sold in stores, which I think is because it's pretty much sold out everywhere. I tried two Targets today with no luck. The platter is found here:

    http://www.target.com/p/home-blue-paisley-appetizer-tray/-/A-13862559?reco=Rec|pdp|13862559|ClickCP|item_page.vertical_1&lnk=Rec|pdp|ClickCP|item_page.vertical_1

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  46. I love this idea. Our coffee station is shoved between the microwave and dish dryer due to small counter space. I have also found some great products online from companies like Clever Container. Also have seen suggestions to create/use chalkboard or dry erase labels so they can be changed when the containers are reused! I would love for you guys to come to my party (see my URL)

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  47. This is a beautiful set up! My husband and I recently became full time coffee drinkers and now I want all of our coffee-drinking accessories as organized as yours. :) Thanks for sharing!

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  48. I love this idea, it's so much cuter than the way I have my space organized now. Plus, what's a house without a coffee making station :) Love it!

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  49. I am in love! I think I'll start coming to your house to enjoy my morning coffee. :) Thanks for the inspiration.

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  50. Really amazing organization. I Love the clean and spacious look of the cabinets! We too have a coffee/tea station. It rally make mornings more enjoyable and exciting!!

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  51. Gorgeous stuff. I'm trying to make a coffee/tea area today and nothings coming to me with my layout :/ I have a long empty counter so it's not a cute tucked in area, and all the counters are raised above, not to be tucked into.

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  52. Love this! I need to find a pretty little tray for our coffee station. By the way what does the "B" on the mug stand for? It's not Ashley or Greg..... :)

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