Day 15: Tea & Coffee Bar

Anyone who knows me knows I love tea.  I drink it everyday, several times a day.  Yesterday I realized that I walk across my kitchen to put the kettle on, then walk across it again to get the tea on the other side.  Then I cross it again to get the mug and once more to get my stevia sweetener.  That is serious MADNESS!  For something I do several times daily, I need more efficiency than that!

In comes Pinterest.  I have looked up several coffee/tea bars to get ideas before, but for some reason I never pinned them because I never found one that suited me.  I looked them up again and decided to take bits and peices from each pin to form my own idea about what my coffee/tea bar should look like.

The best thing about this project is that I had everything I needed already.  And, to make it even sweeter, everything I used in the project was either a gift, dollar store find, or a garage sale find.  I started with where my tea was stored and decided to put the "bar" on the counter there.

In the midst of doing all this, I used a few tricks I learned on Pinterest.  My kettle was SUPER dirty with calcium.  So, I followed a pin on Pinterest and put 1 part water, 1 part vinegar in the pot (about 1 cup of each), and swished it around until the calcium started to come loose.  Then I let it sit for a few hours.  I just had to rinse the kettle until the vinegar scent left and it was as good as new!

Before vinegar/water...

...and after!  What a difference!

The next pin I used was one that I wish I had found years ago.  To drill the holes in the wall in the right spot without having to risk measuring the distance of the holes wrong, you just put some tape over the holes on the shelf (a $1 garage sale find!).  I made a mark over each hole and transferred the tape to the wall.  In one swift effort, I was able to drill the holes in the correct spot.  I hate to admit it, but, if you look under some of my mirrors or shelves already hung, you may find more than two holes.  I'm so glad I found this pin!

The last specific pin I used for this project was using contact paper to make a label.  I bought some contact paper at the dollar store the other day that I love.  How perfect to label my tea jar (a $2 garage sale find!) with this contact paper!  It was super simple.  I just cut the contact paper with scalloped shears and used a Sharpie to neatly write "Tea" on the label.  I peeled the backing off and stuck it on the jar. 

I also printed out a jpeg from a pin that says, "Keep calm and drink tea" in a color that matched my kitchen decor.  I brought in my kitchen decor by adding the lemon garland.  Lastly, I added the silver tray, another garage sale find.  I think perhaps I was inspired by all the tea trays on Downton Abbey.  I think it adds a nice touch.  I love how the whole thing turned out!  And now I'm going to go enjoy a cup of tea!

Before

After

(If you are wondering where the coffee comes into this, I don't drink it, but my hubby does, so the coffee grinder and Chemex is in the cabinet above.)