Create Your Own Self-Serve Coffee Bar

We have a great room transformation for you today, one that changes both the look and the function of the room to work for this busy family. Sarah is a mom of five kids who loves having guests feel at home, so she made a buffet in her dining room into a self-serve coffee bar where her guest can help themselves.

As a host, it’s nice to be able to simplify and save some work while still making your guests comfortable. Guests will love being able to help themselves with these other self-serve snack solutions, too! 

DIY Cooler Stand | Birds and Soap

Theater Room Snack Bar from IKEA Cabinets | MK’s Studio

Pottery Barn Inspired Snack Console | Jodi Michelle 

Hi everyone! I’m Sarah from An Inviting Home. I’m a full-time momma to our crew of five and I LOVE it. A year ago we went from 2 kids to 5 kids, in just minutes when we adopted our oldest three kids. We only had three years experience at this whole parenting thing and suddenly had a second grader without ever having sent a child to kindergarten! My passions are adoption, parenting, organization & decor and I love to blog about all of them! When we transitioned to a family of seven we wanted to create a space that all of our kids would enjoy. We now have a space that our kids love to get creative in, we call it our inviting space for kids!

 We love to open up our home to friends and family. It was a little tough, to say the least, to figure out how to still do that AND keep a watchful eye on our five little tornadoes. It took some brainstorming and out of that came our No Barista Needed, Coffee Bar.

 Here are 5 Tips to Create Your Own Custom Coffee Bar!

1) Create a custom chalkboard! I measured out my space, painted chalkboard paint directly onto the wall and then trimmed it out. Home Depot was able to cut my pieces directly to size and then I used square pieces in the corners to line everything up and save from having to match up angles. I used some white paint that I had on hand to give all of the trim two coats. The total cost of this custom chalkboard was $24 and I still have lots of chalkboard paint left for future projects!

 3) Create Simple Instructions for Guests. I also utilized my custom chalkboard to create a simple way of letting people know exactly where to find things. For instance, “our center drawers contain” or “hot water is ready and warm on the stove.”

 4) Use a projector to create a finished look. My husband came up with the brilliant idea to display the words on the chalkboard using a projector that a friend had given us. You would be surprised who might have a projector lying around, so check with your friends to see if you could borrow theirs! 🙂

 5) Finally, coordinate colors to tie your space together and give it that inviting look! I chose white, teal & yellow as my coordinating colors while still adding some other pops of color as well. I tied the teal in by painting the back of the nearby shelves, adding a little color to the corner squares in the trim and using some colored chalk.

The yellow came into play in a fun new lighting fixture that we installed above the table.

I also added a yellow tin from the dollar section at Target that tied in the yellow color and also gave me a functional space for guests to put their garbage.

It is definitely a joy to make coffee in this space whether my husband and I are enjoying a cup of java or guests feel welcome to create something special of their own and make themselves right at home. 

Source List:
Chalkboard Paint – Home Depot
Light – Young House Love design from Shades of Light

Thanks for sharing your great and guest-friendly space with us, Sarah!
See the other homey spaces that Sarah is creating for her brood over at An Inviting Home.