Step Right Up to the Bar

One of the many joys of getting married is getting stuff.  Yeah, yeah, that statement is dripping with consumerism, but it's basically true.  Nearly everyday, we arrive home to find a box full of something that we wonder how in the world we ever lived without.  For example, how did we live each day without a Flavor Duo Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream, and Sorbet Maker?! Or this gorgeous stand mixer?

I know that Pete has certainly asked himself how he ever lived without a Pete-sized wonderland of packing peanuts...

Every high has it's low, though, right?  The resulting low of our friends' and families' undeserved generosity is our utter lack of space.  We've not even walked down the aisle, and we're already stashing kitchenwares on top of the cabinets, in our entryway, in storage.  Which leads us to a delightful before and after...

Michael is a bit of a cocktail fanatic, which means prime real estate in our kitchen cabinets is taken up by all varieties of liquors, vermouths, bitters, hard-to-find liqueurs, etc.  We've long wanted a bar cabinet for the living room, but felt we lacked the space.  As I continued to see the kitchen cabinets fill up and reached the realization that we very, very rarely use the collapsible table bolted to our wall, we determined that if we found a modestly-sized credenza, we could make this happen and free up much-needed space in the kitchen.

Rarely-Used Collapsible Table

Once the decision was made, it only took a few days before we found and purchased this perfectly-sized little beaut on Craigslist for $60:

BEFORE

It was in great shape and probably didn't really need anything at all done to it, but it was just too traditional for my taste so I painted it and changed out the hardware. After a weekend of work that included 5 coats of paint and a ruined manicure, here it is today, successfully housing all of our bar needs:

AFTER