There seems to be a real theme going on here...I seem to be cocktail obsessed.  The other night we were sitting in the family room, and the husband was musing on the fact that he had always wanted to have a room with a built-in bar.  Maybe it's a leftover from the nostalgia of his childhood, but I think he truly meant a walk-behind-it, stools, and kegs kind of thing.  Since that's not going to happen, I decided to surprise him with something a little more realistic.

We have this distressed console in the living room that really hasn't been utilized.  I've changed the things sitting on it so many times, but nothing has ever felt quite right.  Since it already has a wine rack, why not make it a bar?


I started with a simple tray.


All of our bar tools had been gathered in this ice bucket, but it had been on a shelf out of the way.  I actually found even more things after I finished taking these pictures.  We have quite the barrel full.


I pulled together a variety including mixers, bitters, and rimming sugars.  It may not be a built in bar, but it's a good workable area that we can continue to refine.