Creating a Coffee Bar with Antique Reproductions

Coffee bars seem to be the thing of young first-time homeowners, but a coffee bar made with antique reproductions can help make the most elegant, vintage home feel even more timeless. Here are some tips on choosing furniture for an in-home coffee bar and personalizing your coffee bar with decorations, pictures, and other furnishings.

Furniture You Need for a Coffee Bar:

The furniture you need for a coffee bar depends on the style and size bar you want. In general, coffee bars can be made as big or small as you want them to be. For these examples, we’ll look at furniture from largest to smallest for the person who wants to use high-quality, repurposed vintage furniture.

Buffet Hutch

The largest piece of furniture that could be used for a coffee bar would be a buffet and hutch. Though buffet hutches are normally used to display china, pottery, or other antiques and collectibles, the new generation of furniture enthusiasts has discovered that the buffet hutch can be used instead to display coffee pots, mugs, and sweeteners. Consider also using things like decorative plants, teas, teacups, and even some of those beloved antiques to make the space your own. Just don’t forget to put your coffee maker in the center of the display as the most important feature.

Buffet/Sideboard with Shelves

The principle here is the same as above: use the sideboard or buffet to display your coffee-maker, coffee, and creamers, but instead of using a hutch for extra space, display the sideboard or buffet against a wall and then install shelves above the buffet. Again, the shelves can be stocked with decorative signs, flowers, and jars for sugar, etc. If you want the coffee bar area to feel like an authentic coffee shop, consider painting the wall behind the buffet or sideboard with chalkboard paint and then adding some chalk art to the wall. As far as display and decoration go, this option offers the widest variety.

Whatnot Shelves

If you’d rather not make your coffee bar the centerpiece of your dining room or kitchen, you may find that repurposing a set of whatnot shelves would work perfectly for an in-home coffee bar. Place the coffee, coffee pot, and a couple of mugs on the top shelf, and then use the bottom shelves to store things like sugar, creamer, and stirring sticks. Even in a smaller space, there’s still plenty of room for decoration, so feel free to place as many small plants, cute signs, and antiques as you’d like or can fit.

Small Bookcase

The size of the bookcase really determines how big of a coffee bar you can have, but if you have a larger bookcase and only want a small coffee bar, you could consider taking out one or two of the top shelves to make room for a coffee pot, sugar, creamer, etc. and then decide to use the bottom shelves for mugs and coffee themed decor.

Tips for Personalization

One of the easiest ways to personalize your in-home coffee bar is to display your collection of mugs, coffees, and teas. Some people would prefer the mugs they display on the coffee bar for all to see to be a clean white or some sort of matching set. However, if you’ve gotten certain mugs as gifts that say things like, “#1 Mom” or “#1 Grandma,” or if you have special, one-of-a-kind mugs that have been hand-crafted or that you’ve gotten on a special trip, consider displaying them instead. Not only does this make your coffee bar highly personalized, but your mugs will also offer plenty of chances for you to share some of your best stories with your guests as you each sip on a hot cup of coffee.

As far as decorations go, you’ll see many in-home coffee bars have decorative signs related to coffee, whether they’re welcoming invitations for your guests to help themselves or some kind of coffee-related joke or pun. You can easily find signs like these to buy, but also consider making one yourself! The most unique sign you can have is the sign that you create yourself, but if you find a funny one that tickles your fancy, by all means, use that too. The key to personalization is to let your guests know who you are by the things that you display, so pick the piece or pieces that feel truest to who you are.

This one might seem obvious, but be sure to decorate your coffee bar with a coffee maker or coffee pot. If you want to keep to the vintage aesthetic, there are a lot of coffee pots that look like they were made in the 50s or 60s. If you instead want your coffee bar to be sleek and elegant, maybe include an espresso machine. Coffee makers come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, colors, and functions, so make sure you do your research before choosing just one, though if you wanted, you could probably fit two coffee makers into your coffee bar.

For other miscellaneous decorations, think about using little plants like succulents to take up space and add some life and color to your coffee display. In addition, the containers you choose for your sugar, creamer, etc... seem like minor details, but all the little pieces of your coffee bar puzzle paint a bigger picture about your home, your family, and yourself. If you want to keep the elegant look, try to match all of the mugs and containers so that everything looks uniform and cohesive. For a more homely, relaxed feel, look at mixing and matching colors in the same (or different, if you’re bold) styles. Against a warm wooden backdrop, namely against one of our pieces, colors like blues, whites, yellows, and greens can have a comforting, sentimental effect on the atmosphere of your home. In addition, monogrammed display pieces, napkins, and mugs have the potential to make your coffee bar feel more homely with a dash of Southern class.

Whatever your in-home coffee bar dreams, we’re confident that you’ll find any antique pieces you need here on our website and don’t forget that we can customize any piece to fit your vision.