just before sean and i got married, i hosted a sleepover bachelorette party for a friend, and needed to make coffee for the ladies in the morning.  thankfully, we had already been given a coffee maker at a wedding shower, so i was ready to go.  until i wasn’t.  i put in a filter, added coffee grounds, and poured the water right in, and turned on the machine.  i guess i should also add here that i wasn’t a coffee drinker yet, so i had never made coffee before.  at age 21.  so the machine starts brewing and… water is dripping all over the floor, with grounds mixed in.  i had poured the water right on top of the coffee grounds, not in the back to heat up.  oops!  thats the thing about mistakes: if they are bad enough, you can learn from them the first time.

so now that i’m a grown up and drink coffee, i decided it would be fun to have a little coffee station in our rental house.  we had a little spot on our counter, between the fridge and the sink that worked just fine, but there was nothing special about it.  we had a space in our dining room and a table that fit just perfectly there, so we tried it out – and i love it!

i’ve had this table since i moved out of my parents’ house when i was 18.  actually, i took it from their house and it had been in the original cabin before they remodeled our home.  its the perfect little side table, with a single drawer and the best part is the enamel top!  years ago i had spray painted the top (why?!) and the paint was chipping, so my dad took it on as a project and scraped and sanded all the paint off until we (he) got to the shiny enamel again.

i moved the coffee maker, and the tray i store the beans, grounds, grinder and other goodies on.  i also added the milk steamer, both for me and for the kids to make steamers.  the little drawer holds the filters perfectly.

i bought this cup holder on an absolute whim several months ago.  it was some special daily deal that apparently was an amazing price and i couldn’t resist. #NoSelfControl.  i was so surprised at my lack of thinking things through on this impulse purchase that i left it boxed up in the garage for a couple months!  i really wanted it behind the coffee maker, but it really didn’t make sense.  plus i was overruled on which wall it should go on, so there’s that.  it has actually turned out to be a great purchase that we all use many times everyday.

the space needed something above it, so i went into our living room, pulled this framed print off my wall (and still have a blank spot up there) and moved it here.

i’ve had this clock for years, but am so over the red, so i just grabbed a bottle of black paint and swiped on a coat for a much improved look.

previously, this space just held our trash can (which now fits perfectly under the coffee station table), our calendar and chore chart, the red clock, and more often than not, our broom and swiffer. #notcute

now the space is still super functional, a happy place to start my day, and it cost me nothing but a little time.  well, i did have to buy the hazelnut syrup, but only because i was out if it and really, its kind of an essential ;)

my 2 favorite ways to have my morning coffee:

a small drizzle of hazelnut syrup at the bottom of my cup, 3/4 full cup of coffee, top off with frothed milk

or

a small squirt of agave syrup, a couple shakes of cinnamon, coffee, and top off with almond milk.

get the look for yourself:

coffee cart // print // clock // cup rack // coffee maker // frother // pour spout // squeeze bottle // cinnamon shaker // vintage blue mason jars // enamel tray // sugar shaker