An Expedit Bar

When you have a massive bookcase with 25 cubes of glorious storage space, what do you do?

You put a bar in it.

I should note that we are NOT big drinkers. But there’s something so grown-up feeling when you have a designated ‘bar area’ of some sort. That is especially true of one that isn’t reminiscent of your college days including a stack of red solo cups.

Given how much space the 5×5 Expedit shelf offers, we decided using one column for a bar would be a spiffy way to use some of it. Up on the top shelf we’ve stowed our martini glasses and a few other mismatched glasses. These are set atop a wine guide. (We do have wine glasses, but they already live in the rack beneath our open shelf in the kitchen.)

The next shelf down we’ve stowed our alcohol on this glossy yellow tray. We first introduced the tray last Halloween, but this will be it’s official home now. And one of my favorite additions to the shelf is this bottle opener. With it’s happy anchor motif, I basically fell in love immediately when I found it on Mod Cloth.

Below the cheery yellow tray we have a few smaller fixings hidden behind my Gin artwork that we shared last week. It’s a handy way to hide a few more miss-matched bottles and little odds and ends that are useful but not quite as pretty to see.

The baskets I’ve stowed beneath hold extra bar related odds and ends, like stoppers and straws and cocktail napkins. This way they’re handy, but out of sight.

I also picked up this wine bottle opener in the Target Dollar spot. It wasn’t something we really need (is anything we buy at Target ever really needed?) but it was that teal blue I love and it really pops on the shelf.

Also, that fancy masquerade mask wine glass? A treasure that was hand painted for me by my dear friend Erin. She even included a drink recipe on the bottom!