Are your counters and rooms overflowing, even though you’ve thinned out your stuff? Are you scratching your head on how to carve out extra space?

 We have a creative organizing strategy for you….make a BAR!

(No, not THAT kind of bar!!) …a THEMED “bar” in your home!

What is a “bar”?

It’s a carved-out niche dedicated to ONE purpose that relieves crowded areas. Examples that I will share in this article include:

• Barista Bar
• Wine Bar
• Shoe Bar
• Beauty Bar
• Health Bar

Our Order Restorers love creating extra space by commandeering a couple shelves, a cabinet, or unused wall space and creating a themed “bar” for our clients.

Reasons to Love Bars (Besides Extra Space)

Once you see these fun spaces, we think you will love bars as much as we do! Here are some of our favorite things about bars:

1. Relieve congested high-traffic zones
2. Creatively solve organizing challenges
3. Consolidate specific daily-use items in a set-apart space
4. Add a focal point to a space
5. Make daily activities feel special
6. Emphasize hospitality
7. Highlight your priorities

Wondering HOW bars can do all these things? The list that follows includes some of the bars we’ve created in our own homes and those of our clients and how these bars are bringing all these advantages to the homes and families who use them!

Barista Bar

But first, caffeine. Would we start any other place?! Ha!

In this Barista Bar,  our organizing consultant used an antique cabinet to hold all the items that go along with hot beverages – coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and cider. She stores unsightly items inside the cabinet and keeps the selection of drinks in view.

We love how she attached metal baskets to the wall to hold items, creating storage where there wasn’t any! This cozy spot sits between her kitchen and living room – the perfect spot for guests enjoying a warm drink while also conveniently close to the sink and dishwasher.

What we love about Barista Bars is that they emphasize hospitality.

Nothing says “welcome” quite like a warm cup of your favorite beverage. Therefore, a Barista Bar is an excellent way to demonstrate hospitality in your home. Not only will your own family enjoy this nook, your guests will feel right at home with everything they need to fuel up in one convenient, inviting location.

Additionally, relocating your coffee and tea makers along with the ingredients and mix-ins relieves crowded counter, cabinet, and drawer space in the kitchen.

If you’re ready to create a Barista Bar, here are a few things to consider when choosing the perfect spot:

• Ensure there is an outlet nearby!
• Include cups, stir sticks, napkins, and mix-ins – everything you’ll need for a one-stop beverage!
• Put extra coffee/tea/cocoa, filters, etc out of site to keep the surface looking neat
• Consider the counter height – too low may be awkward and could be dangerous if there are little ones around
• Want to up your game? Add a mini-fridge to keep cream cool and close by!

Wine Bar

The next bar is the most obvious one – the Wine Bar. What we love about creating a Wine Bar is that it is an easy way to add a focal point to a room.

Even if you don’t have a wine cellar or cooler, you can easily create a simple bar for wine or spirits. In this home, we’ve tucked this wine cabinet in between two doors, making use of a hard-to-use space.

The top priority in this home is FIT, so this Wine Bar is diminutive. If you have a larger quantity of wines to store or host bigger parties, you can get something larger for more surface space that can also act as a serving space.

This Wine Bar includes glasses and a collection of the couple’s favorite wines. In addition to creating more storage space and freeing up cabinet space in the kitchen, it creates a lovely focal point for this dining room.

TIP: Inventory the volume of your items first to ensure proper fit! It’s always a great idea to measure.

So, if you love the vino, consider adding a Wine Bar to the space and creating an elegant focal point for the room! Don’t forget to put some flowers or personal touches, like a family picture or a message board to make it pop!

Shoe Bar

Shoes are one of those ongoing organizing challenges we come across in most homes. Many people toss their shoes on the floor of a closet where they become a jumbled mess. Or, they pile up by the front door, creating a hazard for passersby.

What do we do to solve this organizing challenge? Create a SHOE BAR!

One of our favorite room conversions to do for our clients is to take a hall closet, remove coats and rarely-used items, and create a Shoe Bar by adding tons of shelves. This prevents creeping shoe clutter throughout the house and can make your shoes last longer when they receive better care!

Here are two Shoe Bars we created in the closets of TV Host Stephanie Kralevich in a recent makeover.

We love creating Shoe Bars at our own home, too! This is my family’s Shoe Bar (well, one of them). Dream Acres is full of vintage touches, and this old soda display rack is perfect! Sitting in my mudroom, this is an easy place for my kids to put away their shoes right as they enter our home.

This simple solution keeps shoes in their place and takes them vertical, saving floor space! As you can see, Shoe Bars are a creative way to solve this organizing challenge.

You may need multiple Shoe Bars in your home:

• Garage – wrangle the “outdoor” shoes and keep them out of the house
• Bedroom closet – for nicer shoes worn less frequently
• Back door – play shoes or yard shoes

We hope this fun idea helps you finally conquer Mount Shoe!

Beauty Bar

Do you have to battle for bathroom time or counter space? You will LOVE this idea!

Snag a little wall space in your bedroom and create a Beauty Bar!

This one includes a vanity, stool, mirror, lighting, a roll-about with products, and some wall mounted shelves for supplies.

So many fun solutions packed in one area!

• These wall-mounted spice racks are perfect for holding items and keeping them from falling
• This lipstick holder is great for keeping essential oils – nature’s beauty products – close at hand

• This rolling cart creates convenient vertical storage space
• These magnetic spice tins hold small items out of the way, but in sight. Brilliant!

Creating a Beauty Bar relieves the morning demand on the bathrooms and creates an attractive personal space. With a space like this, your morning routine will become “me time!”

What we love about creating a Beauty Bar that it takes a daily task and turns it into something special. It prioritizes self-care by encouraging you to take a few moments to sit and pamper yourself before beginning your day.

Health Bar

Now, this is something most folks haven’t thought of – but nearly everyone needs: a Health Bar!

A Health Bar is a great example of how creating a bar in your home can help you highlight a priority in your life. By dedicating precious real estate to something that is important to you, you are putting first things first in your life. When your home is centered around what matters to you, you’ll enjoy the true benefits of organizing!

In this home, we used these stacked storage cubes to create a space where all the products related to supporting this couple’s health are housed.

Before creating this Health Bar, these supplements were taking over the kitchen counters.

Now, they are easy to access and put away, making it easier for the couple to use them daily.

To create a Health Bar in your own home, designate a shelf or an entire section in your pantry for nothing but Health enhancers – supplements, powders, essential oils, special cookbooks. Consider where you mix or consume these items and carve out space close by to make supporting your health convenient!

There are so many possibilities for creating “bars” around your home! Just evaluate your crowded spaces and look for an overwhelming quantity of similar items (like health helpers or tea boxes) and you’re off and running. Look for adjacent spaces in which you can carve out a dedicated “bar” to house that daily function.

We hope these “bar” ideas have sparked your creativity and have given you some ideas for how you can create extra space in your own home. Share in the comments what types of bars you have at home, or what you’re now inspired to create!

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