Good looking furniture doesn't have to break the bank.
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I spent this past weekend with friends I had not seen in two years! It was so much fun. We used to be neighbors in Venice Beach and became great friends. Two years ago my husband and I moved to Northern California and we’ve been unable to see them until now. They just moved to Northern California, only two hours away from us, into a spacious three bedroom home. They where unsure about what to do with their living space so I offered to help. We rearranged some furniture and in the end decided they needed more storage and surface space to display some decorative items. After debating between a few different options we decided to go with sideboards flanking the entry into the dining area. I love symmetry. They have a lot of spaces yet to be furnished, so we needed to find beautiful but affordable options. We needed something no more than 33” wide. Here is the high end piece I started with as inspiration:
Crate & Barrel - Franka Flip Top Bar Cabinet
This bar Cabinet is beautiful and has so much room to store all of your bar essentials. If you can splurge on this beauty- amazing! We needed two. Unfortunately two of these Crate & Barrel beauties would have put us way over budget. Their current home is not their forever home, after all. They wanted something that would provide this look without the high price tag. Here are some of the options we looked at:
Amazon - Sideboard Buffet Cabinet with Rattan Door
Amazon - Sideboard Buffet Cabinet
Amazon Finnhomy Sideboard Cabinet
You might notice right away that none of them are true “bar cabinets”, like the original Crate & Barrel piece, because they do not have any of the inner workings of what you expect to see in a bar cabinet. They do however work just fine! for what we needed Yes, having all of the bar elements and thick doors that hold glassware, etc would have been nice- but they are not essential. There is enough space to store wine bottles, cocktails tools, recipe books, etc. We all love our coffee table books, but don’t forget about your bar books! There are so many good ones.
The Bartender’s Manifesto - Amazon
I’m Just Here For The Drinks - Amazon
The Drunken Botanist - Amazon
Wine Folly - Amazon
So which sideboard was the winner? They were all good options! Most of the current furnishings in the home have some white detail to them. Therefore the second option could have fit in nicely. We decided against it because we didn’t want all of their pieces to look like we were trying to force a match. I always recommend staying away from matching all of your furniture. You don’t want to look like a catalog. The first option had nice angled legs and round door pulls that blended in perfectly. The third however, had the right woven rattan detail. It was the natural look we were after with the modern rattan detail we needed. It was perfect and you just couldn’t beat the price.
I’m not going to lie- there was a time when I would not have considered Amazon as a place to buy furniture for my home. That time is long gone. Not only can you find good options for any space in your home, but I LOVE that I can get them very quickly.
The sideboards arrived in two days! Keep in mind, that the process doesn’t have to end there. You can make a minor adjustment to bring it closer to our original inspiration. To make it your own, if what you want just isn’t out there. We decided that we wanted to paint the hardware. Rustoleum makes amazing products. This is one of those moments when it comes in very handy.
Door hardware is usually very easy to remove. A couple of coats of this lovely Antique Brass spray paint will get us closer to the original look we were going for. Antique Brass is warm, but not too gold. Follow along for upcoming photos of the final product!
Rustoleum Antique Brass - Amazon