May 13, 2020by Kristin24 CommentsBuild, Collaborations, Decor, DIY, One Room Challenge, Portfolio

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK TWO // THE BOURBON CABINETS


One week down, and seven more to go!!  This week I wanted to share what has been a major inspiration for the space.  I spoke about my late father’s Bourbon Cabinets a bit last week, not only are they being utilized in the space, but I took a lot of inspiration from them for the entire design.  Sadly, they lived in our old storage unit for over a year!!  I would seriously go and visit them… just to make sure they were okay.  But seriously, when we were house hunting one of my first priorities was brainstorming where I could use these!  One dream was that I would cut off the really pretty curved legs and use them on a kitchen counter as cabinets…. However, none of the homes really fit the bill for that plan.  My other wish, which I kept to myself so my husband would not think me insane, was recessing them into the walls somewhere.

Something like these inspiration shots.  I honestly had no clue how we would go about it, but secretly I knew it would be amazing.


I also thought about how these cabinets were FILLED with bourbon.  My brother and I split the collection and I still have a few bottles left, but these cabinets will never see that amount of bourbon again.  The rich warm tones, the graphic labels, the glass decanters are all proving to be more of an inspiration for this space than I originally intended.  Not literally, but elements of the classic cocktail keep working there way unexpectedly in the design and you will see me referencing them throughout.  More on that in a bit.

So you know my secret wish to recess the cabinets?!  Well wouldn’t you know that I immediately saw them replacing these 90’s dry bar cabinets in our space! And they are almost the exact width of the cabinets.  We had to make this happen.  You can start to see it too now, am I right?!


First things first, we had to rip out the cabinets and the cracked laminate countertops.  Buh-Bye.


Next, we framed out the opening with some 2×4’s.  Making sure to set them back the depth of a new piece of drywall.  (The new drywall is the green colored board you will be seeing a lot of coming up.)


These next few steps were especially tricky.  The thing I love about these cabinets are the arches & curves!  But arches and curves are not as easy to duplicate.  Also, the cabinets are not 100% identical.  So we could not just create a template and use it for both walls.  The only way we could think of creating this shape exactly was to trace the back of the cabinets onto the drywall.  And then I cut them out using a jigsaw.  Very carefully!


I am not sure that I was breathing while I cut this first one out.  We decided to leave that rectangle of drywall towards the bottom on to give the board a little more structural integrity for the install.


After attaching the drywall to the frame we had just installed, I took the jigsaw to the rectangle to remove that portion.


All we had left was to slide them in, and hopefully they fit!!


For the most part, they fit.  Lol.  We had some breakage down at the legs, but I was able to salvage that later.  We also slipped a spare piece of drywall under the legs to fill the void.

While still rough and unfinished, my husband and I were so proud that we were able to recess these cabinets in whole.  We did screw through the inside of the cabinet into the framing to secure them, but if we ever wanted to remove them in the future… they would be intact.  That was our intended goal.

Now all thats left for these guys is lots of drywall mud, sanding, painting and styling!


I am thinking about using this table I found at Goodwill a few months back in here as well… however I am not a fan of all of the wood tones going on, so maybe it gets skirted.

Plus, we just got our first deliveries from some of our very generous One Room Challenge Sponsors!!


We received some pretty epic light fixtures from Hudson Valley Light Group and some door knobs from Emtek to replace the mediocre ones that are currently in the space.

And remember how I mentioned earlier that elements revolving around bourbon keep working their way into the design?  Well as soon as I pulled out the light fixture and door knobs, my daughter said those look just like the ice balls in Pop Pop’s bourbon!  So not intentional, but so so true.  Maybe subconsciously that is the reason I choose them.  So see… not literal, but inspiration can absolutely come from anywhere.


Now we are onto operation built ins (yes there are more!), moulding and lighting install.

Just in case you missed any of the other weeks, here are the links.

Week One // The Before
Week Two // The Bourbon Cabinets
Week Three // The Built-Ins
Week Four // The Built-Ins + Moulding
Week Five // The Mudroom
Week Six // The Bathroom
Week Seven // The Final Touches

Be sure to check out what everyone else has been up to!!