Redoing It with DIY and PSE: My most favorite...about the bar

We redid the Family Room Bar this Winter/Spring. Here are the Before and Afters and pictures of the "wine cellar" and oven HERE.

We are using this space much more than we imagined. We've even used the oven a ton. Here are some of my favorite things about it right now.

First, the glass tile we chose as the back splash. Can you see how it catches the light. It's really lovely. I also love these corbels. They were reclaimed from my Mother-in-Law's house when she pulled them out of a bathroom. They sat in her flower shed for several years and were headed for the dumpster. They were dirty and had spider sacks on them. We cleaned them up and held on to them for the perfect project. Here, they simply got a new paint job and then were installed.

Now, one might argue that this is Ryan's favorite part. We built this for wine storage and to display different whiskeys and bourbons. ( I still don't know the difference between the two.) It turned out just as we designed it. Below this is a cabinet and wine chiller. This area is functional and attractive.

This is inside the bar area. It's the tiled area between the counter top and the bar bump-up. We knew we wanted to tile it and had these really cool hand-made art tiles from Cuba. (Another hand-me-down from my MIL.) She had these in a garage sale, but I snagged them. I'd been looking for some neat way to use them and when we started this tile job--inspiration hit. We used the black pencil liner tile on the bottom to eliminate the need to cut the glass tiles lengthwise, and it provides a neat accent. And the 1x1 brown tiles are Emprador Dark Marble leftover from our kitchen and hearth room fireplace remodels. The addition of those tiles was a last minute decision as I was waiting for Ryan to cut some glass tiles for me with the saw.

I like this so much because it's such a neat surprise. You won't ever see it unless you come behind the counter and look for it.