Beach Cabin Dry Bar - Mackinaw Road

When we purchased the beach cabin about 7 years ago, I loved the idea of vintage movie chairs in the entryway. We quickly discovered that the varnish wore off with wet swimsuits and towels. Over the years, I have also been craving more storage space. My knees have been hinting at not wanting to run up and down stairs quite as much. Enter, our Beach Cabin dry bar.

Before the Dry Bar

Here is where we started… (ish)

After the Dry Bar

And here is where we ended up…

The plan was to have cabinets stretch across the length of the wall. After shopping around a bit, we landed on the (more or less) in stock grey cabinets from Lowe’s. The kitchen associate was able to help me determine how many cabinets to get. I knew that I wanted the large pull out drawers as well as a pull out trash/recycle bin. I then ordered and picked up the cabinets (and coordinating toe kick, etc) and brought them to the cottage.

I lined up the cabinets and undercounter refrigerator in the order I was hoping for and (mostly) patiently waited for our carpenter to return to Michigan. Because very little in our turn of the century cabin is level, it was 100% necessary for him to help us with the installation.

I hemmed and hawed over the pulls and knobs, landing on burnished brass for an antique feel and also to coordinate with the hardware in the beach cabin kitchen. I think the two kitchens coordinate so well.

My project manager agrees.

I could not be happier with the functionality of the dry bar. We are able to grab our beach cooler, load it with beverages and snacks from the dry bar, grab some sunglasses and sunscreen from their very own drawer, get a towel from the towel drawer, and be on our way! (Side note: If you leave your sunglasses at the Beach Cabin, they are likely in this drawer- sorry!)

We had been hoping to use our leftover marble from our home kitchen, but it was about 2 inches too short. Yep, 2 inches. Quick sob. However, the marble company we work with had two remnant options. I had had my eye on the Taj Mahal Quartzite for a while. It is gorgeous! The other option was the Mykonos Quartzite, which was also beautiful. For this project, I surprised myself and ended up loving the Mykonos.

A cloud pile vintage (looking) rug and a lamp and the room was looking good!

Oh, and perhaps the least attractive but most popular (with all of us) addition was the ice maker. We have a smaller refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen and this definitely helps our ice situation. (I just need to remember to make sure it is full before gatherings…oops!)

The last (at least for now) order of business was creating a gallery wall above the countertops. Open shelving and sconces would have been lovely too. However, the ceilings aren’t very high and, plot twist, we actually have enough storage now. I love the personality that a gallery wall can bring to a space, so I tried to go slowly and choose wisely. This is easier said than done for me when it comes to artwork. Luckily, I’m always on the lookout and also regularly add to my Art Pinterest board. More gallery wall details will be coming in a blog post soon.