Decorating a Cozy Cafe Space at Home

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Think Outside the Floor Plan

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine this: the soft, comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee or tea wafting through the air, a shelf of books with pages begging to be read, and the cozy warmth of dark walls and plush velvet furniture.

This is what we wanted to create in our home. We’ve transformed a small empty space into an inviting in-house cafe, just for us! Better yet – we were able to use some existing furnishings and decor items.

Read on to see how the process went, from before, during and after. I’ll include some tips along the way! Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!

The Before

The floor plan of our house calls this a “family room” but we opted out of the formal living room and put our sofa and television in that space. There was already a separate “breakfast nook” so the table didn’t need to be in this “family room” space. As it’s adjacent to the kitchen, this became the perfect location for our in-house cafe.

The Transformation

The walls in the space were wearing a paint job straight out of the last decade – and not in a good way. Not only was the beige color not exactly our cup of tea, but the paint job was looking pretty rough around the edges. We knew it was time for a refresh, and not just any old paint job would do. This one needed some serious TLC (read: wall repairs), so we decided to bring in the professionals. (I’m all for DIY but you gotta know your limits…and skim coating is one of them.)

Bold plans call for bold colors. We chose a dark color that would pop against the future white of the kitchen cabinets and window trim, while simultaneously giving off a cozy and moody vibe. The name of the color we chose is Rock Bottom by Sherwin Williams (SW 7062). While it looks like a dark gray, it’s actually in the green family. If you look closely, you can see the green undertones.

In addition to the old paint color, the ceiling fan had to go. We listed it on our local Buy Nothing group and a couple picked it up to install in a local antique mall. Love giving new life to old things! To replace the fan, we opted for a modern gold light fixture from Poly & Bark.

We also got dark outlet covers that blend into the wall.

Tip on Choosing a Paint Color: If you’re looking for an easy way to test color in your space without painting all over your walls or cabinets, I highly recommend Samplize! The samples are large and made from real paint so you can see how lighting affects the color throughout the day (undertones, right??). We were able to get many different peel & stick paint samples from them to make the best decision without the mess. They offer samples from Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Farrow & Ball, and PPG.

Paint: ✔️ Lighting: ✔️ Outlet Covers: ✔️

Now it was time to decorate!

The base of this room was the tea station I wanted to create. After all, what is a cafe without hot drinks? This would be a place to display, store, and make all my tea (of course with some coffee options for guests… I’m a nice host 😊). We found a gorgeous mid-century modern buffet from the 1970’s on Facebook Marketplace and pounced on it! It fit perfectly on the side wall.

We installed some raw-edge wooden shelves above the cabinet to add more storage space. World Market lets you choose the shelf (finish, size) and the supports (color, style) for a true mix-and-match custom approach to shelving, all at an affordable price point.

We were able to keep our ladder-style bookshelf in this space, we just moved it to the opposite side of the wall. We also knew we wanted to use our existing Japanese scrolls as decor. We bought those at the annual Sakura Matsuri festival in Washington, DC and we just love them!

That left finding seating! We knew we wanted wingback style chairs to add to the overall aesthetic, but they can be pretty expensive. Leather material was out because of our cat. We searched and searched and it wasn’t until we went to our friends’ new house and saw their wingback chairs from Ikea that we knew this was it. Not only was it the style we wanted, they were so comfortable!

Tip on Buying Furnishings: If someone ever tells you that once you have your own house you should fill it with quality furniture that isn’t from Ikea, ignore them. Sure, I appreciate the sentiment, but home ownership is expensive and Ikea has some nice things. If you take care of them, they will take care of you!

The Strandmon chairs from Ikea come in a variety of colors, patterns, and fabrics. Since our walls have green undertones, we thought the green velvet might be nice. I’m an extremely visual person, especially when it comes to home decor, so I Photoshopped them into the room before committing. Fortunately, we loved the look!

Tip for Visualizing Home Decor Before You Buy: If you don’t have Photoshop, don’t fret! You can remove backgrounds for the products you want to insert into your image using free online software. Once the backgrounds are removed, make sure they are saved as PNGs and insert them into your photo using the editing software that came on your computer. You can also use GIMP or PhotoPea as free Photoshop alternatives.

When we went to buy the chairs, they were out of stock. We had to wait awhile, but patience is important when it comes to home decor. It made it all the more sweet when we were finally able to get our hands on them! We opted to hold off on the ottoman at least for the time being.

For the rug, we ended up going to a local rug warehouse to check out their offerings. They were surprisingly affordable and we gambled on a circular rug that we ended up loving! Don’t be afraid to go rogue from your original Photoshop design!

The After

We are really happy with our little “cafe” space! It’s one of my favorite places in the house because it’s so relaxing and aesthetically pleasing (to us). In lieu of the ottoman, we’ll bring in a pouf from another room and be able to put our feet up and relax with a hot cuppa.

Ultimately, not being afraid to think outside the floor plan and incorporate bold colors has allowed us to create a space we love.