This Shoreview, MN home had a lot of custom woodwork and cabinetry that was once trendy and functional. Now, it is just outdated and useless. To save money and resources, I generally re-use as many items as possible in the homes we renovate. This home had a built-in desk and wall-shalf unit in the kitchen, complete with a 1980’s “whole house” intercom system and mail slots, eew. It needed to be torn out and tossed or made into something new!

After some thought, my plan for this piece was to re-purpose it into a built-in buffet table and wine-rack/liquor cabinet for the formal dining room.

In order to do this, I first looked at the desk. The space for the chair needed to go away and the simple solution was to make this a shelf. This would easily change the look of the desk by changing the chair space to a display shelf. The height of this desk also need to be raised to a comfortable serving height. A 2″x6″ was placed around the perimeter of the base to give the desk height. A 1″ thick slab was used for the shelf and was placed on top of the frame that was made out of the 2″x6″. The base of the desk was then finished with a 6″ piece of decorative base trim to conceal the added wood pieces and give this a virtual anchor the floor.

The wall shelf unit was easily transformed into a wine glass and liquor cabinet by turning the old mail slots into wine bottle holders. The above shelf space was perfect for displaying glassware.

A simple coat of satin black enamel paint was sprayed over the entire built-in and voila!

The space in the kitchen where the old built-in desk sat was transformed into a built-in bench seat, complete with bead board, cushions and comfy pillows. A great place to sit and have your morning coffee!

The slide show below illustrates the transformation!

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After