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Bar carts are a regular feature on the design scene, and for good reason: in a small footprint, they perfectly combine functionality with the art of display. But in this home, keeping fragile glassware at toddler eye level and dog tail-height is an invitation for disaster. Enter the bar cabinet, aka the Hooch Hutch.

This vintage piece, found at a local thrift store, fits the space well and is a nice, curvy counterpart to the mid-century modern lines of the other furnishings. The Hooch Hutch provides the perks of a bar cart–artful display, easy accessibility–but without the peril of low open-shelving.

As a simple and inexpensive way to dress it up a little, and to help it relate to the deep blue walls in the adjoining dining room, we lined the back with sheets of gift wrap by

rifle paper co

co”]   We just used double-sided sticky tape, so the paper can easily be changed when the mood strikes us.

If you, too, find bar carts a bit perilous for your home, consider a cabinet – whether your style is Mad Men or Downton Abbey, options both new and vintage abound.