Build your own bar?

Greetings gents ...

The future Mrs. and I are starting to redo the basement, and it will have a decidedly "man cave" feel (and this is one of the many, many reasons I'm marrying her) ... and part of that will include a bar. Looking for any ideas you guys may have used in building a bar or have seen used in building a bar. It can, and indeed ideally will, have water service so a sink is a definite possibility. Beyond that, it's a pretty wide open idea at this point.

Would love any insights ... thanks!

A ghost bartender is a must!

Make sure to take pictures before, during, and after
Good luck!

Also Iron Man sitting at bar

What is the budget? Anything that looks like an actual bar (i.e. you on one side, guests on the other) get REAL expensive fast because that is a lot of wood. You can get a bar type theme with those half-round wall/corner units that open up to display your spirits and glassware.

Definitely need a logo mirror, good mood lighting, and posters/framed prints. Bar stools and tables can really help. Wall mounted flat screen TV. Maybe a few plush leather chairs and a coffee table. Pool table if you have the space.

You MUST have water/drainage, IMHO. A bathroom on the same level if at all possible as well. You can pretty easily convert a small fridge or cooler unit into an under table kegerator for far less than a dedicated unit, or even a regular free standing fridge with a freezer on top but those look a bit out of place IMHO (that plus a sink and it looks more like a kitchen)

Building your own you have unlimited possibilities.

Post pics of your build process. I'm sure you will get plenty of suggestions.

I found this little jewel decades ago and never looked any further

Rock-ola

Budget is fairly fluid, and this will happen over time, not in one fell swoop.

I love (and she approves) a rustic look, so repurposed wood, pallet wood, old beer bottle crates, any of that will be acceptable and considered.

There isn't currently water to the basement, but it's easily tapped from nearby. Still noodling a "theme" too but something along the lines of sports/homebrewery bar are chief on my mind at this point. Ideally I'll have a fridge with homebrew kegs in it. Lots on my want list ... guess I'd better start sketching out an idea.

First off is the flooring, which we've already purchased and will be installing in the coming weeks.

If I were building a bar, I'd want to use whiskey barrel staves for the front. A poured, stained concrete would make a pretty sweet countertop.

What flooring did you buy?

It's a 12mm laminate ... in a "handscraped" dark walnut ...

turtle said:

I found this little jewel decades ago and never looked any further

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That is pretty cool!

Any bar needs some kind of bar game such as darts, ringboard, cards, board game, etc. My favorite bars have had framed posters of vintage products that were fun. Also bottle lights:

Well ... it's taken me awhile but I finally started building the bar. Did much of this yesterday.



Still working on the top ... and the foot rail that I mocked up wasn't approved by the future Mrs., but overall I'm pretty pleased so far. Looking at doing a foot rail out of pipe of some kind. We wanted a very rustic look and the old door she found really set the tone. The glass blocks were salvaged from behind an old barn.

We've redone the basement in a University of Wisconsin color scheme, so parts of the bar will have red and black accents. We're also going to run a red rope light behind the glass blocks. I framed the back side of the bar so I could slide a minifridge in it, and today I'm painting our old basement fridge in chalkboard paint. The idea being once we get the bulk of this done, then I'll start kegging my homebrew and use the chalkboard paint to note what beers are on tap.

I've not really built a whole lot of things in my lifetime, but after a few fits and starts last weekend, it's coming together nicely. I'm pretty proud of this so far.

Looks cool so far. Thanks for the updates. Look forward to more.

Looking real nice. Do you have space for one on these?

captp said:

Looking real nice. Do you have space for one on these?
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I wish! We do have a dart board, thinking about one of those ring board games too.

Don't forget the swag lamp

I have these but in black and red.

Sounds like you're a beer guy... Are you going to do a dedicated beer fridge/kegerator?

I built a wet bar in one of my old homes, sadly, no pics though. I basically built a single tap beer meister into the bar. The price isnt that bad in the grand scheme, and it's convenient. I also had a small stainless sink off in the right corner. I strongly urge you to consider having a sink nearby if at all possible. It's a huge win for everything from washing hands, to rinsing a glass, to pouring off foam, to dumping floaters. In my opinion, it would be a pain in the *** to have to walk upstairs for everything.

It's been a while, but I believe I glued a cabinet door to the beer miester to maintain the look of the bar. So we had the sink with a cabinet for cleaning supplies to the right, center was the beer miester, we had a mini fridge in the cabinet to the left for mixers, bottles, etc. I believe I had a drawer above that mini fridge for random crap like coasters, stirrers, bottle openers, etc. Above the bar I had two corner cabinets with glass doors for glassware. Center we had a plain mirror with glass shelves between the cabinets for liquor. This was in a family room, so we didnt want any bar seating at the bar. we did have a high table with two stools off to the side of the room though. I was happy with how it turned out and worked. If/when I do it again, I might consider a two tap system and run a couple of sixtels out of it rather than a single 1/4.

Lighting, for mine we simply did recessed lights above the bar in the soffet. I think we did three or four. I really like the look of a nice hanging lamp. those bottle lamps look cool for a man cave type of thing, but I dont think they're ideal for a bar. They'd be great over a card table or something like that though.

I just noticed that your frame is pretty closed up except for the fridge opening. I would open that up a bit at least for shelving. You can usually find some old cabinetry for next to nothing which might work under there as well.

Beer guy and homebrewer, so the answer for the kegerator is yes

The place where the bar is going is in front of our closet in the basement. So we've "eliminated" the closet, and I'll be using it as a "back bar." On one side of the closet will be an older, full size fridge, that will become the kegerator, with two, possibly three taps. The other side will hold glassware, bottles, etc. For now, it's just the front bar that I built. However, after the wedding and things settle down, I'll be adding another "counter" to the right (looking out from behind the bar) where there will be a sink. Above the closet is the bathroom off the kitchen, so we have an easy water source. Will definitely update this as it goes.

It's "closed" but the shelving is already planned. Should be built later this week. I envision the minifridge holding other things, bottle beer, spirits I want to keep chilled, etc.

oh ok... I didnt realize you were building a walk behind bar. Sounds good and please do keep up the thread here!

More progress today ...


Moved the fridge to where it belongs (had to adjust the pre-existing shelving, but that's no big deal. Moved the bar in from the garage. I also boarded up the end that faces out with weathered boards. As you can see, the entire basement is a bit of a work in progress at the moment.

Tomorrow/Thursday I put the top on her.