It's Beer o'clock (looking for bar blueprints)

chapstic2001 · 09-15-2004, 12:11 PM

I have been seriously considering building myself a bar this winter and I was wondering if any one has any free blueprints they could share (legally of course). I want to get an idea of what I am looking at as far as difficulty goes. Better yet, has anyone build them selves a bar and have it photo documented you could share?

project935 · 09-15-2004, 12:14 PM

I built a 16' long one in my basement ... I'll send you some pics later tonight. It's simple and I'm not 100% done with all the stuff around it (sink, cabinetry and such) but it's the bar that counts.

chapstic2001 · 09-15-2004, 12:16 PM

show me! show me! show me!!!

A work in progress is a great example. Thank you.

project935 · 09-15-2004, 04:31 PM

First off ... a little background. When we bought the house, the basement was still unfinished. With our firstborn on the way, we decided to finish it off into a rec room/bar/home office kinda arrangement. I asked my wife what she wanted the bar to look like and this was her masterful artist rendition ...

Yes - that's her and the newborn bellying up and double-fisting drinks!

From this I gathered she wanted a bar that was long, had a mirror in the middle, and cabinets beside the mirror (I wasn't into the pillar thing).

I spaced the bar out from the back wall far enough to build shallow (12-16") floor and wall cabinets and still have room to walk behind. I decided to put in a short counter w/bar sink behind the bar at the far end (plumbing was easy since it was right beside the half bath I was also building).

I built the frame out of 2x4s - halfway up on one side I also built a shelf ... the other half I left open for a bar fridge, wine racks, garbage, etc (maybe a tapper in the future). The bottom shelf is spaced off the floor at 2x4 height. I spaced the top/shelf supports 32" apart. I anchored the bar using some inserts and lag bolts thru some steel brackets to the concrete floor. It's a very solid structure - it would take a lot to knock it down.

The bar is 21" wide on top (the top overhangs the base 3"), is 41.5" tall (many bars were

tested

for optimum height), and 16' long. I used 3/8" sanded plywood for the front/side/top. Some corner moldings on the side and some edge molding on the top and the basic structure is finished. We stained the base/top and use 3 coats of Minwax Polycrylic clear satin on the top for protection.

Eventually I'm going to put use some galvanized pipe for the foot and top railing - it will better match the corrugated tin roof ceiling we decided to put up. Maybe some wood trim work on the front to make it look a bit more interesting. The kids (now 3 and 1.5) need to be older so they don't bonk themselves on the railing - I'll use that for my excuse of why it's not done yet ... yeah, that's it

The open end will also have a swing-up bar top/swing out door eventually.

Pardon the crap in this pic, but this will be the bar sink area w/storage cabinets underneath.

We found a old mirror at a resale shop and decided it will do. Cabinets can be pretty boring, but we found this old ship's skylight at a nautical junk shop in FL (we have a nautical theme throughout the house) and thought it would make interesting wall cabinets with some added shelving. We didn't buy it (mucho expensive), but I think I can duplicate it with some weathered wood, antique hinges and some of the rippled leaded glass. The design is very thin overall and would work well on either side of the mirror.

Someday when I have the time and the ambition ...

Let me know if you have any other questions or need any rough dimensions/pics.

chapstic2001 · 09-24-2004, 02:09 PM

It looks like you have a great start on it. You say that you just have to do is face it? You have given me some good ideas and an idea of what I am getting into. How long did it take you to get to that point, not including the stain? I would like to see some picts when you get finshed. I will drop some photos when I get started.

jbryant · 09-24-2004, 04:27 PM

There are a lot of going out of business sales in the Bar industry. you can get some amazing deals on "real" bars. With the brass taps, rails etc. I just went to an auction were they sold a full bar, all set ups and stools for $100 and you remove. They wanted to make the space into offices.

project935 · 09-25-2004, 04:33 AM

I might put some woodworking trim/scrollwork on the front face to add more detail ... maybe, maybe not. The railing will go on once the kids are older for sure.

Didn't take too long - maybe a couple afternoons to accurately build the framework ... maybe a couple more to get the facing and top on. We used the polyacrylic stain because it was low odor and dried fast.

I looked into some of the "remove it yourself" bar deals - they are cool if you have the time and tools to do it right. You'll need a big truck and/or trailer too along with a bunch of friends ... they're damn heavy.

chapstic2001 · 09-27-2004, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jbryant
There are a lot of going out of business sales in the Bar industry. you can get some amazing deals on "real" bars. With the brass taps, rails etc. I just went to an auction were they sold a full bar, all set ups and stools for $100 and you remove. They wanted to make the space into offices.

Where was the auction you went to? I live about 10-miles NE of you, in Ashburn. Was it local, i.e. DC, MD, NoVA?