Building A Bar In My Basement
 

So after getting settled in my new house, the little woman and I decided we need a bar in the basement. We took the hundreds of dollars worth of Home Depot gift cards we got as house warming gifts and bought the lumber and some new toys (circular saw, miter saw, jigsaw, etc.).

What I know I will have:
Bar will be 42" high, 24" deep, and 72" long
Framing of the structure and cabinets will be made out of 2x3 pine
Sides, front, and cabinet doors will be made out of 1/2" MDF
Will have built in wine rack made from 1/4" sheets of cedar, laid out in the standard diamond pattern.
Will have the padded rail

What I need ideas for:
What type of wood for the top?
What type of veneer for the front and sides?
Should it have the brass footrail?
What would I use for something like that?
What other general tips/suggestions do you have? (not necessarily about bars, but also woodworking in general)

I have built things before and love to work with wood, but more input is always much appreciated.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Are you putting in a keg fridge and draught tower?

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

My only advice would be this, if you build shelves under the bar, make sure they are spacious enough to handle liquor bottles. My Wife's Ex husband effed this up bigtime and it would be very hard to fix without ripping out most of the bar. He was one of those guys that thought he could do a ton more than he actually could.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

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Are you putting in a keg fridge and draught tower?

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We have a wood veneer fridge that I am putting underneath (as the dimensions of the fridge are perfect). This will hold me over for now until I get the keggerator kit off Ebay. The fridge is big enough to hold a 1/4 keg. I will use the hole saw to install the tap tower.

Trik- yeah I measured out correctly to make sure the booze fits.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

If your're going to be aging the wine in the racks, I'd avoid an aromatic wood like cedar, the scent can sometimes be picked up by the cork. But if you're like me who ages his wine about 15 minutes, which is about the time it takes me to get home from the liquor store, it should'nt matter.

I'd go with an artifical top for the bar, easier clean up.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Good point on the cedar. Maybe I'll just use fiberboard.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

I was thining of building a bar myself and really wanted a marble top (the bar is not in the basement - it is the dining room so should be nice). I heard though that marble can stain quite easily and needed to be treated to avoid this.

My question is how reliable is this sealer they will treat the marble with? Will I find a stain in 6 months and then learn that you have to reseal the sucker regularly or something?

GL on building your own bar, I wish I had the skills/motivation to do this myself.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Ive built about 6 or 7 bars for friends, ranging from little wet bars to a nice 10 footer in a buddies basement. Cheapest way, imo, frame everything up with 2x4s, stick your cabinets in the frame, get 1/4 cherry, and use that as the "skin" of ht bar, stain everything before you cut, clear coat the front, and use the thick, pourable clear coat (like 1/3 of an inch think) for the top, you can even stick playing/baseball cards, bottle caps, etc under that clear coat on the top of the bar, its pretty sweet. you need to get some strips and run it around the top to keep the clear coat on, then get trim to cover where the strips were. Also, a really nice looking trick for the front:

Get picture frame strips, router a 1/4 inch of the inside end, get an extra piece of the 1/4 inch cherry, and make a square out of it (depending on how big the front of the bar is), then "frame" the cherry peice, and nail it all to the front of hte bar, you can even stain the little "picture" a lighter color for a different kind of look .

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Thanks! We want to glaze an antique map into the top of it (she collects maps and globes), so you info will really come in handy.

As for the front, I was going to make a plywood overlay with the jigsaw and mount it over the MDF front to make the effect of the 3D framed squares, but your plan is cheaper and less labor intensive. Good stuff.

What kind of wood did you use for the top?

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks! We want to glaze an antique map into the top of it (she collects maps and globes), so you info will really come in handy.

As for the front, I was going to make a plywood overlay with the jigsaw and mount it over the MDF front to make the effect of the 3D framed squares, but your plan is cheaper and less labor intensive. Good stuff.

What kind of wood did you use for the top?

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I used cheap ass particle board, then I glued, and nailed 1/4 inch cherry on top of that, MUCH cheaper. you can then get this cool looking trim at home depot (there are all kinds, I usually use the stuff that looks like grape vines), and trim out the whole top of the bar to cover up the nails, and the part where i had to frame out the top to pour the cleaer coat, just make sure you cover the nail holes in the trim w/ wood putty, and it will look awesome.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Cool. I found a website that has a trim called Chicago Bar Trim. I think I am going to use that where I don't have the padded rail.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Put a pourable clear epoxy on the top.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

JUst make sure that your basement will have entertainment features other than the bar (big screen tv, comfy couches, pool table etc...). Otherwise the bar will never get used, except for making drinks and bring them upstairs.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

I hereby offer my services as a depressed drunkard that you can cheer up.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Not a problem. Have TV, poker table, bumper pool table, and dart board. The basement also walks out into the backyard where I will be digging horseshoe pits later in the summer.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

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I hereby offer my services as a depressed drunkard that you can cheer up.

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NORM!!!!!!!

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

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I was thining of building a bar myself and really wanted a marble top (the bar is not in the basement - it is the dining room so should be nice). I heard though that marble can stain quite easily and needed to be treated to avoid this.

My question is how reliable is this sealer they will treat the marble with? Will I find a stain in 6 months and then learn that you have to reseal the sucker regularly or something?

GL on building your own bar, I wish I had the skills/motivation to do this myself.

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JD- sorry I missed this post in the shuffle. Ordinarily I would say don't do marble because of the cost, but if your heart is set on it, I would get a regular marble countertop from Home Depot or Lowes. Most of them come pre-treated to prevent staining and you can get them cut-to-suit.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Thanks, I appreciate the advice.

My concern was primarily with the durability of the treatment they put on the marble. However, if Home Depot is willing to sell treated marble for use ina wet area (bar for example), then I am sure they can treat it in such a way as to prevent the water damage I had been warned about.

BTW - the idea to put a map on the countertop and cover it with clear coat is awesome!

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Sounds cool.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Yeah, this is a cool project. I wish I could do this, but the only thing I've ever built was a 4x8 hold'em table. I'd love to be able to build a bar for my basement.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Guess what project is next after this Sam.......a 4x8 poker table.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

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Guess what project is next after this Sam.......a 4x8 poker table.

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If you can build a bar, this will be a piece of cake. I am a tooltard, and even I was able to build a decent table. Two guys I play with saw my table, ripped off my idea, and now they have their own company and sell them on the internet...cutting me out of the action. Bastards.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Do you have a pic of your table? (I won't rip it off, I promise)

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Don't have pics of my table, but these are the dudes I was talking about.

They build good stuff.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

Sorry to revive this thread but I have another question.

For the bar top I am going to use 1/2 inch pine (it will take the cherrywood stain very well). Should I use two layers of wood?

My frame it very well supported but I am on the fence about whether or not to use one layer or two. If I do double layer it, I would use plywood for the first and my pine for the second.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry to revive this thread but I have another question.

For the bar top I am going to use 1/2 inch pine (it will take the cherrywood stain very well). Should I use two layers of wood?

My frame it very well supported but I am on the fence about whether or not to use one layer or two. If I do double layer it, I would use plywood for the first and my pine for the second.

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Pine's pretty weak, I'd advocate using two.

Re: Building A Bar In My Basement
 

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry to revive this thread but I have another question.

For the bar top I am going to use 1/2 inch pine (it will take the cherrywood stain very well). Should I use two layers of wood?

My frame it very well supported but I am on the fence about whether or not to use one layer or two. If I do double layer it, I would use plywood for the first and my pine for the second.

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Acoustix,
Id use cheap particle board, or MDF, and stick the 1/2 pine on top, should save you about 30$.