Welcome to my Pub

I've been reading through the "man cave" threads with great interest. I'm simply amazed by the creativity of my fellow homebrewers!

So in the interest of sharing ideas and information, I thought I'd share our build process... this might turn out to be a rather photo-intensive thread.. we have over 500 pictures of the build.

A little background: Our house has a ~450 - ~500 square foot addition built onto the back of it... once the kids moved out (again), I made it my studio.. a great place for the band to jam. But as you will see in the pictures, there's this awesome "alcove" area that had absolutely no use. So one day I casually mentioned to the girlfriend "ya know, a bar would be perfect there".

Her face lit up and said "oh hell yes!". I began the design phase, fully planning on completely over-doing everything, because I've always wanted a pub.

Not much more has been done on it lately.. been focusing on brewery stuff (which I'll post when there's more to see)... but it is a super cozy space with an old world pub feel to it. Our friends are always asking when the pub will be open.

I'm nowhere near as skilled as some of the other craftsmen I've seen on this site, but for my abilities (or general lack thereof.. don't put a square on the bar.. lol) we really have enjoyed the fruits of our labor over the past year.

Comments? Suggestions? Would anyone like to come over and have a home brew? :-D

How it was, looking from the entrance to the bathroom:


Looking back towards the bathroom/proposed bar area.




As you can see, she is VERY supportive.. plus I let her use tools, so that made things cool.


This is Abigail, our "Snoreman"..

Awesome laminate flooring we got for next to nothing.




I couldn't wait to start on the bar...




The supports are all modern lumber, except this piece, which is a facing.


Recycled barn board.

I forgot to take photos during bar top construction, but here's the finished piece:


The bar, in place.


This was after only one coat of stain. We put about 8 coats of stain on it and finished the front and side with a layer of polyurethane; the top is finished with Envirotex.


Herself was at a conference when I built the back bar, so no progress pictures. The mirror is from WalMart.




More trim and ceiling is painted! Sorry about the mess.. at this point, the pub is a working band studio, so things got a little out of hand.


Our kick ass ceiling from http://styrodecor.com/. It looks like old, oxidized copper tin. It's actually polystyrene foam.

Sweet!!!

Dude, well done. Has a very rustic Irish pub feel to it.

But, where is the beer on draft!

Thank you gents. I'm looking forward to getting off work tonight and enjoying a couple crafties..

jbrookeiv said:

But, where is the beer on draft!

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I'm working on that!!

On the wall under the photo of the Celtic Cross (which I took in a cemetery in Bangor, Maine.. not too far from Stephen King's house, actually) will be the taps. I'm still working out exactly where all the kegs will be stored, etc.

When I first started the design, I didn't take into account that I would be back to HBing halfway into the project..

Although a beer tower in the elbow of the bar would work too.. especially since my spot is on the "L"... Maybe I'll be able to find a 3- or 4-tap brass tower that won't break the bank.

brewmcq said:

Our kick ass ceiling from www.antique-ceilings.com.

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This link doesnt work for me?? I really like your ceiling and have been trying to finds something cheap that looks good. Are you sure thats the right link?

Thanks!

cruelkix said:

This link doesnt work for me?? I really like your ceiling and have been trying to finds something cheap that looks good. Are you sure thats the right link?

Thanks!

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Remove the dash.

jbrookeiv said:

Remove the dash.

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Yeah I did that. If you google "Antique ceilings" you get a ton of stuff too. I just wanted to make sure I was looking at the same thing, cuz i'm sure he did some price hunting.

Thanks!

cruelkix said:

Yeah I did that. If you google "Antique ceilings" you get a ton of stuff too. I just wanted to make sure I was looking at the same thing, cuz i'm sure he did some price hunting.

Thanks!

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http://styrodecor.com/

Oops.. my bad. the URL for the company is antiqueceilings.com

I got the tiles from Amazon, as opposed to directly from the manufacturer... same price, I think, but I generally don't lie to order stuff online from somewhere I don't know.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_h...e=1055398&field-brandtextbin=Antique Ceilings

That link should take you to their selection... and will look great in your bar!

Price hunting.. yeah.. the tile we got were $4.62 apiece for a ~20"x~20" tiles (more like 19.5"), but that was no big deal.

And I honestly didn't think they were worth the price, especially when I opened the box and saw how thin the tiles are. I was all set to be disappointed that I just wasted $130 on crap, but when our ceiling was done in about half an hour and looked AWESOME, I'd have paid twice what we did for the tiles.

What took the longest was measuring the ceiling to figure out where the exact center was, then getting the first couple of tiles on square to the walls (which aren't particularly square).

Liquid nails are your friend with these puppies.

I like it!

brewmcq said:

Price hunting.. yeah.. the tile we got were $4.62 apiece for a ~20"x~20" tiles (more like 19.5"), but that was no big deal.

And I honestly didn't think they were worth the price, especially when I opened the box and saw how thin the tiles are. I was all set to be disappointed that I just wasted $130 on crap, but when our ceiling was done in about half an hour and looked AWESOME, I'd have paid twice what we did for the tiles.

What took the longest was measuring the ceiling to figure out where the exact center was, then getting the first couple of tiles on square to the walls (which aren't particularly square).

Liquid nails are your friend with these puppies.

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Good to know. I have like 320 sq ft. of ceiling to cover. $4.62 for 1.666 sq. ft. means I'd spend $890 ..... Thats a lot of cash. I saw some of the tiles they had on that site. I like the white ones that have a similar design to yours and they were only $1.95, which puts me at around $375 which is WAAAAAAY more resonable.

Yup... and the tiles supposedly can take paint if you'd like to go that route.

We would have had to have dropped over $1800 to do our cathedral ceiling, over the "studio" portion, so we opted to simply paint that.. but it was already sheetrocked.

The compromise was to invest in the "fancy" stuff for directly over the bar area.

brewmcq said:

Yup... and the tiles supposedly can take paint if you'd like to go that route.

We would have had to have dropped over $1800 to do our cathedral ceiling, over the "studio" portion, so we opted to simply paint that.. but it was already sheetrocked.

The compromise was to invest in the "fancy" stuff for directly over the bar area.

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Yeah I was thinking going white tiles and white crown molding and painting them all the same color (eggshell white or whatever, god I hate painting). Then using the same color for the base board and doors/door frames. I think the light color will help make the room seem bigger. It has low ceilings as well at like 7.5 ft. Need to brighten it up and give it a "Big Room" feel.

I agree, and think that would go a long ways towards making a bigger feel to your room. Directly over our bar area is about 7.5" as well, and it's a lot more "claustrophobic" with the darker tiles, but I personally dislike white, especially paint, on anything to do with interior design... maybe too many years living in all-white box-like apartments?

I'd be almost tempted to suggest staining the moulding and trim to match your bar.. it would be a few extra bucks for the clear trim (as opposed to the finger-jointed stuff), but would really make things "pop"... maybe?

brewmcq said:

I agree, and think that would go a long ways towards making a bigger feel to your room. Directly over our bar area is about 7.5" as well, and it's a lot more "claustrophobic" with the darker tiles, but I personally dislike white, especially paint, on anything to do with interior design... maybe too many years living in all-white box-like apartments?

I'd be almost tempted to suggest staining the moulding and trim to match your bar.. it would be a few extra bucks for the clear trim (as opposed to the finger-jointed stuff), but would really make things "pop"... maybe?

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I would love to be able to trim the whole thing out with real wood stained to match the bar, but money is just a problem for me right now (Surprise!!). Check my other threads and you'll see I'm trying to start a Nano Brewery this year, so funds are very tight right now. It's exceptionally cheap to go the painted trim route unfortuantely...

I hear that.

Our budget for the pub (and rest of the house remodel) is, and has been, zero. Sadly, we *have* to replace the shingles on part of the house or our homeowner insurance is gonna drop us... so big brewery and pub purchases have to wait until next year.

If not for the fact we've kept our design as open as possible, we wouldn't be this far along... meaning.. instead of "I need *this* for *this*..." it's been "how can I use *this*" sort of thing. granted, we laid out for ceiling and floor, (the ceiling has been the most expensive thing to date), but pretty much everything in there has been recycled (barn board, etc.) or at drastic discount... the paint, for example, I picked up on sale in various places.. most I paid for any one gallon was $5.

So I certainly feel your pain.

One of the big things we've looked at when contemplating a "bigger" purchase has been "is this something we're going to hate and replace in a year or two?" If the answer was yes, then we make the investment.. even if it's a piece at a time... in the long run, it's less expensive to go with what you really want.. than to get something else as a "stand in" then end up having to redo it. This is one of the reasons we're not finished with it yet... patience is a virtue (and the bar is already built and there's beer in the fridge, so it's all good as far as I'm concerned.. lol)

Trim can be pretty spendy... which is why I'm using barn board... I'm ripping it all to 3.5" width and planing it to 3/4", then glopping stain (which we find on sale everywhere.. just gotta be patient.. lol) over it.

Actually, the stain is a mix of two colors.. walnut and... umm.. something else... why? Because we'd picked up a boatload of stain in quart-size at a Sears a couple years ago for like $1.50 each. So in order to assure a better color match and to use as much of it as I could, I took the two darkest ones and mixed them.. lol


Something you may want to consider doing... set out a tip jar on your bar. Don't make it a mandatory thing, but I know were I visiting a friend in his kick-ass home bar/pub/etc., that I'd have no problem dropping $5 or $10 into a tip jar... especially if I'm drinking his home brew... that's still a ton less money that I would spend hitting a public bar, and I'd be helping out a bud at the same time. Win-win, John Nash scores again.

Cheers on the pub! I'm rather jealous.
+1 on the bottle of Telly

Sliante!

By "Telly", I'm assuming you mean the Tullamore? That's something we actually keep extra in stock... only the g/f and I drink it, but we greatly dislike when we run out and the liquor store is closed. ;-)

looks great! nice work.

Android.. thanks, and cheers!

Nice job! I'd like to create my own man-cave/bar sometime. I really like the old barn boards on the bar.
The only issue is the lack of taps....

Working on it!

If you have a couple hundred bucks you could float me, I'll have two taps up and running in a couple of weeks. ;-)

Really nice work! Can't wait to see how you integrate the taps!

brewmcq said:

Working on it!

If you have a couple hundred bucks you could float me, I'll have two taps up and running in a couple of weeks. ;-)

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I wish I had a couple hundred bucks. I'm in the process of maybe buying an old crappy motorcycle, and the only thing preventing me is a couple hundred bucks that should be used elsewhere, like brewing equipment. Sorry man...

@hillhouse.. thanks, me too.. lol

@neninan.. you'd drink free forever here.. ;-) BTW.. how you checked out Nocternum Draft Haus on Main St yet? Best selection ANYWHERE.

brewmcq said:

you'd drink free forever here.. ;-) BTW.. how you checked out Nocternum Draft Haus on Main St yet? Best selection ANYWHERE.

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Hmm free beer? I'll have to think about that then...

As for Nocturnum, no I haven't. I literally live within staggering distance. Some day, there will be staggering...

And one day I need to make the trip down.. a really good friend of mine (and a fellow homebrewer!) owns it, so you know it's gotta be good. He's got 15 beers on tap that he rotates, based on his whims, as well as a cask and some of that wild yeast scary stuff.

They're on Facebook and easy to find.

Ah you must be talking about Gene. I've known him for a while from his previous job, but I'm not sure if he really "knows" me. I've heard from other people that his prices are high, but I'm not really sure if those people really know what good beer is.

I don't mean to take attention away from your thread. Those are awesome pictures, and I am really jealous.

That's exactly who I'm talking about. He's as passionate about beer as he is music, which makes him a damn good guy in my book. Prices can run a tad steep, but he's not serving Bud Light.. lol

Besides.. he puts prices and everything right out front. This is definitely a beer exploration... http://www.nocturnemdrafthaus.com/assets/draft-menu2.pdf

No problem for the thread detour.. it was still pertinent. Glad you like the pictures... we like to joke that The Pub (also on FB.. Pub McQ) is the best pub in Houlton. Of course, it's the *only* pub in Houlton, so we kinda win by default. Too bad the state wants too much money for me to open one for real... I know know three brewers I could hire. ;-)

brewmcq said:

That's exactly who I'm talking about. He's as passionate about beer as he is music, which makes him a damn good guy in my book. Prices can run a tad steep, but he's not serving Bud Light.. lol

Besides.. he puts prices and everything right out front. This is definitely a beer exploration... http://www.nocturnemdrafthaus.com/assets/draft-menu2.pdf

No problem for the thread detour.. it was still pertinent. Glad you like the pictures... we like to joke that The Pub (also on FB.. Pub McQ) is the best pub in Houlton. Of course, it's the *only* pub in Houlton, so we kinda win by default. Too bad the state wants too much money for me to open one for real... I know know three brewers I could hire. ;-)

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I "liked" your FB pub page. It's awesome to see so many people from this state on this forum, although most are from the farthest southern tip.

Also, I would be honored to brew beer for your pub

From what my LHBS store (they have a VERY limited selection of stuff, but it's there, none-the-less) has told me, there's a good number of us around this area... even another guy who grows his own hops, something we're starting this year... so naturally I tossed up a "Northern Maine Brewers" page on FB and am trying to get everyone networked together.. and where better to have tastings than here, right? ;-)

You can brew for The Pub any time. In fact... even though our summer schedule is filling up quick, we should plan a date to have you and your posse come up with a batch or two and we'll have a batch or two rolling here, and have a good ol' homebrewfest.

Cool bar man! I hope to have a spot like this some day.


If you are gonna have a gathering, post it on here. I could be interested in coming up, its only 4hrs - haha have beer will travel.

brewmcq said:

From what my LHBS store (they have a VERY limited selection of stuff, but it's there, none-the-less) has told me, there's a good number of us around this area... even another guy who grows his own hops, something we're starting this year... so naturally I tossed up a "Northern Maine Brewers" page on FB and am trying to get everyone networked together.. and where better to have tastings than here, right? ;-)

You can brew for The Pub any time. In fact... even though our summer schedule is filling up quick, we should plan a date to have you and your posse come up with a batch or two and we'll have a batch or two rolling here, and have a good ol' homebrewfest.

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I "liked" that page too (I think it's the right one, it's the only one I found).

I believe Gene grows his own hops as well as brew his own. I work next door to his previous job (Darlings Ford), where I have bought a bunch of beer, but haven't really said anything more to him except order a sandwich.

What LHBS do you go to? There are two here in Bangor, Central Street Farmhouse and The Natural Living Center, and they both have a pretty good selection. I prefer the Farm House, due to the bigger selection, awesome and friendly customer service, and closeness to home (within staggering distance). I know Houlton is a little ways away from Bangor, but it may be worth the trip, especially if you plan ahead.

If you aren't already familiar with it, Central Street Farmhouse has a monthly homebrewers club (the last friday of every month). They have a monthly beer suggestion, but any home brew is welcome. Due to difference circumstances, I have never been able to go to one of the home brew club meetings, but from what I have heard there's always an awesome selection. But then again, being in Houlton may prevent the trip. If you plan some sort of a home brewer's get-together at your pub, I would certainly be interested in participating. I can talk to other fellow brewers to see if they are interested too. Hopefully the word "Houlton" doesn't scare them off though.

Yup.. you found the right one. All three members now.. me, my g/f and you. lol

There's a tack/animal/knick knack store in town called Serendipity's (or something like that..) They have decently competitive prices on some stuff, and outrageous prices on other stuff. Nothing AG though. I just picked up a couple Better Bottle carboys there, and that's where I've been getting my 22oz bottles. Doing what I can for the local economy, ya know? Good to know there's still places in BGR... after that place on Stillwater closed, I figured that was it for HB up here.

The distance to Bangor isn't necessarily prohibitive for activities... sure, we have to plan ahead a little more while gas is still up, or when school gets back in, but we try to make it down that way every few months.. lots of friends and family down that way.