Well, the wife and I are planning on turning the formal (useless) living room into a home pub. The idea being that when you walk into this room, it's basically an English pub. We've been visiting a few pubs and trying to get ideas. Just wondering if those of you who have a home bar/pub have any suggestions... things you like, don't like, would do differently, etc. Many thanks in advance.
Home pub room
- Thread starter Nate
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Cheesefood
Well-Known Member
Nate said:
Once you make a lot of beer, invite over a rugby team and get them all pissed up drunk. They won't leave, they'll smoke a carton each, they'll terrorize the place and they'll offend your wife. Now you have an English pub.
Cheesefood said:
Yeah, been there... done that.
I should have been more specific. Looking more along the lines of the quiet, small town Scottish/Irish pubs that we've seen. Contrary to the name, this won't be a "public" house... friends and family only.
kornkob
Resident Crazy Uncle
Got a budget? How about room dimensions?
kornkob said:
Don't have exact dimensions... medium sized room and a little oblong. Initial thoughts are some big chair/crown molding in a dark wood, wood from the chair mold down to the floor, an Irish green paint from the chair mold up, false ceiling beams and possibly a wood ceiling. For the floor, maybe some fake wood stuff... spill resistant, low maintenance, and long lasting. The bar itself is one of the big questions. I'd like to build it myself but there are some nice canopied mahogany pre-builts out there. Probably put one to two high pub tables in the area in front of the bar. Finally, I'd like to isolate the room from the rest of the house with french doors with semi-opaque glass. The beer I'm not too worried about.
mysterio
Well-Known Member
Is there a fireplace? A log fire would be great. Maybe some mirrors with some old beer company's names on them. Hand pumps for the bar.
mysterio said:
Forgot to mention that... we're planning on putting in a fake corner fireplace. Unfortunately, there probably won't be much standing room by the time everything is in this room. Also been picking up bar stuff on eBay... mirrors, signs, glasses, etc. As far as the beer engines, I can definitely see that later down the road.
Baron von BeeGee
Beer Bully
Maybe dress up the faux flue with cultured stone, or even consider using cultured stone for the wainscoting on one wall to make it look like you're in a stone pub.
kornkob
Resident Crazy Uncle
That's a great idea-- stone wainscoting. You might also consider giving any windows in the room a little treatment to make the glass look old and weathered.
I guess that's the other question-- how old a pub are you looking to replicate. You could get a lot of ideas and pointers from a local renaissance faire or SCA group.
I guess that's the other question-- how old a pub are you looking to replicate. You could get a lot of ideas and pointers from a local renaissance faire or SCA group.
Baron von BeeGee said:
Yeah, also a good idea. We had discussed doing one small wall in fake brick or stone. Way too many "fake" things so far but it's the atmosphere we're going for. After a few wee heavies, like I'll care about the fake stuff anyhow.
kornkob said:
Going for the classic Irish/Scottish small pub. I have a friend who owns a pub and we've gotten a few ideas from him along with visits to a few stateside pubs and a few pubs from a UK trip we took last year. I'd like that "old" feel to it.
kornkob
Resident Crazy Uncle
Come on-- you are in Virginia. The whole English Pub thing is fake. : ) What's a couple Fax decorations?
But seriously--- floating laminate flooring comes in just about any kind of wood pattern you want. As long as the floor is reasonably flat under the carpet, putting in a laminate floor is darned easy. If you can measure and cut you can install a laminate floor. And I've had a laminate floor int eh den for 5 years with two 60 lb dogs. The floor at the bottom of the stairs I expected to get as trashed as the oak floor I ahve on the first floor. There isnt' a scratch on the laminate but the real wood looks beat.
But seriously--- floating laminate flooring comes in just about any kind of wood pattern you want. As long as the floor is reasonably flat under the carpet, putting in a laminate floor is darned easy. If you can measure and cut you can install a laminate floor. And I've had a laminate floor int eh den for 5 years with two 60 lb dogs. The floor at the bottom of the stairs I expected to get as trashed as the oak floor I ahve on the first floor. There isnt' a scratch on the laminate but the real wood looks beat.
Baron von BeeGee
Beer Bully
Laminate flooring is definitely nice. I'd go for a knotty pine or something (although perhaps that wouldn't be authentic in the UK). Maybe even real wood tongue and groove pine flooring and stain it. That would give a much older look and feel than modern hardwood flooring.
Yeah, laminate sounds like the way to go for the floor. The part that has me the most worried is the bar. There are great prebuilts out there but they're a little expensive and they aren't custom. I have all the tools to build one but I'm pretty impatient lately... I want my pub room yesterday. Those canopy bars made to look like old pub bars are really calling me. I need to get the rest of the room built and then worry about the bar I guess. Small steps...
kornkob
Resident Crazy Uncle
Well-- I think that woudl be backwards, really. The biggest and most defining 'piece' of furniture in the room will be the bar and the shelfing behind the bar. I think the most logical place to start if you're trying to capture a look is to decide about the bar area first.
Nailing down how big the bar will be, what colors, where it will go and what the styling is will help define the limits for the rest of the room. For example--- if you go with one of the black/brown 'guiness pub' looks that is all teh rage in the US, that will result in a very different look than going for the rustic 'This pub has been around since the middle ages' look which would indicate a more 'plain plank' bar top or you could aim at the 'gentleman's pub' kind of look which might contraindicate a 'real' bar at all and have more of a counter on a wall with the offerings.
How that bar looks is a big part of what your end result will be.
Nailing down how big the bar will be, what colors, where it will go and what the styling is will help define the limits for the rest of the room. For example--- if you go with one of the black/brown 'guiness pub' looks that is all teh rage in the US, that will result in a very different look than going for the rustic 'This pub has been around since the middle ages' look which would indicate a more 'plain plank' bar top or you could aim at the 'gentleman's pub' kind of look which might contraindicate a 'real' bar at all and have more of a counter on a wall with the offerings.
How that bar looks is a big part of what your end result will be.
kornkob said:
Yeah, I think you're right if I build the bar... definitely want to build it first or at least in conjunction with the rest of the room. If I buy the bar, which at this point I probably will, I'll probably get the rest of the room done and "plop" the bar in it.
kornkob
Resident Crazy Uncle
Even if you are going to buy the bar you want to figure out what look you want to buy and then design the rest around that look.
When you look at a room that's been done up, the difference between "Niiiice" and "Holy S$#t!" is how the room all 'fits together'.
When you look at a room that's been done up, the difference between "Niiiice" and "Holy S$#t!" is how the room all 'fits together'.
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