my bar build-tracking my progress here-

hello!
i haven't gotten too far yet, but i thought i'd go ahead and start a thread, documenting the progress on my bar build.

the history-we just bought this house about three weeks ago, it's a tri level, and fortunately, having a very cool swmbo, she "donated" the lower level to me to build a bar, and have a great hang out place for the guys to kick back, watch the game, drink some beer, smoke a stick, and just relax. we have a huge back yard, a three level deck, that just one of the levels is bigger than our apartment was, lol, a 27ft pool, a very large barn in the back with electricity running to it for a future brew house, everything we've ever wanted to have, we LOVE having people over, and entertaining guests, so we're very happy and excited.

the build- it's kind of an "L" shaped room, has a bathroom down there, and a closet for storage, and also has a small closet just behind where i am building the actual bar underneath the stairs, where i will have my kegerator, with taps running through the wall to the other side of the wall where the bar will be.


sidenote-my apologies about some of the photos quality, i was using my cameraphone for most of these.

first a few photos of what i had to work with-

the keezer- 7.2 magic chef with collar to house 6 kegs.



the keezers "house"-closet underneath the stairs just outside of the entryway to the bar room. keezer will be up on a small table i've made, elevating it a few feet, so that i can run my lines straight out of the backside of the collar into the wall, for the taps on the opposite side of the wall.



after some painting to the walls and ceiling


another shot of the painted surface, with my 52" 1080 tv hung up on the wall

shot of the door i framed/hung up. this was just a walk thru, but i wanted to frame up a door to keep smoke out of the upper level, and to be able to shut it, and create more isolation/privacy from the upper level of the house.



here's a drink ledge i made out of a 2x6, braced with a 2x2 underneath, then stained in ebony stain on the long back wall of the room.



another shot of the drink ledge


i bought 500 old records from a guy in louisville (craigslist score!) and this is the first level of them on the lower wall.
i just put them up with liquid nails. those suckers are NOT coming off. they're up there for good! i also ripped the carpet out. the concrete is in really good shape underneath. i plan on figuring out a way to tile the entire floor with all the album covers i have. not real sure on how to just yet. im thinking of etching the concrete, then gluing the album covers on like tile, and pouring epoxy on top of them, crossing my fingers and hoping that it lasts. (anybody got any ideas on this?)

heres after the second layer of records were added, and clear coated with poly, and also three coats of poly on the drink ledge.



another angle of it. the bare wall you see underneath the tv and windows will get the same record treatment all the way across.



the bar will be an "L" shaped bar, coming out of the wall right about where this light is pointing on the wall, (the keezer closet is on the other side of this wall) and come out right about to where the middle of the t.v. is, and then turn in toward the tv, and that will be where the entry way into the bar is. bar stools will be right on the side of the bar by the doorway, facing the t.v. inside of the keezer closet, is a waterline, and i will tap into that, and have a wet bar (cold water only) and probably just drain into a bucket beneath the bar, or possibly run a drain into that same wall undereath the bar, and drain into the garage.


heres a shot of the back deck/pool area

and my first artwork i hung up in the bar area.
a painting my six year old son did for me.


i plan on practically covering the entire upper walls, and ceilings in just weird random crap, artwork, whatever, kind of giving it a tgi fridays on acid feel to it.

up next- figuring out the best, most cost effective way to tile the floor in the album covers, and then the bar build.

Wow,
Looking Great Chainsaw!

got the actual bar mostly framed last night.

8 foot on the long side, 3.5ft on the short side, 42" tall.

Sweet! I like the records for sure.

Nice, looks kinda dark but it might just be the camera. My bedroom is the same way (used dark blue but it looks black in pics). The one question I have is where is the header for the door?

The record wall paneling looks nice. Rather than elevating the keezer, I would consider just running the lines up and out through the wall. Changing kegs and cleaning a keezer is enough of a pain in the a== without it being jacked up.

While I love the idea of album cover floor tile...it sounds a bit risky or difficult to me. I would be afraid of moisture being absorbed by the paper covers. If you try it, you should probably seal the floor w/ epoxy first. Then place the covers in a layer of epoxy to encapsulate them.

Will probably take a boatload of epoxy...and that stuff don't come cheap. Perhaps you could use polyurethane?

Nice job, I like the creative thinking!

nystevecf said:

Nice, looks kinda dark but it might just be the camera. My bedroom is the same way (used dark blue but it looks black in pics). The one question I have is where is the header for the door?

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it is dark. it's a man CAVE, and my brewery is chainsaw brewing. i'm calling the bar "THE CHOP SHOP, lol.
i plan on installing some creative lighting to brighten it up a bit, and also covering the walls in stuff, so not much paint will show anyways.

the header is up there now, i took those particular photos of the door before i had it fully framed, and tonight or tomorrow night i'll finish it out with drywall and trim.

wilserbrewer said:

The record wall paneling looks nice. Rather than elevating the keezer, I would consider just running the lines up and out through the wall. Changing kegs and cleaning a keezer is enough of a pain in the a== without it being jacked up.

While I love the idea of album cover floor tile...it sounds a bit risky or difficult to me. I would be afraid of moisture being absorbed by the paper covers. If you try it, you should probably seal the floor w/ epoxy first. Then place the covers in a layer of epoxy to encapsulate them.

Will probably take a boatload of epoxy...and that stuff don't come cheap. Perhaps you could use polyurethane?

Nice job, I like the creative thinking!

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i'm not sure, it's a trade off either way i think. the reason i was going to elevate the keezer, was to reduce the amount of lines outside of the keezer, to keep the beer from foaming, and getting warm, and not have to run cooling lines, etc.



yeah, i really don't know the best way to accomplish the whole album cover tile idea. i've got a few posts on some diy and flooring forums asking about it. i'll probably try a couple tests with various materials to see what i feel works best.

after reading up/asking experts, i decided against doing the floor in the album covers. i'm doing the back wall behind the bar/under the tv in the album covers, and the top row i have the actual record behind the cover, like it's being pulled out of the cover.
here's a couple photos of what i've got done with that last night, and also finished framing the short side of the "L" on the bar for bartop support, and skinned the inside of that same side where i'll be building shelves to hold the dvd player, cable box, stereo, etc. and built a support for the lower countertop area.

Looks great Brian. Love the records...not sure it fits with "The Slaughterhouse" but I like it anyway!

Only one thing missing...but I'm not gonna be that guy. There's other forums for that

Please tell me that those records were scratched or just ones you did not like listening to, b/c I saw a few from the covers wall that would be nice to listen to some time, but that is just me. Nice build though and I hope the TGIFridays on acid works out well

jmilton1987 said:

Please tell me that those records were scratched or just ones you did not like listening to, b/c I saw a few from the covers wall that would be nice to listen to some time, but that is just me. Nice build though and I hope the TGIFridays on acid works out well

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haha, no. they're weren't scratched. some of them weren't even out of the celophane yet. i bought 500 records off of a guy for $150 on craigslist.

no worries though, i have around 300gig of audio. it's all good.

cool build so far

Build that man cave, I want to see lot's of pictures of the final product. OK, it will never be done but at least some pics of the first party!
Love it, thanks for sharing.

OMG! Is that the rare Japanese pressing of John Denver's Greatest Hits?
It's worth (pinky to side of mouth).... Billions.

Someone actually paid money for the Rocky IV soundtrack in vinyl. LOL.

tipicreeper said:

OMG! Is that the rare Japanese pressing of John Denver's Greatest Hits?
It's worth (pinky to side of mouth).... Billions.

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I'll give you five bucks for it!

Looks good, though I don't know how long I'd be able to sit there with Phil Collins staring at me

more progress here.

plywood cut, fit, and screwed on bartop.




lower countertop done. i just used some spare cabinet backing wall pieces. i cut one to fit for the counter, and ripped the other at 4" for the backsplash.

back wall is completely covered in album covers now.



floor painted. blue paint, with silver glitter on top/mixed in. waiting for it to fully cure, then a coat of epoxy overtop of it all.





close up of the floor.



next on the agenda-epoxy the floor, and decide exactly what i'm going to be doing with the bartop, and the barface. right now i'm trying to decide between tiling and epoxying the bartop, or another layer of plywood, and then corkboard with bottlecaps pressed into it, and then epoxying overtop of that.

also on the barface, i was going to do all glass block, but glass block is really expensive. so i'm thinking of doing one layer of glass block at the bottom, kicked out around 6 inches, framed in wood, for a footrest around the preimiter of the bar, and then just cover the rest in wood, or maybe galvanized metal.

Looks great chainsaw, love the blue floor with glitter and the album covers. Looking forward to seeing more pics as you progress

Man I enjoy my digital music as much as the next guy and 300Gb is a ton but I don't know there is something about a good vinyl pressing that is just homey and soulful, but to each his own. Mind you as you can guess from my handle I am only 22 yrs old, but I hope it makes you happy and your bar is sweet next time I am in Indy I will try and kit you up.

I like how hanging the TV was the first completed part of the project

Very cool setup! Can wait to see the finished for now product.

dude, i love your room so far, but seeing all of those records glued to the wall makes me want to cry! i'm a record collector though.

i think when i build my bar, i'll glue cd's to the wall, but they wouldn't look nearly as good as your records do!

;o)

That is so awesome, this is exactly what I want to do to my future house. The bar room any way not necessarily the theme, but I think that looks hella good.

I think I need to drop over when you get yer bar done!!!

brrman said:

I think I need to drop over when you get yer bar done!!!

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do it man!

got a SWEET score on some acrylic blocks on craigslist, $1 a piece. it took 90 of them to cover the whole bar. they're just clipped together right now, and last night i started "grouting" them with white vinyl adhesive caulk, then i'll frame them all in with T strip and 1x4's and trim them out. then i gotta figure out the easist/chepest way to illuminate them from behind. i want them to have a blue glow to them.






also put my caps up on the top to see how they would look. as you can see i'm short by a lot of caps, i got a thread in the classifieds looking for some crown cap donations.





brewed 10 gallons of death by dunkel beer last friday, it's fermenting in the closet right now, and also picked up three corny kegs over the weekend, and a 20lb co2 tank, and got the 45* cut for my bar molding and figured out i'm like 20 inches short after cutting the two 7ft pieces with the 45* cuts for the corner. grrrr....


oh well, it's all coming along nicely. i plan on renting a finishing nail gun this weekend to get the bar moldling fastened up, and then getting my co2 tank filled, and buying some perlicks, shanks, hoses, and fittings, and hopefully finishing the "grouting" and framing for the blocks and getting them up.

Home depot/Lowes sells rope lights. They would work well for that application and you wouldnt notice them. Also nice score on those blocks, they are usually freakin expensive.

Pretty sweet man, cant wait to see it all finished! How are you going to secure the bottle caps? Might I recommend putting a lip on the inside of the bar and filling it with a clear epoxy (polymer resin). That way you will have a smooth surface and the bottle caps will never come off. I did it on a wood table I built that my sister did some crazy artwork on. It has been outside for 3 years and still looks like new.

Love the bar. That pool looks great about now too!

Brewin_CRAZY said:

Pretty sweet man, cant wait to see it all finished! How are you going to secure the bottle caps? Might I recommend putting a lip on the inside of the bar and filling it with a clear epoxy (polymer resin). That way you will have a smooth surface and the bottle caps will never come off. I did it on a wood table I built that my sister did some crazy artwork on. It has been outside for 3 years and still looks like new.

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That is what he said he plans to use, I think he mentioned it at the beginning of the post. That stuff does work great!

PM me if you want. I have a BUTTLOAD of caps I can send you. Seriously. I have a foot tall "brandy snifter" sitting on my bar, overflowing with caps... and there are very few BCM ones in there.

From the look of the pics, i could finish your bar with them no problem.

Just bounce me your address if you want 'em and I'll ship 'em to you.

I won't even charge you. All I ask in return is two things:
1) you post a pic of all of the caps in the bar!
2) You admit that the New England Patriots are by FAR and away the most dominant franchise between them and the Colts.

That's all I ask.

looks great aside from the black ceiling.
i like the caps , blocks and wall leage

Der Polkas

Thank you for sharing these photos! I get inspired watching other bars go up. Mine will come soon...in the mean time brew, brew, brew!

-Tripod

I saw this and thought what a cool gesture,

Cape Brewing said:

I won't even charge you. All I ask in return is two things:
1) you post a pic of all of the caps in the bar!

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then i saw this and realized its just another delusional pats fan looking to get a deal on his bottle caps.

Cape Brewing said:

2) You admit that the New England Patriots are by FAR and away the most dominant franchise between them and the Colts.

That's all I ask.

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