Every House Should Have a Bar

Every house should have a bar, correct? I'm pretty sure I saw that in the massive amount of paperwork Jarrod and I signed in April.  With all of the other projects in the house this requirement continued to get pushed back but I am here to announce (slightly later then when it really happened) that our house now has a real life bar!

The colors were absolutely perfect... and it was on
sale!

Rufferee Portland clearly approves

Before we get to the details allow me to show off the new rug we go a month ago...

Wide Retriever Athena agrees!

Ok back to the bar...
I did take photos during most of the steps so I will outline our process for you.  Know that we originally thought we could do this in one weekend. Know that we were very wrong. Know that we argued through a lot of this process, but the end result was so worth the toils.

Here's how we did it:
Materials-
20 Cinder blocks
1 sheet of MDF cut to size
1 sheet of plywood cut to size
1 huge board
1 not so huge board
6 pieces of felt
About 20 pieces of strapping (I think that's what the strips of wood are called)
1 can of grey wood stain
5-6 tubes of construction adhesive
1 very patient husband :)(I'm not sure about the availability of this item... it's not required, but sure does help)

Step One: Get the wood for the bar top and front stained so it has plenty of time to dry.  We only did one coat  so you could still see the grains of the wood.  We wanted it to look old, like we used pallets.  Oddly making new wood look old was easier than using old wood.

Step Two: Cover the bottom cinder blocks with felt so that they do not scratch the floors.  Technically this is not a permanent bar because it's not nailed into anything.  However we can't move it and it won't leave in 1 piece so I guess it's a bonus for whoever gets our house next!

 Step Three: Pile cinder blocks on top of each other with adhesive in between.  You can see we did 3 blocks high before the first shelf. We did this so a wine rack we had would fit under the shelf. Very important feature.

 Step Four: Add 2 more rows of blocks with a lot more adhesive and pretend that this ugly thing makes you happy.

Step Four and a 1/2: Pretend to be a bartender in order to be sure that this so far ugly thing will work.  Panic slightly when you realize you've gone too far to turn back.

 Step Five: Put back out trying to squeeze enough adhesive to attach wood to concrete.  Woah this is tough!
Then attach 2 huge boards that were stained to the top. 1 will hang over some to give it that authentic bar feel.

 Step Six: Attach plywood to the front of the cinder blocks so it's easier to attach strapping later on.  Don't forget to convince your dog that construction adhesive is not candy and though she means well, she really is no help at all.

Step Seven: Begin gluing and screwing (get your minds out of the gutter...) stained strapping boards to the front and side of the bar.  This will prove to be very difficult on the side because you will try to do it with out a piece of plywood at first only to have them all fall off.  Hence multi-weekend project....

 Step Eight: Attach L brackets under the hang over for security and to the corners for good looks.  Looks old right?

Step Nine: Desire glass for the top like every good bar has only to realize the cost would defeat the point of making the bar yourself.  Settle with plexiglass and put cool bar coasters underneath.














Step Ten: Fill the back side with glasses, liquor and other things you'd like to hind from guests.  Use bar for a catch all of mail, bags and junk and be happy you made it yourself :)