Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie Bar Build Thread

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b-boy

b-boy

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I live in a late 1800's Craftsman/Victorian hybrid monstrosity.

I'm renovating my basement. I've put up drywall, leveled the floor, and reworked all the electrical. I'm ready to put in the ceiling this weekend.

My basement is broken up into small sections using walls made of hollow clay bricks covered in stucco. The walls are ancient. I don't think they are meant to be load-bearing, but some of them are probably helping to hold stuff up, so I'm uncomfortable removing them.

I have a small U-shaped area that is 7' 6" x 7' 6". It used to be a closet. It would make a perfect bar area, but I'm concerned that it's a little too small. I could get cabinets in there, but it seems like the biggest limitation would be the actual bar top. I'm probably limited to ~5.5' long. Is that even usable?

Anyone have ideas for how to handle a small space like this? Anyone done something similar? I want it to look like it fits into the area without it looking ridiculous or out of place.

I'll post pictures here as I progress, but I'm looking for some great ideas to get me started.
 
trying to make it a bar/brewing space? not sure what Ushaped means in terms of the dimensions you gave so i drew an idea assuming boxshaped. my entire brewspace/bar is on/above/under a 3x6' table so i know you can do it. underneath: one ferm chamber, one kegerator, trash can, propane burner and tank. on top: small bins organizing brewing supplies, induction burner&boilkettle, coffee roaster. above: shelf with fermenters, buckets, cleaning supplies,mash tun, hanging shelf below it which holds glassware.
with the extra space and fresh room/infrastructure, you can probably fit a sink, built in NG wok burner&induction burners, vent hood and proper cabinets.
one idea attached:unfortunately this software doesnt layout vertical space in 3D very well.
 
see attached

IMG_3683.JPG
 
Is this an area that will have a bar across the opening serving space outside it. Or do you want a bar in a little closet? Seems too small an area to have a bar and seating inside. At least if you are having a bar with space for a bartender behind it.

Added: What bkboiler shows would work for a ONE person bar....
 
Simply a bar area with some additional storage. I'd like to integrate a kegerator. I have a keezer, but it's going to be too big. I'll probably go with a small kegrator and a tower.


I'll try to do a rough drawing and post it. My CAD skills are pretty limited. I'll stick to programming. :D
 
3'-6" Is really small. I would omit the bar table side and run the cabinets along the 2 long walls not interfering with the door.
 
There's no door. It's a large square area with walls on 3 sides. I would run the bar along the open side and create an area behind it for serving.

When you say 3'6", what are you referring to? The area behind the bar?
 
sorry should of looked closer. I thought there was a wall on the other side of the bar and the stools were windows. 3'6", inside the u, was were I thought you were putting the stools. That looks like a great bar setup. You could put a 7cuft keezer in there for your bar if you wanted 4 taps. My 7 cuft freezer is only 3' wide, 3'6" with the paneling on outside.
 
i like the way you drew it b-boy...
a cool touch would be one of those foldup portions of the bar to bridge the gap across to the other cabinet and encircle the back of the bar, and you'll still be able to
get out! ; P
In your case it'd allow for a 3rd person to sit down, and you can store the 3 stools
over to the left unless all three are being used.
 
Any chance you could put the keezer in the closet and run lines to the bar area? That would save you the space of trying to fit a kegerator in that small area.
 
mj1angier said:
I think a flip up bar top would be easy to do. About all you need is a heavy piano hinge like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/National-Hardware-2-in-x-30-in-Continuous-Hinge-V570-2X30-CONT-HNG-BRS/204205143

Just add a counter top and a 2x4 for it to rest on when down
Click to expand...

Bar tops are usually composed of several pieces. you need a plywood base, your actual bar top, and your bar rail. I'll take a look at doing it this way, but I think doing it well is tough. I'd hate to screw up a good bar top if I do it wrong. The rail and bar top are not cheap.
 
Not all bar tops are made the same way:
bar%203_zps7mrp7jvj.jpg


I would think of the flip up part as a "in case I need an extra spot". It could just be a simple piece of oak plywood that bridges the gap and someone could sit at. Most of the time it would be flipped up out of the way. And it may only need to be 24" or so- big enough to walk thru. If you need to put any thing wider behind the bar, you could set on top of bar, walk in, then get it off bar and sit it down.

But it looks like you have living area in front of the bar. At my bar, that is where most folks hang out. We will have 2-3 that sit at bar but most sit in couches or table in living area. I find I spend little time behind the bar. Sure I pull a beer for ever one and show the around the bar. But then part of the fun for them is pulling the tap handle for themselves the next time.
 
Yep - I'm planning for a 24" walk-thru area. A flip up section would be nice, but I plan on doing a formal Chicago rail. That will make it more complicated. When I get to that point, I'll definitely take a closer look. Maybe a drop-in section would be easier than a flip up section.

I'd love a bar top like yours, but I don't have that much to spend. I looked into some natural tops, but they started at about $1500. My entire bar build won't cost that much. :D
 
b-boy said:
I'd love a bar top like yours, but I don't have that much to spend. I looked into some natural tops, but they started at about $1500. My entire bar build won't cost that much. :D
Click to expand...

LOL, That bar cost me $600, most of that was on the epoxy bar coat. The large slab of Brazillian cherry was $125 off craigslist, the oak slab was from a old barn that I traded pulling wood of it for wood I wanted. The 2 red oak plywood sheets were $100. The base are two unfinished base cabinets from Lowes that were in the scratch and dent area, $200. The bones were 2x4 and 2x6 scrap I had. And the front and sides are barn wood. I did the work myself.

It took six months from finding the cherry slab too the time I pour first beer.
 
mj1angier said:
LOL, That bar cost me $600, most of that was on the epoxy bar coat. The large slab of Brazillian cherry was $125 off craigslist, the oak slab was from a old barn that I traded pulling wood of it for wood I wanted. The 2 red oak plywood sheets were $100. The base are two unfinished base cabinets from Lowes that were in the scratch and dent area, $200. The bones were 2x4 and 2x6 scrap I had. And the front and sides are barn wood. I did the work myself.

It took six months from finding the cherry slab too the time I pour first beer.
Click to expand...

You got a great deal on that wood slab.
 
It's going to be at least a few weeks before I get started. Life (and my wife) get in the way. I've been working on this basement for almost a year. My wife wants her laundry room before I even think about the bar (Talk about screwed up priorities).

I've settled on buying a kit for the bar top and rails. I want walnut, but I'll have to sell my house to afford it. I'm settling on Oak. I'm debating whether to go with curved or square rail corners. I like the curved look, but the curved rail pieces are really expensive. It adds about 50% to the price of the bar top.

I'll use Lowes scratch and dent cabinets for the bar base and bar back. I've been stalking Lowes like a serial killer so I can grab them as they pop up.

I'll probably go with oak plywood for the base of the bar, and the countertops. I'm toying with the idea of using some corrugated roofing in there as well. I'm still on the fence. I'm planning on using 1" black iron pipe to do the footrest.

For the taps, I'm planning on using 2" or 3" black iron pipe to build a tower. I'm gonna get new Perlick SS faucets with flow control. I have a keezer. If I can use that behind the wall and under the stairs, I'll keep it. I'll retro-fit it to run lines through the wall. If not, I'll pickup a kegerator that will fit under the counter.

I'm still concerned about the space I'll have. I may do a mockup with some leftover foam board. I may have to get a little creative during the build.
I'll post progress as I make it, but it will be slow.
 
I like black pipe too. My slab was a bit heavy so I need to add legs to the front of the bar. Because the height was not a match for the pipe pre-made size, I did some cut and weld on the bottom foot. Added the wood pad to keep the floor from getting rubbed by the iron. Still have not done my foot rest or added rusted tin corners.

leg_zpsavnd8nbm.jpg
 
I've been kicking around the idea of a distressed copper bar top with a wooden rail. I'd probably do an epoxy pour on top of the copper for durability. That way I can afford to do a nice walnut rail.

Anyone have any experience with copper on a bar or table top? Is it durable? Any issues?

Here's an example. Mine would have a green patina and wouldn't be as shiny.

imagesTXIWMFOB.jpg
 
I have seen a few bars with copper tops and they look great. They used a heavy copper and it at most had coat of laquare on it.

I just order thin cooper from here to do a back splash behind our stove. It will be glued to a MDF backing and then coated. I think if you epoxy over it, you would be fine with the thin sheets

http://www.colorcopper.com/
 
mj1angier said:
I have seen a few bars with copper tops and they look great. They used a heavy copper and it at most had coat of laquare on it.

I just order thin cooper from here to do a back splash behind our stove. It will be glued to a MDF backing and then coated. I think if you epoxy over it, you would be fine with the thin sheets

http://www.colorcopper.com/
Click to expand...

After doing more research, MDF seems to be the way to go for a copper topped bar. I think the thin copper would show any deformities in the plywood. MDf is the only thing smooth enough to avoid that problem. Most of the demos I've seen online use MDF.

I looked at hammered copper sheets, but they can't roll it, so it has to be shipped flat via truck. The sheets themselves are fairly inexpensive, but the shipping kills you.

The thin sheets can be rolled and shipped in a tube.
 
b-boy said:
I decided that my keezer was too big for my bar space. I'll probably use it in my pole barn.

I just ordered this - http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/kegerators/kIRK309B-inventory-clearance-kegerator.html. It holds 3 cornies.

It will either go under my countertop, or I'll set it up to feed through the wall. That should be an interesting project in itself.
Click to expand...

That looks like the same one I have but mine is a 3 tap tower. I just slid it under my bar, made a collar to go up to the bottom of the bar and mounted the tower on top. I put a computer fan inside to move air around
 
It got good reviews. It's a little more than I wanted to spend, but it holds 3 kegs. Shipping wasn't cheap. I also like the option to run a second external tank. I think I'll probably use that to add a nitro setup.

I was going to just buy the stand-alone fridge, but this was on clearance. It was actually cheaper than the stand-alone version. I'll rework it into a 3-tap system.

Planning on adding some Perlick flow-control faucets and a wall-mounted black iron tower of some kind. I'm working through how to run the lines through a wall and keep everything cool.
 
I just got my first order of black iron pipes from Grainger.

First, I can't believe how quickly they shipped my stuff. They beat Amazon.

Second, I can't believe how big (and heavy) 3" black iron pipe is. I'm not sure how I'm going to mount this stuff to the wall.

In case anyone else is contemplating doing a cast iron tower, I think 2" pipe would have been sufficient. :D
 

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