|
The Bar Project
We were quoted
thousands to build a small bar for our home. Nothing too fancy
- Just a bar. We wanted cubbyholes for bottles and storage,
and a larger one for a fridge. We weren't given much in the way of choices.
No electrical included. This would be more, that would be
more, "You want to make it bend?" We couldn't justify that kind of money on something that
might not even be what we wanted. So we decided to try it on
our own. Michelle got me a table-saw for Father's Day, and
uncle Alan was in town to show me how to use it, so viola - The bar
project was underway.
What
kind of wood?
I did
some research on woods... Cherry is awesome, but it's a mystery what
color it will change into over the years. (I was told it likes
to darken up - sometimes) Oak looked too common - Too "rustic"
for us. Walnut was killer, but we needed to order the arm rail
pre-routered, and they weren't available in walnut, so no-go on the
walnut. Maple was a plain clean type of wood, and one that I
thought could only be stained very light in color, but I found some
flooring samples of dark stained maple, so I figured it was worth
looking at. I bought a
piece of maple, and a piece of oak, took it home, cut it into
squares, and stained the pieces with about 8 different types of
stains to pick a color and wood that worked for us. We decided
on maple stained with Minwax Red Mohogany.
Dimensions, shape, etc.
We knew what we wanted, so now we just looked at different bars and
picked out what features, heights, etc. we really wanted. We
decided a true sink would eat up too much space in the bar and
barely be used, so we decided against it. We chose to put a
small beverage cooler in the bar, an ice bin, a couple of other
small bins for whatever, and lots of shelves.
This is a
quote we got from a friend of ours that owns an oak
furniture design factory. He quoted $1500 for this
oak bar not including shipping from California. A
nice bar, no doubt, but not custom to our space.
No room for a fridge. No multiple surfaces for
drink prep or serving. It doesn't have one side
flush to push up to the wall and build it in. No
wrap around side to maximize our area. It would
look like we bought a bar at the store and stuck it in
our space. We had no choice of finishes or type of
wood. |
|
