Plans to Build Basement Bar

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Just wondering if anyone built their own bar in their basement/garage/man cave.

What plans did you use?

What would you do differently?

What seemed like a good idea but you don't take advantage of?

What would you add if you could?

Do you have a draught tap?

I'm trying to put some ideas together.

[Nufy]

I built mine from scratch and only planned to house a small fridge,

I added a cupboard with shelves for storage and added an open area so i could access glasses and bar tools more easily.

I drink beer regularly but not enough to warrant adding a draught tap.

My design was built specific to the install location so I was limited by what i could do.



Sit down sketch it out and have fun !!!

Add lasers (sharks optional)

[Weitz]

The only people I know who see value from having a tap installed in their basement are those who brew their own beer. Otherwise, how many times a year do you use it?

[Shin Pad]

I built this in the house that I just sold. It was a lot of fun to build. I don't think I would have changed anything. It was just right for our purposes.

[Shin Pad]

Make sure you put in a foot rail. I got a local metal fab shop to build these out of pipe, but you can use your imagination

[OMG!WTF!]

Pick a theme. I recommend Tiki, -- If you have the room, two under counter bar fridges side by side looks cool and expensive and gives you lots of fridge room. The real double fridges are like thousands more. You can experiment with countertops too since they don't get a lot of use like a kitchen. I used sandstone once and it was so beautiful...delicate but gorgeous. But people use wood planks, live edge wood, concrete, stainless steel, glass. All kinds of stuff. You can experiment with floors too, like epoxy or something creative. If not Tiki then Disco.

[fundmark19]

More TV's more fun. When I did my cochrane house I had projector and 2 TV's on wall which was good. When I did my old Garage I had same set up and it covers most of stuff you need.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

You can experiment with countertops too since they don't get a lot of use like a kitchen. I used sandstone once and it was so beautiful...delicate but gorgeous. But people use wood planks, live edge wood, concrete, stainless steel, glass. All kinds of stuff.

In this regard, consider building a penny countertop. Put in a design using the varied colors of the pennies, and go from there.

Plenty of information on the Internet, but it might be harder to make than it looks?

[afc wimbledon]

Not being married I don't have to watch the game while having beer in the basement, I prefer to have a 'man house'.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Not being married I don't have to watch the game while having beer in the basement, I prefer to have a 'man house'.

Same rule of minimum 3 tvs per viewing area applies

[nik-]

The first question I'd ask is how often do I realistically entertain enough guests to warrant a bar.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by nik-

The first question I'd ask is how often do I realistically entertain enough guests to warrant a bar.

Three is enough. I have a drink or 2 every night with me, myself and I.

[bc-chris]

the 'google' is your friend when it come to ideas for a basement/games room!!

i'm always searching for different stuff/ideas. when i find stuff i like i save the pics into a folder so i can revisit ideas later. right now the folder has close to 1400 pics in it with all sorts of ideas for the 'next time' we build (not for a few years!).

when we did our last house i knew i wanted a cool looking fireplace/tv thing in the one corner. my dad was always asking what i wanted to build in 'that' corner. i told him "i'll know when i see it!". then one day i stumbled across a webpage and knew immediately that was what we were going to build.

Spoiler!

this was the webpage: http://www.garymkatz.com/TrimTechniq...antelpiece.htm


and from that we built this:



***ha - stupid photo bucket is blurring the pic. direct link here: https://s763.photobucket.com/user/bc...ml?sort=3&o=43

another good idea is to go check out any show homes in your area (or open houses). when we were planning on building we went to every show home in the kelowna area and then also did trips to calgary and vancouver and checked out more show homes. back then we had to 'sneak' in a camera to get pics. that's not so much of an issue now with cell phones.

[Weitz]

I must admit, a TV over the fireplace is about the biggest waste of space IMO.

About 5 houses we looked at before buying earlier this year had that in the basement. I hated it.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

In this regard, consider building a penny countertop. Put in a design using the varied colors of the pennies, and go from there.

Plenty of information on the Internet, but it might be harder to make than it looks?

I almost mentioned pennies but I think they're a little kitschy now. And my god so much work. I had a huge bag of pennies saved up for such a project but dumped them in a change counter instead. 18 bucks. And I broke the machine.


Also, these 3d drywall panels are really cool and super easy to use. Good on a back wall or the front of the peninsula or island....


https://www.textures3dpanels.com/wal...itle&order=asc

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

I almost mentioned pennies but I think they're a little kitschy now. And my god so much work. I had a huge bag of pennies saved up for such a project but dumped them in a change counter instead. 18 bucks. And I broke the machine.

Perhaps, but I've wanted to build one for at least 8 years now, so I'm still partial to the idea. All I lack is the actual house to put one in.

I tend to think, however, that if the countertop (or backsplash, for that matter, if one could figure out how to install the finished--and epoxied--product vertically) is small-ish, it isn't all that kitschy or dated. Plus, if one uses a collection of coinage from foreign countries, it might be a more interesting project.

And, who knows, if you accidentally end up putting an extremely valuable coin into the countertop installation, I suppose one day the countertop could be worth more than the actual house!

[DoubleF]

My current set up is a stainless steel mini fridge with two glass angled shelves on both sides of the fridge that displays bottles prominently beside the fridge.

The shelves look like this. The angle of the shelves looks great when displaying bottles.
https://www.wayfair.ca/furniture/pdp...ctedvertical=3


I have a green light from the wife to consider a full on bar for our next home. The more I poke into the idea, the more I seem to lose the sense that I would actually enjoy having it as a traditional sit down bar, but the area instead would be more useful as a display case area for booze and other man cave display pieces. I feel like a regular bar would easily be idle space on a regular basis, but a display wall with booze is a significantly more interesting idea.

Furthermore, I wouldn't generally entertain guests at the bar as the kitchen would be drink central for most events I'd host anyways (especially since I have a little one). Transitioning my idea of a "bar" to a "display area with the booze I won't really be keeping in the kitchen" is what I've seemed to be migrating towards so far.


Another idea that I had sorta considered was a secret bar. Something that looks like a regular set of cabinets surrounding a full size fridge, but could be flipped open to be a dry bar. A secret stash supply area so to speak. For instance, I see some of those revolving corner drawers in kitchens and it seems like it would be cool to spin a bunch of those things in a corner open and it's just booze options galore. That and/or those pull out storage shelf rack things that you can access from both sides would be great for booze selection.

[afc wimbledon]

Of the friends I have that have a man cave with bar in the basement, well to be honest they always make me think if I'm up for it then what they are really shooting for is their own private Chicken on the Way down there, I'm always worried there are 6 mattresses and a video camera in the closet.

[jwslam]

I'd make sure to get a dishwasher. I really like these double drawer ones
https://www.trailappliances.com/fish...lack-dd24dab9n

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I must admit, a TV over the fireplace is about the biggest waste of space IMO.

About 5 houses we looked at before buying earlier this year had that in the basement. I hated it.

Also it hurts me neck