Building my Basement Bar

[AboveTheBest]

I’ve been building a bar in my basement (slowly) for the last month or so and thought I start a thread about it here on the forum.
My wife and I bought this house about 3-years ago, and the main thing I wanted when doing our search was a place with an unfinished walkout basement that I could work on and finish myself.

My plan was to do everything but the drywall hang/finish, but I ended up having the framing contracted as well.
Countless nights and weekends of running wires, painting, installing doors and trim, and laying hundreds of square feet of tile... I finally got to a point where I could start working on the centerpiece of the whole place, my basement bar.


I started by using some of the most advanced 3D modeling equipment available on the civilian market to design this graphical representation of the finished product...



If anyone is interested I can upload the CAD file to a public drive...

I picked up a 9’ beam from a 250-year old barn and used it as the corner posts for the frame. Getting straight cuts on the ends was very difficult, as there are no flat edges anywhere on the beam. 4-saws later and we figured it out, but the irregular nature of the beam was the starting point for what I’m starting to call the “No Square Bar”. Coupled with 1” slope somewhere near the middle of the concrete and my questionable framing skills, and that pretty much “rounds” out where this bar is getting its name.



Here’s a picture of the frame with a mocked up counter


This is what I got finished yesterday. Putting panels on the inside of the (from left to right) fridge space, shelves, and under sink cabinet.



I couldn’t decide what to use for the insides of the cabinets, but ended up going with 3/4” maple plywood that will probably end up getting a coat to Tung Oil as the finish. I hated spending $100 on two sheets of this stuff, as nobody will probably ever see any of it, but couldn’t bring myself to use MDF or regular plywood on the off chance somebody did.

 

[AboveTheBest]

The plan is for the counter to be 2” concrete I’m going to pour myself, and the bar front is going to made using siding from the same barn I got the beam from.

I have a 15”x15” sink that’s going cabinet on the right, but I’m still trying to find the right faucet for the setup.
The small backsplash will be tile, but I’m still not sure what I’m going to use. I have thought about using thousands of small flat river stone as the backsplash, and I’ll probably leave this till the end so I can see what would look best.

I’m also looking for some corbels/supports for the bar, and am thinking something made out of steel would be kind of cool.

My plan is to have this finished by Memorial Day for its grand opening. Anything after that and it’s probably going to end up waiting till next winter due to boating season...

 

[swatski]

The plan is for the counter to be 2” concrete I’m going to pour myself, and the bar front is going to made using siding from the same barn I got the beam from.

That is so cool!
Watching!

—

 

[dnicholas47]

Are you doing pour in place concrete for the bar? We did ours using Concrete Countertop Solutions and it turned out great. Happy to share my experience and what I did wrong if it would make your job easier.

 

[AboveTheBest]

@dnicholas47 I’m planning to do them upside down on melamine and then place them on the frame afterwards.

I thought about pouring in place using those Z-Countertop edge forms, but decided the upside down method looked easier.

The Upside-down Method

 

[dnicholas47]

@AboveTheBest Ours was too long to get them in the house that way so we didn’t have much of a choice. Plus my wife didn’t want joint lines if we could avoid it. Here are a couple along the way and how it turned out.

 

[AboveTheBest]

That looks great!
I love the stone and under bar lights.

Did you use any stain on the concrete?

 

[AboveTheBest]

We’re you able to fit outlets between the prep surface and bar? It looks like I’m seeing some.

I don’t think I have a wide enough space between my two counters.

 

[dnicholas47]

We didn’t. Honestly we weren’t sure how it would turn out plain. Once we saw it we liked the look at kept it as is. The lights are just plug in $50 lights from Lowe’s.

 

[dnicholas47]

We also have a crap ton of outlets facing the stools beneath the upper part of the bar in addition to what’s behind. Figured between crock pots and phone chargers we could get use out of them.

 

[Neutron]

Nice work @AboveTheBest and @dnicholas47 !
Me and the misses dont spend as much time inside as we do outside. Plus no basement here to build bar. Lol

Instead i just bumped out a section of my deck 4feet by 12 feet to ad an outdoor kitchen that i have always wanted(the kitchen gets delivered Thursday).We currently have over 900 square feet of outdoor deck/screenroom (i built the deck)and after i install the larger pool i am adding probably a other 400 square feet to the pool side

 

[AboveTheBest]

Very nice @Neutron

We have a patio connected to the walkout that I’m planing on working on/extending after the basement is all finished.

An outdoor kitchen is definitely on my list.

 

[dnicholas47]

Can’t wait to see the finished product @Neutron!

We are in the debate of replacing the deck and going composite or ripping it off and doing a covered patio instead. Any thoughts to settle the debate are greatly appreciated.

 

[Neutron]

Well our back yard is sloped pretty good so it was a challenge.
This is what i started with


I replaced the existing useless 12 by 12 deck and dropped down 3 steps, came out 15feet and wrapped around the screen room. Retuning to the house.
I have since removed the pool and after the 22foot pool is in i will decide what to do on that side. Definitely going to wrap some of the pool.

 

[Neutron]

Can’t wait to see the finished product @Neutron!

We are in the debate of replacing the deck and going composite or ripping it off and doing a covered patio instead. Any thoughts to settle the debate are greatly appreciated.

If you have a flat grade. A covered or partially cover patio is the was to go. Less upkeep
Impossible for my situation

 

[dnicholas47]

With your yard I see why no patio, but the deck setup you have is sweet!

 

[Neutron]

With your yard I see why no patio, but the deck setup you have is sweet!

Thanks. It should be finished with the next month. Its been tough with still cleaning up the 40+ small and large trees that went down from Florence. That clean up project is approx 80% done.
This a small panoramic shot from the deck. As you can see my lower part of the property goes up to the creek. From the deck we get a great view. So it is slowly starting to look decent again

 

[AboveTheBest]

Dramatic improvement with the wrap around deck @Neutron

 

[Neutron]

Dramatic improvement with the wrap around deck @Neutron

Thanks,
otherwise its a useless back yard

 

[AboveTheBest]

I’m pouring my prep bar counter today so I can get the sink installed and plumbing finished before moving on to siding the front.

My plan was to use some of the siding from the same barn I got the beams but I’ve been having problems getting in touch with the guy with the wood.

I had some cedar fence pockets laying around from the wall covering I’m putting in my gun room (super cheap and looks great in my “cave”), and thought I would see how it looked as siding for the front of the bar. 1x6” 8’ Dog-ear boards are about $5 a piece, so this is about a fifth of what I planned to spend on the barn siding.

It’s just mocked up/not level due to the cement, but I think the horizontal run of the wood looks good.

What do you think?