Build a Bar - Step 2

Ok, so we're on to step 2 now. As a reminder, step 1 was to get yourself a good set of home bar plans. If you haven't done that yet, I don't know why in the hell you're already reading step 2 because you can't build a good home bar without good plans. Go back to Step 1, find yourself a good set of plans, and then rejoin us here in step 2. Go ahead...we'll wait...

Ok, good, you're back. Now it's time to do a little more detailed planning to make sure your home bar construction project goes as smoothly as possible. The last thing you want to do (and, if you're anything like me, you WILL do this) is to jump right in, buy some of the materials and start randomly building pieces of the bar and then never, ever getting it together correctly or even getting close to finishing the project. So, let's follow 3 simple steps:

1. Prepare your workspace - Mark off the area for the bar, remove and items that might get in the way and, get all of your tools, extension cords, etc good and ready.
2. Buy your supplies - You'll need to know your complete bill of materials for this part, even if you're not going to buy all the materials at once. If you were smart, and bought your plans from Easy Home Bar Plans, you can just print out the complete bill of materials that comes with the plans, take it to the hardware store, and have them cut everything for you just as indicated on the plans. Now, you CAN choose to cut it all yourself but I generally manage to screw up just about every cut, so I prefer to have someone else to it for me. Once you've got this done, take it al home and move onto step 3.
3. Build it - Don't go rushing into it and starting to do things "your way" just follow the plans (you got them for a reason). With you space prepared, all of your tools ready and accessible, and your lumber pre-cut, this should be the easy part. Just take your time, follow the plans, and enjoy the process.
   

Oh, and don't forget to toss back a few cold ones while you work. That is the most important step. :)

Build a Bar - Step 1

Deciding to build a home bar can be an overwhelming decision. Once you've decided to take the plunge and build your bar, the next step is always indecision about what the next step is. Hopefully, I can take some of that pressure off of you by doing some of the research for you.

The first step in any home project is careful planning, and building a home bar is no exception. In this case, we're extremely lucky because there are plenty of people who have already done the planning for us. There are already plenty of places you can go on the web to find free bar plans or even pay for higher quality, more detailed plans that are customizable to your particular situation.

I occasionally find free bar plans on the internet and they always seem to leave a little something to be desired. One example of this is AskTheBuilder.com where they have some very basic plans and a high level overview of the process. The problem with this, like most free plans I have found is that they are very basic, not easily customizable, and you have no way of knowing what the end product looks like. Although this is a good introduction to the process of how to build a bar, I would recommend getting some better plans. Two sites that offer great, inexpensive bar plans are Easy Home Bar Plans and How To Build Your Own Tiki Bar.

Easy Home Bar Plans (http://wwww.barplan.com) provides you with full, 3D, customizable bar plans for seven different types of bars including standard bars, L-shaped bars, wet bars, portable bars, and more. They only charge $19.95 for access to all of their plans and to their members forum where you can ask questions and chat with their experts or other members who have built or are building bars using the same plans. The best part is that they have hundreds of user submitted images of bars built using their plans, so you can actually SEE what you will end up with when using their plans. Here are a couple of example photos from their site:




Click Here to check out their entire gallery and see the details of their awesome bar plans.

How to Build Your Own Tiki Bar - If you're more interest in building a tiki bar (indoors or outdoors), I recommend checking out How To Build Your Own Tiki Bar. The plans available there are very cheap (only $19.95 again) and they produce some truly outstanding tiki bars. The long list of user testimonials speaks to the quality of the plans. They are very well laid out, easy to follow, and the results speak for themselves. Here's an example of a couple of finished products submitted by satisfied customers:





If a tiki bar is more your style, click here to check out the rest of the photos and grab your copy of their plans.

No matter where you end up getting your plans from, once you have them in-hand and know what you need to do, you are ready to get down to business and build a bar. We'll cover more details of the building process at a later date.