Meet my new bar!
Last week I was talking about how I needed something to "divide" the living/dining room visually, since the flooring just randomly changes between the two (thanks to us knocking the wall down). So I got my inspiration and asked Ana White if she could draw up plans for the Pottery Barn modular bar system. She, being one of the sweetest gals that I ever did meet, drew up some amazing plans and I got to building!
Do you guys see that wine grid?
I'm sorry, but that thing looks scary..
Wanna know something?
It really wasn't...
I marked out all of my cuts on the top board, clamped the boards together (after making sure they were perfectly aligned), and used my circular saw to make most of the cuts. The bottom boards weren't cut as deep as the top ones (because of the round blade), so I took my Dremel Trio and cleaned that up. Easy peasy! What took the longest was measuring and marking all the cuts!
In the plan, there wasn't a breadboard pull-out. Ana and I had discussed this, and it seemed that the easiest thing would be putting a board in the drawer that could slide forward to be used as a prep area and be pushed back to access the drawer, and I was more than fine with that... But Mr. Goats wasn't convinced. So I flew by the seat of my pants (something I dislike doing, and yet it seems to happen a lot...), and made it work. I'll save the details for another post :-)
Hey, I'll take an excuse to make a margarita ;-) Hey! It's for the pictures!!
The best thing about this is that it really DOES separate the spaces. And it looks pretty kick ass while doing it..
To keep things real, I decided not to clean off my coffee table before taking this wide shot :-p
There was a battery operated light on clearance at Lowe's that I had to grab and put in there. You can see it in the pictures, but it's a lot less intrusive in person. And the light in there totally adds some oomph to this bar.
And makes my dust more noticeable...
The cove moulding totally adds "something" to the piece.. So what if you can tell it's... uhh.. "homemade"..
(I bought enough to trim inside all of the sides, but I need my step-dad to help me with it. My dim self wasn't able to figure out how to cut it and make it look good... so that gets to wait 'til he comes down.)
This is one of my favorite parts, and the photos totally don't do this justice. I LOVE the trim along the bottom. There wasn't any trim that fit the bottom at any local hardware stores that was stainable, so I had to buy smaller trim and cut some more plywood to make up the front. I really just... love it...
Annnd... here are some more shots that I took. It's my new crush..
Plans are posted on Ana's site!
Simply stunning! Much nicer than the original!
ReplyDeleteWell thanks! I can't say it's nicer than the original, but it was much cheaper, and I get bragging rights ;-) You're so sweet!
DeleteI think you've just inspired me! I don't know what, but I'm gonna go do something.
ReplyDeleteUhh. Hope you got it done! :-p
DeleteBeautiful. Love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, lady! I keep grinning when I look at it. :-)
DeleteAs always great build and I see a very neutral wall behind it!
ReplyDeleteIt IS very neutral! And there's another wall with blue test swatches all over it :-p This house can't get away from me and blue paint....
DeleteWell then it must be your thing! Don't fight it!
DeleteGreat job! Looks awesome. Kinda miss the blue wall a little, I won't lie. And I love that one picture that shows your color swatches on the wall. I pick the middle one
ReplyDeleteI miss the blue wall, too *sniffle* But I've got plans for another one. Can't wait to finish the whole living room to show y'all!
DeleteGreat build, would never have guessed it was diy. Heading over to Ana's now...
ReplyDelete:)
I'm really impressed by this piece, Gina, especially the egg crate wine rack. Something I'd only attempt with a table saw, but your technique is a lot more practical for the average DIYer.
ReplyDeleteJust a word of caution on having the bottles up in the living room. Wine really doesn't like light. We had a rack like that, and after six months all of the wine in it had gone off. I told my wife we needed to live up to our Irish heritage a little better, or start storing it in the basement, no matter how cool the rack looked.
Thanks for the tip, Clay! I'll be honest and tell you that it probably won't last 6 months! ha! I'll have to figure out a good rotation for it (maybe dating the neck?), but... we do love to drink. Wow. I totally sound like a wino right now :-p
DeleteHi, how did you get the slots in your dividers so they were a 1/4 wide? Did you use a dado blade?
ReplyDeleteThanks
No dado blade for me - I don't even have a table saw! I clamped all of the same-sized pieces together and then took this picture and measured everything out including the 1/4" for the cuts. Then I did two passes with my circular saw within the 1/4" lines that I marked, and touched up the backs of the cut with the router bit on my Dremel TRIO.
DeleteThis would have been made easier with a table saw, and even more simple with a dado blade, but if you don't have one, it can still be done!