3
Decorating the Home Bar
Of course, the beer enthusiasts have their home bars decorated to the hilt. They have everything you can think of and even a few things you might have never imagined. But remember, there was a time when they weren’t so skilled with their eagle eye’s either.
Decorating your home bar is a personal journey. But, you have to begin somewhere. If you’ve built your bar or are just getting started, there are some great ideas you can use to help start your journey to complete beer enthusiasm.
Beer Mirrors
Beer mirrors are a staple of the home bar. Beer mirrors sport your favorite drink. They display variety and demonstrate your knowledge of worldly beers. It’s a great find when you discover a beer mirror that displays a beer no one you know has ever drank or even heard about.
Beer Signs
Beer signs are also staples of the home bar. But, they are different from beer mirrors. Beer signs have funny sayings or old slogans. Some are made of tin. Some are made of wood. There are some very vintage beer signs that will add so much character to your home bar. It’s a fun collection to build. So, get started.
Beer Glasses
You don’t just want glasses that hold beer. You want a beer glass that displays your favorite flavor. You might want to start collecting types of beer glasses that truly display your glass class. If you have beer flavors on glasses no one has ever even heard of, you will impress even your most veteran beer enthusiast friends.
Beer Taps
It’s a bar. It has to have beer taps. You might only have one kegerator, so you’ll only be able to show off one beer tap at a time. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a variety of beer taps that you switch out as you need them.
If you have a beer enthusiast over who likes a certain kind of beer, you can really show off by having a special beer tap when they walk into your home bar. If you brew your own beer, you can have a chalkboard or whiteboard beer tap that you use to write your beer flavor on to show your friends what you’re sharing with them.
Your home bar is yours and there are plenty of beer accessories you can add to your home bar to make it unique. Dispensers and koozies, towers and mugs are only just scratching the surface. I’ve seen fishnet and shells for heaven’s sake. So, don’t think it has to be all about beer. But, it should be all about you.
5
Building Your Home Bar
If you’ve been dreaming about having a bar in your home, get started. You don’t need a contractor to be the expert on the job. That could take weeks when you could have one built in a day.
Do some research and give yourself an idea of what you want. Then, put the plan into motion by piecing together the different materials you’ll need. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to build your own home bar.
Blend or Standout
Depending on where you decide to put your home bar, you might want to think about making it blend with the rest of your home or making it standout. If you are putting it in a room all its own, it can easily be designed to standout. But if it happens to be between two rooms where company roaming through is a very real possibility, then making it blend with the rest of your décor is a good idea.
In a room all its own, a bar looks great with a brick or wood décor. But, those aren’t the only two options. Some bars I’ve seen have had been finished in drywall. The rest of the décor was dressed with beer signs and beer mirrors. But for the other choices, definitely a faux brick or faux wood finish would look great and it wouldn’t damage the budget.
The Bar
The bar can easily be framed with 2 x 4s. Cover it with plywood. Then, finish. It really doesn’t get any more difficult than that. But, it does depend on how intricate you try to get.
Any local department store or hardware store should have cabinet doors you can use for the bar when you are finished. Build your frame. Then as I said before, nail the plywood to your frame. At this point, it’s up to you what you want to do. I have finished off a bar with interlocking wood panels that I attached diagonally. Then, I used border to make eye catching designs that brought a touch of professionalism to the bar.
Once the bar is built and the cabinets are finished to match the bar, a few coats of lacquer can bring out a beautiful glossy finish. Now all you need are some bar stools and track lighting before you begin to decorate the rest.
Décor
Have you ever thought about your local bar and wondered where they got their decorations? The beer signs and the beer mirrors are either funny, authentic, or just plain eye catching. The beer taps are name brand and always have unique designs. The beer glasses are also name brand and in all different shapes and sizes.
One thing about having your own home bar is the challenge of finding great collector’s items to put on display. Once your bar is done, now your hunt begins. Don’t go for junk just to cover the walls. Find things that bring out your personality. It’s your bar. It’s should be all about you.
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Beertaps Review
This is the opposite of the traditional black chalkboard. It's the more advanced whiteboard that college professors and corporations across the nation use for writing their notes and thinking out loud. If Einstein could have had this baby, we would have had the greatest beer a long time ago.
With each new recipe you try to brew, give it a name. Doesn't have to be special! Jack Daniel's batches were marked with No. 1, No. 2...on down to No. 7. The cleaning solution Formula 409 was treated the same way until they found perfection. You can do that too!
Amber Ale, Coffee Porter, Chocolate Stout are just a few of the things you can write on your whiteboard...
"Try this! Tastes good. It's a'right."
"My recent batch. Explodes in your mouth."
"Awful. Gut check. Drink it down. I need the keg back."
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