This project was a long time coming… 4 years actually.
I salvaged several fireplace mantles from a project I worked on in 2004 that otherwise were going to the dumpster (it took 3 mantles to build this bar, along with lots of other purchased Oak). At Christmas 2008, my Dad and I took a look at the stack of mantles that had been tucked away in storage for 4 years and decided they would be a great jump start to a bar project. So for the purists out there, I admit right off the bat that the upper and lower detail work you see is actually prefabricated oak fireplace mantles that were re-purposed for this project.
Everything is Oak aside from the glass shelves and doors. We purchased the “Chicago Style” bar rail, which is a really comfortable spot to rest our elbows over a cold one.
We completed this project in two phases… The base, front, and top were more or less finished over a few weekends in the winter of 2008.
Then, for one reason or another we didn’t work on it again until we finished it this past January-February, 2012, at which time we finished the back bar shelves, doors, bar rail, top, and finish.
We poly’d only the top surface and bar rail. Instead of using poly on the base we went with a stain sealer for a softer finish.
There was quite a bit of piece work and headaches in making the fireplace mantles work, and at times we wondered if it would have been easier to build this bar from scratch, but in reality the project wouldn’t have come to fruition if it hadn’t been for those dusty mantles staring us down that Christmas.
This bar sits in my parents lower level and has inspired an entire lower level remodel… hopefully that will become a reality… I’ll post on homerefurbers if it does!