Custom Home Bars

If you have a uniquely sized space or just want something no one else has, you may want to look into custom home bars. While many pre-manufactured kits can be outfitted to appear as custom, for truly customer home bars you may need to special order the wood, brush up on your carpentry skills, or have someone build it for you.

Before hiring a carpenter or contractor to build you a custom home bar, call or email some suppliers and tell them what you have in mind. Ask them for ideas and just how specifically manufactured their products are. You may find that with some modifications your idea of custom is not so custom after all.

Easy Ways to Create Custom Home Bars

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to customize any piece of furniture is simply by getting creative with some paint and a brush. It's amazing how a unique color or several colors can alter the perceived shape of a chair, a stool, and even a bar. My wife and I recently purchased a used black coffee table that was solid as a rock but ugly as sin. First we sanded off the black paint, but left it streaked, to create an aged, almost antique look. Then, using masking tape and a yard stick, we created a series of cross-hatches or diamonds to give the appearance of a checkerboard top. Next we filled in the diamonds with bright red paint and then sanded that. Voila--instant antique checkerboard table.

Aside from painting your bar, consider mounting lamps or other fixtures to the sides or top of the bar. Any hardware store will offer a variety of knobs, coat hooks, and ornately designed pieces that can transform your standard pine bar into something out of a Charles Dickens novel. Finally, and there is no shortage here, you can always add signage. Classic beer and drink signs are available through most bar accessory suppliers and they make a statement about what is served and who is serving it in your custom home bar.