Pimp my Ride? How about Pimp My Bar?

[Ceffin]

Me/friend with good construction experience are looking for creative ideas to create a bar. So far we've come up with


Plexi-glass side and top panels - so you could see the inner workings of the bar

Thin fish tank to line the very front panel of the bar, you could watch fishies float around

Swings for seats(watch the drunkards have a good time)

kareeoke mikes to drop down from the ceiling

maybe somehow hang every bottle that is drinked there to be decoratively put on somewhere?? We're gonna start the bar off with 96 coronas vodka rum and whatever we feel, maybe we could incorporate that into our design

We are leaning towards your standard L shape bar, 8 feet by 4 feet, with 2 feet widths and somehow we'll figure how to incorporate a nice little drink making table. We'll be putting the refrigerator into the bottom part of the L

Any ideas would be appreciated! =)
Good Times

[Dregor Thule]

A flashing neon sign with the outline of a reclining naked woman and in giant letters GOOD TIMES CLUB.

[Lalanae]

swings as seats will get you sued

[jaeger]

lalanae is right... drunk people with swings? cmon man

seriously, it depends what type of bar your making because seriously fish wont go well in a gay pub... fish tanks are sort of a class thing

are you going to have a chill out bar or a full pumping bar?
you have to decide on what type of image your going to give your bar until you decide what goes with that image.

IE, trendy/pub/lounging.
it also decides what music you play, if you have a DJ or a jukebox. seriously man, its a lot more than the "im going to start a bar, Yeah !"
put some thought into it or youll lose all your money.

[Tegellan]

How about making it a round bar?

[Boogahz]

If you were making it with plexiglass don't use clear. Use a color and you can use some lighting in/behind it to make the edges appear to glow. Also, the shape can do a lot to decide where the traffic will go. Do you want everyone to congregate in one area, or do you want them to spread out over the bar area? Maybe an S type shape will work for you. This could keep the lines in the C-like portion of the S while allowing them to leave out of the sides of the C. Then you could have seating along the other curves allowing the "regulars" to laugh at the herd of cattle swarming into the C.

[Ransure]

Sounds to me like hes talking about a home bar.... not a business...

As for Plexi... baaaaddddd idea... You are going to be spilling alcohol and other substances on it over the years and it will get pock marks and loose its smooth feel... also, cleaning it will never get out all of the dirt and grime that gets underneath it. There is a reason they make bars out of stained/finished wood... if it gets fucked up... sand it down and stain/finish it again... or just add another finish coat.

[Ceffin]

thanks keep the ideas flowing guys!

This is a "home" bar, not a business or anything, sorry for that But if it turns into a business...all the better! hah =).Ransure, your sure that plexiglass or acrylic would loose its smooth feel after awhile becuase of spills?

also, me/friend maybe might be leaning towards an iguana/chameleon in a cage, but its just an idea =)

And today i was driving my sister to her friends, and guess what i saw on my way home? Two perfectly awesome bar stools with backs, that swivel and are in perfect condition - somebody was throwing them out! I think thats a sign =)

And that S shaped bar idea was cool one, along with the C - ill maybe experiment with some other letter designs har har =P

And to whoever said GOOD TIMES CLUB! - me/my friends actually do call ourselves the Good Times Club, we have a little group that calls themselves the good times club We have 3... "Godfathers" rofl =)

[Drasta]

plexi glass/acrylic is bad ... i wear acrylic earrings and they tell me not to use the ear disinfectitant on them because it will corrode them. Also cleaning it will be a bitch because you can never get that stuff clean.... and you might scratch it with a knife and you can't sand/varnish it.

[Bubba Grizz]

Ok, I watched "While You Were Out" this weekend and they just happened to do this guys bar that was originally a Star Trek/Sci Fi theme.
They put plexiglass tubes from floor to ceiling through a bar rail and painted them a transparent purple and put a light underneath. It looked pretty sweet. They also lined the bar top with Mirrors. Here is the link if you want to look at it.

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/wywo/ ... ode49.html

[Pilsburry]

If you do the thing out of plexiglass you might want some real glass on the top....plexiglass will scratch to hell in a month.

I am also not sure if the plexi glass will have an effect on fish...I'm not a fish guy but I don't often see tanks made out of plexi-glass...maybe it leeches toxic stuff into the water.

One more thing....that fish tank has to be removable somehow....because you need to clean it or it's going to look disgusting.

I'd actually recommend shallow fish tanks across the top instead of in the thin one in front. In the front = near peoples legs, they don't see it anyway if they are sitting at the bar...and hard as hell to clean. In the top you just lift the glass up, and they see the fish all night. If you do in the top I think like 3 seperate fish tanks would be cooler...so all the fish don't migrate to one end, also you could put different types f fish in there without them eating eachother (seems any friend that had mixed fish had cannibalization issues). The big issue jere is keeping spilt beer from leaking into the tanks...fish+beer is probably not good.

Another thing about plexiglass or glass is transparent shit is a REAL pain to keep clean, especially if you got drunk people on semi-spinning chairs...I can imagine your going to have rubber marks on the glass every night from shoes. And fingerprints out the ass. I'd recommend frosted glass for all of it except the fish tank tops...then you could still do like a neon light or something behind it. My entertainment center has 2 fairly large glass windows in it, with lights behind them....they always look dirty.

I assume you already have "bar games", pool table, darts, foosball, card table etc....to me those are far more important then a fancy bar. A TV in the bar's vicinity is nice too, but I don't watch sports a whole lot.

Card games like Kings or asshole are good for mixed company, connections, circle of death are good if it's just the guys. Most of those games are best with 5+ people. 3-man and quarters require a larger table then a bar also. Chandeliers requires a stable table, no cheap shit.

If you want to go on the crazy side...I'd have a functional beer bong mount that looked like a giant IV..much better then kareoke mics heh.

Another thing you could do is make some sort of transparent container on the bar that held a large amount of liquid, expecially cool if it keeps it cold. You could have a "shot of the night" or some strong ass punch in it...and then a little tap on the side to dispense it.

Shots:
Kamakazi - vodka, triple sec, lime juice (I think equal portions)

Green apples - 99 Apples (1/4), green apple pucker (1/4), sweet and sour mix (1/2)

Or if you go the punch route:
2.5 gallons HI-C fruit punch, 1 liter of everclear I think it's roughly 2x as strong as domestic beer, and you can't taste the alcohol. Everclear is 190 proof. It's cool if you have hardwood, or lineoleum or something, but on carpet you will have issues.

Also I highly recommend a kegerator or something....buying beer in bottles is expensive...you can go high class and use some real glass, but that's high maintenance (cleaing lots of glasses per night) or plastic cups (throw them out, but they tip easier then a glass mug, and don't keep beer as cold).

Usually people end up with snack cravings, toaster oven, microwave, and deep fryer aren't bad things to have in the bar area. Usually we get some like eggrolls, fries, cheesesticks, jalopeno poppers, or something going. You can get away with ruffled potato chips, microwave popcorn, tortilla chips with shredded cheese in the microwave...chips + salsa...nuts...

It starts getting expensive when they raid the actual fridge. Microwave dinners are a lot more expensive then say an eggroll from sams club (20 for $8, they are good)....plus you don't go to get dinner the next night and find out you have no food.

If you are the "good times club" then making the other guys chip in for the food they eat should be acceptable, when you got random people it's impossible.

I'm known for getting real drunk and cooking up a bunch of real food on the grill at 4am, that used to get really expensive. Grilled porkchops was my specialty.

What other stupid gimmicks could you do? I dunno maybe one of those little basketball hoops with the like nerf ball...you could challenge someone and you both take a shot, whomever misses chugs thier beer.

My place isn't large enough for an official bar area.

[Ceffin]

pilsburry i love your enthusiasm i thank you tenfold we might be leaning towards an iguana or chameleon for shits in giggles, but thats gonna come in later. I think we are opting for glass if we go for the "see through the bar" route since everybody has told me to steer clear of plexiglass/acrylic/what have you. We have thought of the beer bong mounted, so the bartender could be like its time for a beer bong, conveniently pour the beer into the funnel, and let the fun begin. We could always have it so you could just easily take the beer bong thing out if it needed to be movable as well.

We are thinking about making an exclusive quarters/cards table, trying to find the right wood for the perfect bounce. Nothings more frustrating than a quarters champ liek myself to be 50% all night becuase of poor playing surface. I take pride in my drinking game skills =)

thanks to everybody so far, an update is we started building today..

we are building just the front section, it is 2 feet wide by 6 feet long. It is 4 feet high, because thats convenient leaning on height for drunkards and for the chairs we are using. We made a shelf that is conveniently placed so the bartender does not strain to get drinks. 30 Dollars of 2x4's,3" screws and my drill was the best money ive ever spent.

Last night i was dropping my sister off and on the side of the road i saw two perfectly good bar chairs! There tiki, swivel, have backs, and foot rests. I have no idea why somebody was going to throw them out..maybe somebody got divorced or what have you. I tossed them in the back of my camry with glee

Thanks again =)

[Dregor Thule]

And to whoever said GOOD TIMES CLUB! - me/my friends actually do call ourselves the Good Times Club, we have a little group that calls themselves the good times club We have 3... "Godfathers" rofl =)

No shit, you already told us that in another thread, I was making fun of you!

[Ceffin]

yeah im feeling dumb right about now

[Boogahz]

Another thing about plexiglass...back when I was in high school (years ago) plexiglass cost more than glass. The owner of the comic/sports-card shop I worked at found out the hard way after a breakin. He then changed all of the cabinets to glass which was also easier to keep clean due to fewer, if any, scratches. If you're doing a large panel of glass in any shape, you might use support underneath. Hell, you could do different designs with the metal as well and have it backlit...or would it be underlit .

[Akanae]

Couple of things about fish tanks if you are going that way...

The larger fish tanks are made out of plexi glass, I believe this is because glass cant handle the water weight (we are talking 50+ gallons here).

You don’t need to be able to remove the fish tank. Available at pretty much any pet store are large "pythons" its plastic tubing you can hook up to your sink and you can switch it back and forth between drain and fill with a little switch on the tube. You never want to do a 100% water change. Recommended is 25% every 2 weeks and 50% once a month. You only ever want to do a 75% water change if you have a really bad ammonia problem.

As far as cleaning the sides of the tank you can get fish tank cleaners (for glass or acrylic) with long plastic handles.

You shouldn’t have any cannibalization issues if you pick the right kind of fish, research it on the web and find out what fish would be compatible with what you want. Remember the general rule of thumb for fish is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water.

Unless you have a lot of money and or time to sink into it I don’t recommend getting a salt water fish tank. They require a lot of maintenance.

One more thing, if you are thinking about getting iguana or chameleon. Keep in mind that iguanas get very large and the males (or was it females?) can get aggressive. And I cant remember off hand, but I think chameleons like to eat live crickets, so you would have to keep those on hand.

Just don’t jump into getting a live animal unless you are prepared to take care of it for the duration of its life.

[Ceffin]

I think the iguana/fish idea was kinda just an..idea . We might incorporate it into the design, but right now we're just gonna get the bar complete(framing,2x4's,sides/top/etc.) and then worry about animals. We did notice that glass would be better option, I dont know why I thought of plexiglass in the first place