Worker down! Need backup!

Part of being in the DIY construction world is being able to know when you’re biting off more than you can chew and looking for economical ways to move your projects along.  So a few weeks ago I sat down with Google Sketchup and started thinking up a new backbar after not being able to really find what I wanted for sale on craigslist over the last few months.  I saw some similar things, but just nothing that would fix the intended end theme of the room.  I googled around and got some ideas and the image below grew from those ideas.  I should be able to pull it off as it’s literally a glorified bookcase on it’s side, hung on the wall with some small shelves on either end.

The liquor shelves will be lit from beneath (I hope) and the center panel will be mirrored with to-be-determined lettering.  The name is up in the air as (as you can see from the pics) my beautiful wife got me a scratch-n-dent beverage cooler for Christmas and had a friend of mine cut her a vinyl decal for it.  The other option on the table is ‘The Hidden Spring’, a play on our street name.

Moving back to the original subject of this entry…  I kept flip flopping on the cabinetry behind the bar.  The bar itself I’m not planning to put any storage in other than the bottom shelf for simplicity sake.  So one evening while we were out to dinner and the kids were climbing around on the playground, I had and idea and whipped out my phone and pulled up Lowes’ website.  To my shock, it wouldnt be too insanely expensive to use pre-fab cabinets that they keep in stock!  It would look 10x better than anything I could pull off, would save me a month of weekends building them, and would end up costing me just as much to build my own after counting for materials and pre-made doors (I’m not that good, period!)

I fired up sketchup again and pulled up the website.  After checking my measurements in the basement twice, the stars were just too perfectly aligned!  I was only just under 2 inches short on completely filling in between the bar and the back wall and it would leave me space perfectly for the cooler too.  That there ladies and germs is what I call an omen. 🙂

I picked up 1 5’ft ‘sink base’, 2 36″ sink bases, and 1 18″ drawer base this morning after the kids built their project at Lowes.  After 10% discount (I *love* the coupon in the change of address packets *smirk*) and $250 in gift cards, I was out the door with cabinetry for under $250 out of pocket!!  My dad and brother helped get them home and into the basement, and well, the pics can tell the rest of the story.

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