Introducing... The Wet Bar

Okay, I know what you're thinking.  "You put in a wet bar?  What is this, 1986?" And you might be right.  It seems like most modern remodels are removing the sink and bar space in their Living Rooms instead of adding one.  But let me start at the beginning, and I mean way back to the beginning.  Back to the Hub's and my wedding 7 years back.  After an amazing wedding and week long honeymoon we returned to our first house to discover a large, stainless steel keg fridge with a bow on it in our basement, a gift from our Groomsmen.  The Hubs did a party dance while I was all, "we registered for a vacuum and got a keg fridge..."  

Turned out to be one of the best gifts ever.  We were young, newly married and one of the first of our friends with a house, which meant we always got to host the parties. (You know this party planner loved that.)  We never had to create an excuse for a party, we just made the calls, "We just tapped a new keg of Summit..." The only issue was that this big stainless steel box sat in the middle of our Family Room for years.  About 5 years in we finally built a bar around it to make it fit, with a lot of help from our friend Builder Chuck.  In fact, I would say that this bar project was the first to really give me the courage to tackle building furniture.  

 And then we moved.  Of course our buddy the keg fridge came along for the ride, and some how for 2 years found himself once again in the middle of our Family Room.  So when we began this remodel we knew part of it would have to be finding an appropriate and grown up space for the keg.  (We do have 2 kids now.)  Here's the area of choice:

 
It's on the other side of the steps, right across from the Wine Bar and next to the Cat Closet.  The plan was to build in a little counter top and a small sink. Yep, I'm putting in a bar sink.  I'm a big fan of being able to quickly wash the wine and beer glasses that we use down here, rather than bring them upstairs at the end of the night, wash them, and have them sit on our counter for 4 days until someone remembers to bring them back down.  If that makes me old school, I'll take it.

The only problem was this guy:

Notice we didn't bother to paint the trim all the way to the corner, since we knew it would be hidden here.

We unfortunately have a return air duct right in the way of where our plumbing lines would need to run through.  (We can't run them through the back wall as typical, because that back wall under the stairs is made of cinderblock.)

Here's a look inside the cat closet at that return air duct.  You'll see what was just a small vent on the outside, is a big old mess for us to deal with in the inside. (If you have an eagle eye you'll also see some plumbing lines that are running through this room already, making this sink super easy to plumb.)

But I'm pretty much not scared of anything anymore, so after a few conversations with my Dad and the guys at Home Depot, I took out the tools and got us to here.

 Gross- that's a lot of dust. 

We had our buddy the plumber come out to run the water lines and return drain.  He is fantastic and did a super professional job really quickly one Saturday morning.  Then I focused on moving the return duct over one set of studs.

Of course it's all 1980's so it took a lot of trial and error to find the right parts, but eventually the guys at Home Depot and I settled on adding this contraption to the top end of the return:

 And then running this tube of flexible duct work down to the new vent.  It was pretty easy, and takes up less space than the last one.

So here is the very strange inside look at the plumbing and air duct.  A great example of the ugly stuff that has to happen in the walls before you can make everything pretty.

 Up next: my more modern take on the 1980's wet bar.  I'm really excited to show you what we can up with!  In the mean time- what do you guys think of the wet bar?  Am I the only one that appreciates their functionality?  I mean, I get how they can be a bit redundant if your Living Room is right next to your Kitchen, but for a basement or far away space I think they're kind of awesome.  Anyone else rocking a keg fridge like they're still 25?  Do you go for the more humble beer fridge out in the garage?  Does my need for a fridge who's only purpose is to hold beer showcase that we have a problem? :) 

The Final Curtain

Alright friends, we tore everything out of that big, ugly basement of ours and after months of hard work we finally put it all back together.  There's basically nothing in this room that isn't new or refinished in some way.  It's clean and beautiful, but it's also a little sterile.

That was done intentionally of course. We're big fans of minimal and neutral design at the base of the room, and then adding fun, depth and warmth through accessories.  That gives you much more flexibility to change your design style over the years without having to start from scratch.  Heck, you can even change your color pallet with the seasons if you like, switching out bright yellows and blues in the summer for more golds and greens in the winter.  I'm like the dog from Up when it comes to design- "Squirrel!" A shiny object at Home Goods can change my whole course, so it's good to have options.

First up- let's get some soft and fun curtains on that big slider.

Hubs and I had been looking for a long time for just the right fit.  Yes that's right, the Hubs was actively shopping for window treatments with me.  He may or may not have even suggested one Saturday that we all head to Ikea to check out some curtains.  Back away ladies- he's mine.

Unfortunately nothing at Ikea fit our bill for a relatively neutral gray and white color pallet, with a bold pattern.  We'd been loving a set we found at West Elm, but not loving the $50 a panel price point so much.

 

So we stopped into West Elm on our way home,  just to get inspiration if nothing else, and magic happened.  There were two of the Scribble Window Panels in gray, just hanging out in the clearance section with a $19 price tag on them.  The very ones we had been lusting over looking at, in exactly the quantity we needed.  Too good to be true?  Maybe.

We didn't realize (or bother to look) until we got home, but our amazing little panels were about 7" too short for our window.  They were also marked "Final Sale" since they were on clearance.  Ruh-roh. 

Fear not friends, I not only have a sewing machine, but I happened to have the perfect gray color, upholstery fabric left over from our Outdoor Section project.

Remember from back when I built a couch and then sewed cushions for it?  Sorry, I just love saying that. :)

So anyway, I just happened to have a little of this fabric left over, not a lot, but the perfect amount for this project.  Crazy right?  I cut 7" pieces to add to each panel, adding about an inch at the top and the bottom to account for seams.  I also cut, ironed and stitched 7 tabs for the back of each to run my curtain rod through.

And here's how they look finished:

 

Not bad- eh?  I actually like them better with the gray panel on top than not.  As purchased I think the pattern is a little busy, but the solid on top gives your eyes a place to land and feels a little more finished.  Maybe it's just me. 

How about a little before and after for fun?  Okay, but only because you made me do it.

 Everything for this project seemed to fall right in my lap, it was like it was meant to be. And FYI- that NEVER happens in DIY.  At least not for us.  It seems like there's always that huge road block you find that screws everything up.  Like the day we thought we were going to hang kitchen cabinets in our first house and instead ended up re-shingling the roof.  True story.  But this little baby is coming together nicely.  Next up- we've got a little surprise addition to the room.  I'm not going to give it away, but let's just say it's party time.