# Bar room instead of dining room



## Jayson1279 (Aug 7, 2011)

I had a curiosity sort of question.  My wife and myself decided to get rid of our dining room because we never use it.  Now comes the question what to do with it.  I was going to build a bar in the room but was afraid that would be to specific if we ever go to sell the house.  I do not want to do anything that would drop the house value.  Another thought that I had was building a bar that would dismantle easily and we can convert the room back.  Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.


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## oldognewtrick (Aug 7, 2011)

Jayson1279 said:


> I was going to build a bar in the room but was afraid that would be to specific if we ever go to sell the house.  I do not want to do anything that would drop the house value.  *Another thought that I had was building a bar that would dismantle easily and we can convert the room back*.  Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.



BINGO! You answered your own question.

oh, and  to House Repair Talk!


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## RocLok (Aug 8, 2011)

From a Real Estate value a separate closed off dining room is becoming outdated and the open living space is more desirable.  If you already have a place with a table near the kitchen, then you may be set and what you do with the dining room is negligible.  Oldog/newtrick is right that you do not want to affix anything so permanently that a buyer could not remove it.  I am sure you have noticed that Real Estate sucks right now so make the place for you and your family to enjoy, you are unlikely to be able to sell your place for what you want very fast right now.  

Wet bars are very popular right now, and again depending on the location and the other rooms you have it may end up not reducing the value of the house and even may be able to get 50% of the cost of making the wet bar.

In my last house we put in a wine cellar and a full bar, it was great, we loved it!  If you do the work yourself it does not need to be expensive.  Here is one trick we used, we used finished bamboo flooring for the bar top, we only paid $1.99/sf for a hardwood top, it looked great and held up well.  If you do not like the look of the grooved edges you can put it through a planer.  If you want to plane it down any finished hardwood flooring product has Aluminum Oxide coating on the top, which wears tools down fast.  Bamboo is a grass, but it does plane and sand well, and it can take a normal stain.  If you prefer Oak, again you can sometimes find Oak flooring for less than Oak lumber.  

I know that was off topic, but may help in putting the bar together.  In other words, put in the bar and enjoy life, no need to have a room that is useless.

Good Luck,

-Ryan


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## Jayson1279 (Aug 9, 2011)

Thanks for the replies and welcome .  It helps a lot.  I am still thinking about what wood to use but am leaning towards oak.  This is going to be my first woodworking project so we will see how it goes.


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## oldognewtrick (Aug 9, 2011)

You might find some ideas here HomeBrewTalk.com - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Community. look in the DIY section and search for bar builds. Good luck and be sure to post progress pics.


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## SnellExperts (Aug 9, 2011)

I wish I had a bar in my house, that would be awesome. But I'm just renting where I'm at, so I will probably look into it more when I actually buy a place.


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## RocLok (Aug 12, 2011)

If this is your first woodworking project, Oak is a hard wood, meaning it is harder to sand cut and shape, it also means that it is more brittle.  So if you try to screw into it without pre-drilling it will break apart.  When you think of wood for the most part just think the harder it is the more brittle, the softer the more it will give before it snaps, breaks or splinters on you.  Oak is a species of wood many people go to for bars, partially because it is hard and can wear very well, you can drop your stein full of beer on the top and it will hardly dent do that to pine or fir and you will have something to remember the night by&#8230;  Bamboo is also not that easy to work with, incase you were thinking I did the bamboo for simplicity.  The other positive on oak is that it is still relatively common and can be easily purchased in many sizes, you can buy it as flooring making the tops like I mentioned easier.

So if you go with oak, just remember to pre-drill every screw hole, clamp glue and a biscuit jointer can be very helpful.

Good luck!

-Ryan


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## SnellExperts (Aug 19, 2011)

RocLok said:


> Bamboo is also not that easy to work with, incase you were thinking I did the bamboo for simplicity.



Do you mean simplicity in look, or in working with it? I have never thought of bamboo as being easy to work with, well I guess it really just depends on what you are wanting to do with it.


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## BridgeMan (Aug 22, 2011)

Here's another thought--why not consider opening up the existing dining room by removing wall(s) between it and the kitchen?  Then putting your bar in there would make it more conducive for social gatherings, as the kitchen seems to be where most people congregate anyway.


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