USVI-On-Line

I was racking my brain trying to remember that name, thanks for adding that. Pretty neat stuff, would be great as a surface for a bar.

Ceramic tiles offer alot of versatility in color and texture, they can also be cut to any shape fairly easily. The downside is maintenance of the grout.

I also thought about a bar I saw somewhere made out of old bowling alley flooring, that was cool...

If it were my house, it would be tile or hardwood.

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hey Jorge, what about some sort of mosaic bar? Like old glass (bottle and such) set in cement and then you have a protective, flat surface covering the top. I can see it my mind but I don't think I describe it well

What about poured concrete? Had a friend do his kitchen counters with coloered concrete and it is beautiful and super durable.

I just built a bar in my house this past summer and looked at about 100 different options. Everything from the giant fish tank to the glass block to the stainless steel - you name it I considered it. I jotted notes down on a note pad over the course of probably a year and when it came time to actually build it, I reviewed everything I came up with and ultimately decided to go low-key and traditional. I guess I felt if I ever decided to sell my house, I don't necessarily want my "creative vision" or "unique" bar to be the deal-breaker. I know, I wimped out. But such is life.

One interesting idea I liked for the top that I may still use is to place pictures underneath a slab of plexiglass. Pictures of the building before and after, of people drinking and having fun, anything. By using the plexiglass, you can update and change or add over the years. If you want them to be permanent, you can pour liquid glass epoxy resin over the whole top. Looks like glass but doesn't have the glassy sound to it. Another interesting way to light the bar is to get EL Wire, which looks like neon but is flexible, and run it around the edge of the plexiglass but under some wood trim. It will light up the plexiglass and the pictures without being seen.

I have many more ideas if you're interested. I'll have to find my notes though...

How about bamboo? Would bamboo work?
-Ruth

Hi Jorge!

I don't know much about bars, but you named the material corian, which I think looks very nice. But some of our friends have a kitchen table and a sink in corian, and she is not so happy with it. If she spills too example red wine or other colourful things on it, the colour is to be seen afterwards. You can grind it off, but who want to do that every time? Concrete is named too. We have a concrete table in our bathing room. I like it, but I have to be careful about, what I place on it. If I have something with acid in, it will leave stains on the table. I agree with the comment about stainless steel. It has to be polished often to look nice. The very best and strongest material I know is "silgranit". It's 80% pulverized granite mixed with 20% acryl. We have a big black sink in my kitchen in this material, and it's just fantastic. Easy to clean, don’t need to be polished, you can place very hot things on it, (don’t think there will be any problem with cigarettes), and it don’t have the same “glass sound” as granite. I presume that you can find the same material in USA, but I don’t know, if you can make a table of it, but why not?

Linne

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Jorge - I agree with Margo - come to Jazz Fest and we can do bar research

Anyway, I agree with waterguy, people don't see the bar as much because people are always infront of it.

I personally prefer dark wood for the bar.

More importantly is comefortable bar stools!!!

nothintolose

"The owner is a lesbian friend of my wifes that thinks I can perform miracles."

Jorge...why do we need to know her sexual orientation??? Very offensive!

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Jorge,

I wouldn't go with Corian, we have that in our home. It looks nice but it scratches very easily. You have to sand out the scratches and repolish it. I can still see where we sanded it down, even after the polish. I really don't think it will hold up to the abuse that a bar takes.
Tiki bar sounds like a good idea, never thought of that for being in the mountains of southern Virginia but it is a college town right? in the winter they can change out the surf boards for snow boards.

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