The Dirty Little Tricks

Sorry this post has been a long time coming but, well, I've been busy. Very bloody busy.

Anyway, as promised the little tricks we used to save hundreds of dollars on this bar set-up are posted and explained below:


A quick refresher on how the bar turned out, the placement of everything and the de-cluttering of the back-wall:

Almost Finished

 Importantly for us was a way of displaying and storing our stem-ware without the need for shelving or other items of furniture that just add cost and take time to source. Here is how we achieved our wall of glass:

These hanging stem-ware rails are amazingly useful, glasses stay dry and dust free without the need to fix shelving or attack the rear wall.

As many of you in the industry may have realised, glass rails are surprisingly expensive. All options are ceiling mounted and require existing shelving or cost over $60 per rack for wall-mounted. These pictured above are literally $4 from K-Mart, we grabbed the hacksaw and some decent sized metal brackets and voila, problem solved.

Here is our pretty little Art Deco Diana mirror. It took a lot of hunting but for $425 she certainly saved money in the long run. We found her in a suburban bazaar hanging above a cabinet full of old medical equipment. If you can still find a second-hand shop that hasn't been raped by the local fixie-riding tosser brigade (hipsters) then treat it like the goldmine it truly is and start digging.

This is the mirror we were originally going to have custom made with aged glass and silvering to give a faux antique look. It was the cheapest quote we could get at around $1300 including delivery.

Here's how we tested the layout and the bare steps that we later filled with bottles. The lamps we found in the same place as the mirror and are just a cheap plaster cast of an original Deco-design but at $30 each that's fine by me.

The step for the bottles was made from composite post timber. Essentially it's lots of pine glued together and then cut to a uniform size and shape. A good hardware or timber place will stock it at around $150 per 4M length pre-primed, plus cutting to size and delivery means just under $200. Some 50c steel brackets, PVA Glue and another can of our hammered brown metallic spray paint soon has a step formed.

another angle showing the gap that slightly un-even cutting to size will inevitably leave. Some cheap filler left over form the previous owners solved that hassle.

Almost finished!

Remember when working with PVA and spray paint, wipe and dry the surface to get rid of any glue residue before painting.

A $60 corner shelf from the same bazaar as the mirror and lamps and there you have it, one finished, funky bar conversion for under $2000 including paint, wallpaper and some small furnishings.