Homemade Bar Project

After buying an unfinished house and doing all the flooring, tile, cabinets, trim, fixtures, etc myself, I got the idea that I would like to build myself a full-sized bar in the backyard on my deck.



The idea started out simple enough. But as I told my wife my initial ideas, she disagreed that it would come out right and thought it would be an eye-sore. So over time, the ideas progressively got more eloborate and costly. The pictures accompanied below are a progression through my work. I started the project the first weekend in November, and as of today I have 265 hours of labor into it (not counting planning and time procuring materials) and hundreds beers. I estimate I have about a month and a half of work left and probably 50 more hours.


All exterior wood is sinker or pecky cypress, which was unearthed from under the Atchafalaya swamp after 100+ years of sitting. The only exception are the posts, which are made of cedar.


These pics show the bar top when received, the initial pecky boards, the initial structure, and the rafters being planed.