Game Room Bar- A Possible DYI?

[rayg]

I've been looking around for a nice retro style bar to go with my USS-96 and pinball machine etc.... I can across this one ,that I really like with the coke red and white  but was floored when they gave me the price $1995.00 !!  I can built the basic box,  but I don't know how hard it would be to get and apply the padded  vinyl or to laminate the Formica counter top and bottom. Does anyone  know how difficult it would be replicate this bar or does someone  builds them on the side?

Thanks
Ray

[Pat Pixley]

I built mine  but I'm going to have to say I have not any padded & vinyl work .

[Kilroy]

The Formica would be easy, well  not that difficult. I've never worked with padded Formica, though, looks cool,

[Eric]

Bet it's just stapled (heavy duty staples...staple gun) over foam into 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch plywood... Couldn't be rocket science...
It's cool... but look at vintage images of counters and build one that looks like the real deal from way back...
there were tiled counters, you could get that rippled metal like on barn roofs and wrap that around and
paint that... box framed trimmed out... tons of ideas.... then do the formica top on that...

[rayg]

Yeah, I was think it couldn't be too hard ...not $1995.00 ....too hard... you can really go crazy with making a bar really no rules... I was thinking of maybe a bar made with a accent  of glass block with some kind of neon..... I'm going be looking for something on the lines you to mention as well at the Fowlerville show  Thanks good idea

[Pat Pixley]

I found pictures of mine

[rayg]

Hey Pat ...very nice  looks like a little pub....I really like the counter behind the bar and the 7UP cooler is a nice touch .  gives me a few ideas....Did  you built it yourself?  Also, I see you are a fellow shot glass collector.. but it looks like you got 10X the amount that I have...  thanks for the pics

[Pat Pixley]

The Front Bar yes , tunge and grove and very little nails,  the back bar no it was a kitchen base cabinet and then I did the counter top and staining on that. and had a local glass shop that I work with build my shot glass cabinet.

as far as shot glasses I think it is in the range of 800 to 900 I have not counted in a long time  .

[Kilroy]

I lucked out, the new house has a ba rin the basement,  while I want to update it, 'k the orange formica counter screams 1963,  I don't have to start from scratch.

I plan on making color copies of old coke ads, laying them  on the countertop, then sealing them in clear acrylic epoxy. 
The ads I have, time  and extra $$ are lacking  at the moment,.

[rayg]

Hey Kilroy,

You are all set ....sell those orange formica counter as "genuine retro on Ebay"... what's old is new again!  Your  counter top idea is cool ... retro with style!!

[loman4ec]

When I was in college I had made plans to build a bar in our apartment. Our place was always full of people and we had a lot of poker tournaments. I got this idea from a local bar in Daytona. The bar top was the cool part about it. What I was going to do was surround the edges of the bar top with wood trim that was raised up about 1/2 inch. Then fill the top with bottle caps throughout the whole top then pour liquid acrylic in the top up to the top of the outer trim. Then you use a heat gun on the acrylic which brings the bubbles out of it. Once it dries it leaves a clean hard as rock plastic top with bottle caps inside it. The local bar we went to used marbles or something like that instead. I did a lot of research and it would be very easy to do and not too expensive. Actually it would probably be cheaper than a nice counter top.I always thought this would look cool on top of a victor cooler. I never got around to it as me and my room mate had a falling out over a girl and I ended up moving. It doesn't seem like that was almost 10 years ago

[SIGNGUY]

They sell that stuff at menards.. it's about 50 bucks for a gallon but suppose to work really well, I'm going to try it on a bar top this summer as well with the same idea...

[Kilroy]

I've seen it done on Man Caves, it looks trick, Josh is right, you have to work on getting the bubbles out, but after it's done, it's darn cool

[rayg]

That sound like a cool counter, maybe add a bottle opener, a folder $5 bill,  silver dollar  business card etc...  It  something that you can really customized.  

I guess my basement is my man cave, I told my wife the basement is mine  the rest of the house it her's.... she thinks everything is hers......LOL

 I think I like "Bar Stuff"  because I grew up in Hamtramck,MI ...(the small town with a Bar at every corner ...  literary. ..most were converted houses)  I have fond memories of my dad dragging me around to all the bars he liked to patronize,  giving me quarters for all the machines to keep me occupied: the pinball machines, bowling machines,  jukeboxes, soda machine ...etc I think that's where I got the bug for almost anything coin operated

[Kilroy]

Do you remember Atlas soda? I t seemed to be the drink of choice ( well  non alcoholic)

[rayg]

Yes, I do remember Atlas Soda,  my friend worked there in high school and I would got there to get free pop... my favorite was their cream soda  It was located almost across from Old Mill bar on the corner of  Conant and Carpenter.

[Pat Pixley]

The Top of my bar I have a piece of thick glass 1/4 thick  We have picture's under it and we change them out for the holidays it's great

[rayg]

That's a thick piece of glass,  Does have a green edge on it? If it does I think that means it tempered glass.

[kstt]

I made mine up on the fly. Easy to do, and it wasn't anywhere near $2K. The Formica is "boomerang". You could substitute red "leather" or some other laminate where the oak is, if you don't like the wood look.

[rayg]

Killer room, you got allot of cool stuff going on... especially  like the EX-LAX thermometer.  But what I really like is the vintage phone booth.... looks like a 1950's era wooden Western Electric I sure with working fan & light...,I have a fondness for them.. maybe because I work for Ma Bell LOL . What's that on the counter on the far left? It looks like in may be a juke wall-box? You may already have but all see missing is a pinball machine.   

 Thanks for sharing,  it gave me some ideas to expand $$$ on  want I was going to do

Ray

[Kilroy]

Ray,
The wooden booths show up on Craigslist   pretty frequently.   the parts are hard to come by, so make sure the door handles, fan, door guide , etc  are there.

Whemn you're ready,  for one, let me know, i have a lead on a  solid 1930's booth

[kstt]

Rayg - the best I can figure, the booth is a 1966 -yes, Western Electric. We did a big renovation where I work, about 14 years ago, and it became......"expendable". The payphone inside is newer - pushbuttons, and a 3-level volume contol. I have it rigged to work without coins, but I don't have keys to get into the coin box, etc.
And yes, the cabinet has the working light and fan! As for the rest of the "diner" you can see more on the SMC photo gallery page...."Kirk's Downstairs Diner". There IS a Seeburg wall unit at the end of the snack bar. On the right (out of the photo) is a Seeburg DS160, and a C-72 that I did an amature restore to. You're right, no pinball. I ran out of room (and funds!)
Good luck with your collecting, and your bar plan!

[scalebowler]

Would this help you with the padded vinyl? http://books.google.com/books?id=AeADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA165&dq=breakfast+nook+date:1954-1955&lr=&num=100&as_brr=0&as_pt=MAGAZINES#v=onepage&q=breakfast%20nook%20date%3A1954-1955&f=false

It shows how to make a padded booth for your kitchen but I think the same techniques could be applied to a bar.

[rayg]

Kilroy,

Thanks for the info ....It's just selling my wife on the idea on getting a phone booth; she wasn't too pleased when I “Surprised her with the coke machine..... If you know what I mean.....!


Kstt,

Talk about being in the right place at the right time too cool, I got a similar  phone a Western Electric model 1D2  it has the rotary dial  looks like this one…..http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/payphoneclosed.jpg  They were throwing it out at work so I when dumpster diving... LOL   I checked out the rest of your diner very sweet I knew it had to take sometime to get it just right…. I wish to get that point someday but as you know half the fun is finding the right stuff.. I showed my wife your diner to try to sell her on me getting more “cool stuff" ....I think she is starting to soften up.. .. Speaking of more stuff I just picked up a coke neon clock from of all place sears.com  $19.99 it hard to go wrong at that price on clearance  .. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00987910000P?keyword=00987910000&sLevel=0&prop17=00987910000  ...... I wish I had a jukebox  again  nothing really sounds  as good as a 45  playing scratches and all. MP3’s & CD’s are too sound clean sound for me. I still got a turn table and allot of LP’s…to listen too

scalebowler,

 For one that as cool site ,  two thanks for the info it ..was the padding /vinyl part that I was having an issue with,  now I got a better handle on it… that will be my fall project…

Thanks all
Ray

[scalebowler]

Awesome glad to help. You know I would not mind building one of those booths for my kitchen. That would look really cool but I will have to wait till I get my own place. Actually you know it would look pretty cool in a dorm room.

[rayg]

Scalebowler,

what's you major in college?

[scalebowler]

Scalebowler,

what's you major in college?

Mechanical engineering

[rayg]

Scalebowler,

Cool,  I got a BSEE, with a minor in computer science. I worked for General Dynamics on the M1A1 main battle tank for a few years, (cool stuff) it was good while it lasted. Now-a-day I work more on the software side of the house .

Good Luck with your degree!

Ray

[jnapp18]

Scalebowler,

Cool,  I got a BSEE, with a minor in computer science. I worked for General Dynamics on the M1A1 main battle tank for a few years, (cool stuff) it was good while it lasted. Now-a-day I work more on the software side of the house .

Good Luck with your degree!

Ray

I'm looking to go to college for computer engineering with some business on the side. Just finishing up junior year.

[rayg]

Good Field ...the hot one now at my work is Cyber Security... also there allot of government jobs out there. My friend just retired (earlier) and got in with Home Land Security.