Judy and I have talked all year about building a bar on our back porch for all the parties we have. Seeing as how I had no idea what to get her for Christmas, I took advantage of her being in California to tackle the project. She left for CA on the Thursday before Christmas and was to return on the Tuesday before Christmas. That gave me six days to design and build this thing and get it done before she got home so it would be a total surprise.

Surprisingly, it only took me three straight days of building to complete it...which was good since I needed to clean up the house for guests coming over on Christmas Eve.

It is a standard 43" bar top height. I sketched the design on paper, made a materials list and built it totally from scratch with no plans other than my drawings. It was exhausting, but well worth it. Judy was completely surprised.

LOTS OF PICS:

The porch before the build. The patio table only supported 6 people comfortably. The bar was built to fix this problem:


The porch cleared of stuff:


Basic 2x4 framing:


Framing with Shelves:


Added the siding and foot-rest:


Began work on the marble top. Got marble squares from Home Depot for $1.60 a square foot:



Finished bar:


Marble Top:


Wrapped for Christmas:


Judy and Oldest Girl-Child after opening bar! Judy is telling he mom in CA about the gift:


We found some stools on Christmas Eve to prepare for the party. Judy on the phone again:


The bar is open for Christmas Eve party:

Very nice work! I am drawing up plans for my backyard now, including a bar area. That is exactly what I was imagining!! Good job! I have saved several of the pics for future reference :grin:

Nice work! You gonna post the plans and list?

Thanks guys.

Yeah, I probably should get more info together for you guys. I did most of it from my head, but I do have dimensions, basic designs, and materials written out. I will put it together on the computer and get it out here for everyone.....give me about a week. In case you are interested, I did this project for under $500....not including stools. In fact, the stools cost more than the freekin bar. :grin:

If you need any help with scanning, compiling tables of parts, or whatever, I'll be happy to.

Thanks Carlos. I should be able to get the drawings and lists together on my own, but will need some help hosting the files so I can link to them from this thread.

No problem, I'll put them on the server if you zip them up and e-mail them.

Thats bad ass mang! I'd love to be able to build something like that.

Very nice! I plan on doing something similiar only out of block and brick. You definitely have some skill -- how about passing some of that my way. :)