DIY Bar Drink Shelf

Build a bar shelf to display favorite beer steins, glasses and liquors.

Home bars are an attractive and functional way to add a dynamic social component to your home, and can help make your house the hangout spot for your group of friends. Building a bar drink shelf can help prevent one of the main problems with home bars, which is creating the right "bar atmosphere." By attractively displaying your best bottles, glasses and paraphernalia, help give your home bar that certain edge, while helping free up precious storage space beneath your bar.

Things You'll Need

• Stud finder
• Pencil
• Measuring tape
• Carpenter's level
• 1-by-3-feet by 1/2 inch shelf board
• 2 heavy duty wood brackets
• 1-inch-by-3-feet by 1/2 inch trim board
• Drill
• Drill bits smaller than the wood screws
• 1/2 inch wood screws
• 1-inch wood screws
• 1 1/2 to 2-inch wood screws

Instructions

1. Find the wood studs in the desired area near the bar using the stud finder. Mark the location of the studs on the wall using the pencil. Take a measurement of the distance from the center of one stud to the center of the next.

2. Place the bar shelf topside down on your working surface. Position the brackets on the shelf board the same distance apart as the measurement made for the wall studs. Mark the location of the bracket holes with a pencil. Pre-drill the bracket holes in the shelf board, using care to not break through the surface of the shelf. Attach the brackets with the 1/2 inch wood screws.

3. Position the wood trim board on the top side of the shelf board. Hold the trim board in place, and drill through the underside of the shelf board to pre-drill four evenly spaced holes along the length of the board. Attach the trim board to the top of the shelf board with 1-inch wood screws.

4. Place the assembled bar shelf unit against the desired section of wall and set the carpenter's level on top of the shelf. Adjust the position of the shelf until level. Mark the position of bracket holes with the pencil. Pre-drill the bracket holes in the wall, ensuring that the drill bit contacts and bites into the wood stud. Attach the shelf to the wall using long 1-1/2 inch to 2-inch wood screws.

Tips & Warnings

• Construct the bar shelf out of materials used to make the bar. Alternatively, paint or stain the shelving before assembly. If desired, sand or carve the entire shelf for an artistic effect.

• Installation into the wall studs is necessary for the proper support of heavy alcohol bottles. If wall studs are not convenient, drywall anchors may be used, but this will greatly decrease the amount of weight the shelf can support. In this case, the packaging of the drywall anchors must be consulted and the weight limits strictly adhered to.

References

• Amateur Woodworker; Breakfast Bar; Keith Antolik
• Live Well Network: Installing a Towel Bar and Shelf
• WoodShopDemos.com: Standing Bar Shaping the Rail