How to Make a Nautical Home Bar
You've got a free-standing bar, four bar stools and wall-hung shelves for the bar glassware. Now all you need are some ordinary household items and a few hours, and you can turn your home bar into a nautical area that would make any sailor feel at home. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- White clothesline rope
- Finishing nails
- Hammer
- Measuring tape
- 4 white pillow cases
- Dark blue fabric paint pen
- Pencil
- Yardstick
- Small star stamp
- Red fabric paint
- Small brush
- 2 small battery-powered lanterns
- 2 decorative hooks
- 1 red light bulb, 1 green light bulb to fit lanterns
- Round mirror
- Hardened foam ring wide enough to frame the mirror
- Black paint
- Letter stencil
- Strong household glue
Instructions
-
-
1
Measure what length of clothesline rope will go from a foot above the top shelf to the edge of the last shelf in the unit. Add 4 inches to this measurement if you have two shelves; add 6 inches to the rope length if you have three shelves. Cut two pieces of clothesline rope this same length. Tie a knot in one end of one piece, and nail that knot to the wall a foot above the shelving. Tie another knot in the rope and nail that knot to the outside edge of the shelf. Repeat for each shelf, and then repeat for the second piece of rope.
-
2
Smooth out a pillow case and use the yardstick and pencil to mark a line about an inch inside the three seam lines of the case. Trace over this pencil line with the dark blue fabric pen. Let the fabric paint dry, following directions on the pen. Brush a light coat of red fabric paint on the star stamp and press it onto the pillow case, inside the dark blue line at the two corners. After this paint is dry, slip the pillow case over the back of a bar stool, and let the fabric hang down to show the stripe and stars on the stool's new "sailor collar." Repeat these steps for each bar stool.
-
-
3
Replace the light bulb in each lantern with the red and green bulbs. Put a decorative hook at each outside corner of the bar, and hang the lanterns: the red lantern goes to the bar tender's left (port) and the green lantern goes to the bartender's right (starboard).
-
4
Stencil the words "S.S. Martini," "Bottoms Up," or whatever you want on the hardened foam ring with the black paint and let the paint dry. Glue the ring to the mirror and hang the mirror securely behind the bar.
-
5
Display any ship's models, sailing ship pictures or jigsaw puzzles you've glued together as wall and windowsill art all around the room. If you don't have enough, you can usually find them at garage or yard sales.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Use some of the clothesline rope and wrap it around the foam ring three or four times to make it look more like a real life preserver before you glue it to the mirror. If you want a seating area for guests besides the bar, bring in a coffee table and small sofa. Glue one of the jigsaw puzzles onto the top of the coffee table. (Brush a coat of clear varnish over it, and it'll resist water from the drink glasses.) Throw a navy blue sheet over the sofa, and you're ready to send out the party invitations. Use construction paper and glue to make nautical signal flags that are the symbols for the letters of your name.
Even though your shelves only look like they're suspended from ropes, be sure to remove all the glassware from the shelves before you hammer in the first nail. You don't need to spend time picking up broken glass because a mug bounced off the shelf.
