Conversion of Armoire into Bar... mostly for whiskey!

[horn4life 3847]

Not sure if this is the best spot for this, as I thought about food and travel but WTF.  I just bought a big huge black Restoration Hardware armoire with the idea of converting it into a bar.  The back got cut up and drilled into so I need to replace that.  It was designed to be either for a big TV (circe 2007) or actual wardrobe if you removed the TV stand portion.  Main thing for me is the door recess back into the sides rather than swing out and back.  It's honestly almost too big, and it is heavy as shit. But since it's so heavy I can probably do what I want with shelves or whatever.   I've thinking about doing this for a while and making a nicer place to display my sippin' whiskeys.  So here are my contemplations thus far and I am looking for thoughts and suggestions.

So here is my debate.  Do I go with more of a classic look, or do I go more modern using more led lighting.  Originally I was going to take an old 1800's map of Austin, and us it as the backdrop behind the bar.  Make it more of a throwback to an earlier time look.  I also contemplated antiquing a mirror that I have laying around and then glueing the Austin map image onto that so the mirror became a picture frame for the map.  

Then I started playing around with some extra LED strip lights and lighting up the enclosure.I farted around with those taped them up around the interior and thought they might look good with the mirror backdrop.  Doing some research on backlighting with the strips I discovered that if you sand clear Acrylic sheeting with 320 grit sandpaper you can frost it.  Once frosted the acrylic glows rather than just transmits the light thought the pane. So now I am contemplating buying some thicker acrylic, sand it to glow and make my shelving out of acrylic sitting in a wooden frame with the forward glowing acrylic sheet.   

I have decided I am for sure going to use some LED lighting. For certain going to recess LED light the top of the Armoire to cast a glow onto the ceiling.  But I am really torn as to whether I should go with an older more antique look, more modern look, or combo.  I probably need to just go walk into a shit ton of bars downtown to get ideas. I saw some good ideas but not much blending of concepts which is sort of what I am considering.  Here are a few of my inspirations, and my starting point.

Here is a picture of the armoire   

I think I need to lighten up the back of the piece with a mirror or some lighter colored material.  I am envisioning two glowing shelves with the first shelf a bit taller than the wooden shelf pictured so that short bottles and glassware could be stacked underneath.  I as thinking of having two glowing shelves with the bottom shelf glowing on the top and bottom to provide colored lighting. Hoping the bottom shelf will light the base adequately.  I would still have some white puck lights over the work area to light up the work surface.  Probably need to lighten up the back of the bottom shelves as well, or add some lighting, but thought about having at least one lower side be wine.  I also considered having a few wine bottles along the top and hanging the glassware beneath the bottles, but think probably more whiskey space than adding wine display?  The drawers are awesome and pretty large, and I was going to use one side to store whiskey tasting glasses, and build some sort of tasting racks where I could pour flights at the bar and carry it to my guests

Anyhow these are my basic ideas so far. Give me yours! I put in my taller and shorter bottle in to see how I could space stuff out.  Torn on whether to make the shelves shallow for one bottle deep with a 4 inch deep shelf or maybe a 6-7 inch shelves to stagger bottles on.  So give me your thoughts!

 

This was going to be the Austin map I was going to originally use as the background, with antiqued mirror as picture frame as back of the bar. Thought about burning edges a hair to age. Thought it would look cool, as a lot of the stuff in this room is antique.  You can see the big copper water heater I am going to mount in the corner.  

Then looking on Amazon I saw this which is sort of my initial inspiration for perhaps lighting up the shelves

Then when I was looking at using LED trim I got inspired by this, but too harsh looking 

This conversion is pretty good, but I have a lot more booze to store and would not have top storage, but shows a good example of a full mirror back.  i didn't see any conversions with the sort of glowing shelving I am considering.  The white backlight illuminates it,  I am thinking some overhead spots and the color changes shelves.  

 

[Fuck Tim Beck 3905]

It's already got a built in little stage. Just add a tiny stripper pole, get yourself a monkey, and call it good. 

[RPM 26698]

The lighted shelving is a nice touch.

[closetohumping 17882]

[horn4life 3847]

Well I guess I maybe should have posted this in one of the other forums... but I think I have made some decisions.  At least on the lit acrylic shelves.  I bought a sheet of the 1/4 acrylic that still have the protective coating on it, and taped LED lights to the edge of it to see how well it might illuminate after a good sanding.  Looks pretty good honestly, and my idea of perhaps trying to light the entire base of the display area with frosted acrylic.  Part of my concern is the durability of the base area.  If I frame it out and use edge lit acrylic here I can have a cool illuminated base.  The 1/4 acrylic is so much cheaper and I can get it at lowe's or home depot.

If you look at the pic, one of the problems (more of just an annoyance) is the two clips in the middle of the base that hold the doors in place when closed.  They are only about a half inch tall but I really would prefer a smooth surface. So maybe swap the clips out with cabinet door magnets to have a smoother look and integrate them into the edge of a lit base.  The great thing about the acrylic base is that it provides the durability and ability to cleanly wipe down that I was looking for, and I hope will look cool.  Plus with the cheaper acrylic if I screw up it's not $100 a mistake.

Here is a daylight pic of the edge lit glass in the daytime.  I taped the lights to the edge and covered the edges to get an idea of how it might look.  it would be cool if I could light one big panel up for the base.  Need to make sure the LED's would be waterproof there for the eventual drink dump.  But a little silicone sealant around the frame and I should be golden.  But could be a really cool base and nice complement to a similar design on the shelves.

!

[RPM 26698]

5 minutes ago, horn4life said:

So maybe swap the clips out with cabinet door magnets to have a smoother look and integrate them into the edge of a lit base. 

I'm a little leery of using 1/4. You'll want to run some bracing to prevent sag. Bottles are heavy. I'd have gone with 1/2.

Edited January 10, 2023 by RPM

[horn4life 3847]

I am basically going to cheap out with the 1/4 and use the acrylic as a decorative accent.  Use it to cover the bottom for a cleanable lit work surface, and use 1/2 thick shelving with the glowing acrylic on top for sure and potentially on the bottom of the shelves as well for additional lighting. I am thinking that if I just light the tops of the shelves against the mirror I will get enough light for ambiance. Then white light from the top to illuminate the bottles and glassware.

I am toying with maybe doing routed edge on the shelves, but that may be more work than it's worth.