FINALLY we have bar seating!

I searched for months on end for bar stools that were in our price range, would be comfortable and would work with my overall design aspiration for our lower level bar area.  I stalked craiglist for months, but the options there were either too expensive for something used, they didn't have enough (we needed 3-4 stools) or they were just plain ugly!  So, the hunt continued for quite a while. 

While out on a recent shopping run, I came across a bar stool I thought might work.  At first, I thought about purchasing the slate gray color.  After contemplating the purchase and going home, I realized the blue would work much better.  I showed Frank to make sure he was on board with the purchase, and he approved.  So that's what we went with, and here are a few photos for you!

From the bigger open space looking towards the bar area.

Standing in the bar area, looking down the seating row.

 P.S. - don't mind the mess in the background.  Those are the stool boxes and the stairway is tarped and taped because of the construction upstairs.

Houston, we have Flooring!

Things are in full swing at the home front, and our most recent check off the list was the flooring in our downstairs bar area!  You may recall that when we moved in, the bar area looked like this...

I must say, I kinda miss that minty green brick - NOT! Although this isn't the best picture of it, you can see how the floor behind the bar looked per-renovation. Also notice that pre-reno there was carpeting on the side of the bar where the stools would go.  In our opinion that's a big no-no if you ever really want to use that bar.  Between the stools being shaky on carpet, and the possibility of red wine or drinks spilling onto cream carpet, we both agree that whoever thought that up must not have had any friends to invite over for a party!

I recently posted a bar update, and we showed you the demo work that was taking place by the bar...
  

The second picture shows you what the floor looked like behind the bar after we removed the old tile and before the new flooring went down.  So now let's get to the good part of this post - the new flooring!  Here are a few pictures of how it turned out...

View from behind the bar (same as above pre-reno pic).

The tile runs into our storage closet as well.

A view looking out from the back of the bar - of course Tyson wanted to get in on the action too!

View of the outside of the bar area - where stools will go!

Standing in living space looking towards the bar.

The whole thing!

We love how it turned out!! It looks even better than we thought it might.  The wood-look tile was the perfect choice for this space.  We're planning to also use the same tile along our backdoor in this same room.  Honestly, we're so thrilled with this tile that is might just wind up going in another room or two down the road... we'll see.

Although we don't have any pictures to share just yet, we did put in the order for our bar counter top.  Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to snap a few pics and post those for you to check out as well.  There's still a lot to do to this space before we can deem it "finished," but we're happy with the progress so far. 

That's it for now!

Bar update...

Not much of an update with the bar really, but a few things have happened. 

1. We ripped up the old tile floor - what a mess that was!
2. We demolished the old counter top - also a big mess!
3. We had the new stainless steel back splash installed around the cook-top - YAY!
4. We ordered the new tile & will be order the new counter very soon... so hopefully we'll be back in working order before we know it!

Here are a few pictures of the changes...

We've since taken down those boards holding up the stainless while it set.  I'll save the full view for the mid-way reveal once the flooring and counter top are in!  So for now, you'll just have to wait. :)

Temporary Pantry Installed!

Since we'll be using our bar area as our "kitchen" while we work on renovating the real kitchen upstairs on the main level, we decided that we'd need some extra room to store things.  So, my handy husband and I installed our temporary pantry!  Eventually we'd like to install more permanent shelving in there, change out the floor tile when we change the rest of the bar floor tile so it matches, and paint the walls a fun color.  For now, this is perfect though!  Here's a photo, minus the food and dishes...

We've since stocked it full with food and our dishes, but I forgot to grab a picture of that.  We're very happy with the extra, hidden storage though and all is working out great so far here!