Upcycled Door & Beams Turned Irish Pub Style Bar!

Danielle Sallada
by Danielle Sallada
1 Month
Medium
Rather than the traditional wedding gift, we wanted to do something special for friends of ours. With the groom being Irish, and the bride loving the rustic side of things, it just made sense to do a piece for their Irish room!
a lot of history in this handsome boy!


The beams are 139yrs old, salvaged from an old apartment bldg during demolition, and our dining room remodel. The door was from our basement entryway that we closed off. Both our home and the apt. bldg are 139yrs old.
close up of front detail. The original finish was stripped off of the door, sanded, and burned with a propane torch in areas to "age" it. We sanded sections in between coats of stain to enhance the "aged look". It has 4 coats of stain total. We even recreated that old slightly gunky stuff that happens in the corners of old pieces.
Harps made from mahogany strung w/ brass wire
Pipes made of maple wrapped with brass wire
Corbels are hand made as well.
Bar top
The bar top is the only thing we actually purchased. Which was a sheet of maple Ply. I beat it up a bit with some nails hammered into a board. Then the hubby sanded around the perimeter a bit, making it about 2 shades lighter than the rest. This in turn created the "worn" look you see when I hit it with the stain. It looks like it is worn from a lot of elbows, arms, and glasses resting and sliding on the edge!
close up of Glass inlay
This was our first time working with glass for any project. The hubby routed out the "B" while I set to smash a green beer bottle. I stopped him from going any deeper with the inlay. Which was a mistake on my part, and I should of listened to him (rolling eyes here..haha). As there wasn't much room to put the glass AND epoxy. yeah, I totally forgot about having to add epoxy to the inside of the B and a bit on the surface to actually HOLD the glass in there. In my head, I was just going to sprinkle the glass inside and hammer it with several coats of poly to seal it. My darling hubby looked at me blankly, like I had 3 heads. hahaha It really is quite comical to witness our project antics, especially if we are "winging it"!
hand inlay with Walnut
Here it is with the Walnut inlay. I just love the contrast in colors! You can really see the "bar top aging" I explained above in this pic.
Finished bar top!
If anyone would like to know more, feel free to let me know and I would be happy to email or FB with you and share the photos and steps we took!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  2 questions
  • Susan Plonsky Susan Plonsky on Dec 01, 2015
    My husband and I love what you did with this door. Could you please email me more info on how you did this? My email is sdplonsky@charter.net Thank you for your time. We look forward to hearing from you. Susan
  • Jackie Jackie on Oct 20, 2021

    I love this! We would like to build something similar for our basement and are replacing doors so have some of the materials. Could you please send me any photos that may help me understand the structure behind the front panel? We are novice builders/DIYs and could use any help available. :) Thank you!

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 45 comments
Next