Tag Archives: bar

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Hey bartender….

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Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

While the husband was teleworking yesterday, I laid claim….

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And started bringing glasses and accessories out to the barn bar. Wine, whiskey, mule, margarita, pint and martini glasses… check! Shot glasses, strainer, muddler, shakers… check! Two more shelves need to be installed on the left, but I made a dent.

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And noticed the husband had beat me to the rubber mat and Marine Corps coasters placement.

No matter, I stashed my cheat sheets…

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And my favorite cocktail recipe books.

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And then I found a prominent spot for what I’ve been dying to add to the barn bar ever since my husband began sputtering about building one.

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No bar should be without one.

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Word of the day – adaptation.

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Adapt or die, you’ve all heard the phrase. And never has it been more crucial for small businesses to do just that.

Bars and restaurants have been especially hard hit by the pandemic and though take out food helps them stay afloat, it’s in the bar that establishments realize their largest profit.

Enter The Great Lost Bear.

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A veritable institution of alcohol and beer consumption in Portland, Maine for the past 40 years. With 80 rotating taps…

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And a large creative menu, it’s worth the hassle of trying to finding a parking spot on the always crowded Forest Avenue.

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(If you’re a fan of John Connelly’s books? This is the bar Charlie Parker uses as a makeshift office.)

Sadly, we haven’t visited this paragon of drunkenness for quite some time but I was pleased to see they’re adapting.

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With outdoor drinking during good weather…

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And cocktails to go when Mother Nature says no.

Brilliant!

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Some of them sound quite tasty.

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And now that we have our own bar, I might have to mix a few.

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Pie in a glass?

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Who doesn’t love that?

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Floating shelves that don’t float and non existent outlets.

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Now that the bar construction was complete, it was time to outfit it. And while we’re still waiting for the chairs and wall shelves to be completed….. I wanted some shelving inside the bar for glasses and various drinking paraphernalia.

Enter the floating black shelves I found.

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If you’ve never put up floating shelves? I don’t recommend it. They look and sound lovely…. though they’re anything but for the poor schmuck who has to install them.

And I think we all know who my poor schmuck is.

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Two shelves and two hours later, my other half was less than pleased with my choice. He was even less pleased when I told him I would be buying two more.

Moving along…. the mini beverage fridge was slid into place.

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And plugged in.

Although that didn’t go well either.

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Considering the electrical outlet is on the opposite wall. This is something the husband didn’t contemplate when he bought the fridge and though I did…. I kept quiet and let him discover it all on his own.

I’m thoughtful that way.

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( The electrician will be here in two weeks to add outlets. )

And one more thing… while reading the instruction booklet for proper beverage cooling procedure? I had to laugh.

( read marked lines )

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Something tells me this unit was not made in the good ole USA.

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Because one day I might be under it.

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As previously reported, the barn bar construction is finished and now it’s just a matter of waiting for chairs.

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But on further inspection, I noticed this.

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Not visible until you’re slightly under it (which I may be some day in the near future, don’t judge) was an exposed lip of pressboard used to support the top.

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I wasn’t loving it and decided to turn it into a nice little black strip.

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What a royal pain in the ass that was.

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I didn’t paint the whole thing, just the trim edge. But it looks better.

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More finished.

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And it picks up all the other black accents in the room quite nicely.

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It took me forever, but there. Mission accomplished.

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We have a bar!

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An honest to goodness, sturdy and well built, fully stained and polyurethaned, ready to dance on (or fall under) bar!

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It was a long time coming but we’re pleased with the result.

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The wood grain is lovely, the top is smooth and shiny.

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And once the custom ordered chairs and shelves are ready, it will be time to get down to business.

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The business of mixing my first Barn Mahal cocktail.

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And they say drinking doesn’t pay.

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At the beginning of December we gave $10 to a fundraiser for our local food bank which we wouldn’t have known about it if we hadn’t been sitting in our corner at the local pub.

We drank…

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And lo and behold, it paid off.

Because yesterday when we stopped in for a burger and a beer? This was placed in front of me by the bartender….

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The husband joked that they didn’t need to bribe us to drink there…

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But damn. For $100 gift card? I’d drink anywhere.

Apparently our donation was part of a raffle and we won a prize.

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Who says drinking doesn’t pay?

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Random January shots…

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I know the picture is bad and you probably can’t read the writing, but this salon I drove by last week?

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Claimed to be The Best Little Hair House in Augusta…. and that made me laugh.

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This is the January squirrel from our new calendar…. and if momma red dons a pair of skis? I’ll be sure to post a picture of that as well.

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I think we’re all entering the new year with a little trepidation, aren’t we…?

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Look!

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Our contractor does exist! I even caught him putting on the third coat of polyurethane.

And I had to take this picture as well, because the husband is so thrilled he’s going to have a bar?

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He walks out there everyday and communes with it.

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The end might be in sight.

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No, not my marriage. Though after the year long storage barn to man cave extraordinaire remodel you’d be well within your rights to think that.

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No, I’m speaking of the actual bar construction . The interior has been walled in….

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And after being given 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of polyurethane… the top is looking pretty spiffy.  (Our contractor elf says he wants 3 more coats of poly and sanding just to be safe.)

So the next question was, what to do with the inside walls. Stain? Paint? Leave bare? We love the black accents scattered throughout the room so we gave black a moment’s thought…. and held up a black sheet to get a visual.

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But the way the bar is laid out, you’d only see a small portion of black as you walked in the door, so it didn’t balance.

And with that much stain on the bar, I just couldn’t see trying to match it. So for now we’re leaving it bare.

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And besides, the mini fridge will be in there.

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Here? The husband’s choice.

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There?  My preferred spot.

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But most likely here.

Because after he settled it in that corner? He informed me his next purchase will be a kegerator… which will be placed right in the middle.

(Remember when I said I wasn’t talking about the end of my marriage being in sight?

I may need to rethink that.)

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It’s like the blue or gold dress all over again.

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* Disclaimer – a mistake was made in scheduling. This post should have been viewed before yesterday’s, so please forget you saw that one. My bad. *

Our (magical, never to be caught actually working, might be an elf) contractor was by the other day to put the first coat of stain on our bar top.

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So while the husband and I were checking progress, I took pictures.

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And it wasn’t until I started posting them that I realized the damn thing appeared to be 2 different colors.

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At first I thought it was a matter of angles and shadows but the picture above and below this text are basically the same, just taken 12 minutes apart.

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And I swear I didn’t alter the hue or color on my phone.

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I have no explanation. Although now that I think about it, this might be a fun bar game after a few toddies.

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Just for the fun of it I placed a few fronting pieces to get an idea what the finished product would look like.

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And I think while not a perfect match to the chairs we ordered…

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It might be close enough.

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