Penny Bar DIY

Hi friends,

How was your weekend? I spent mine in beautiful Tucson. It is hot as hell during the day, but the nights are FAN tastic.

Moreover, the landscape there is a modernist’s dream. And how cheap!!

Image

For this golden barrel cactus that will cost me $125 in Austin, it is $40 in Tucson. I almost committed myself to renting a Uhaul and driving a truck full of cacti home. It’s only 14 hours, right?

 

 Well, as promised, I am here to give you some info on how to create your own penny bar.

 

First, get the bar cabinet base together. I decided to try to create a semi-custom look with wood cabinets from Home Depot.

Step 1- Buy these cabinets from Home Depot. I think these are 15” wide.

Image

Step 2- Decide on your finish. I decided to use Erin Williamson’s awesome India Ink Method.

 

Step 3- Gather supplies.

Image

Step 4- Sand the wood to get a smooth finish.

Image

Step 5- Wet the wood to raise the grain to allow better penetration of the stain.

Image

Step 5- Brush on the India Ink. It dries quickly, so work quickly.

Image

Image

Step 6- Apply the Osmo polyx wax with a rag.

Step 7- Pimp out toekick. I chose to apply wallpaper samples I already had to the toe kicks. I didn’t have to buy anything new, and it is a fun surprise to the eye where you least expect it.

 Image

Now, time to focus our attention on the bar top itself.

 

Step 1- Gather a LOT of pennies. To create the pattern, I contrasted brand new shiny pennies, and dark, dirty pennies. It is actually much harder to acquire the dark pennies.

 

Step 2- Get a piece of wood or MDF and paint it a dark color, because it will pop through the pennies.

Step 3- Play around with a pattern.

Step 4- Glue pennies on, one by one, with Elmer’s glue, drink in hand.

Image

Image

Step 5- Use a miter box and cut trim to fit around the edges to conceal those perhaps imperfect edges.

 

Step 6- Glue trim on with Liquid Nails.   I chose not to put an edge at the back, as this would be flush against the wall.

 

Step 7- Buy aluminum flashing at the hardware store and secure to back, and around sides if you please. I secured mine with duct tape. The purpose of the flashing is to act as a dam, keeping the epoxy in, and on top of the pennies, rather than running out the sides.

Image

Image

Step 8- Gather your supplies and mix the epoxy. You need a partner for the epoxy application. Follow the directions to the letter.

 

Step 9- One person pours the epoxy, the other spreads with either a putty knife or a paint stirrer. I used a stirrer.

 

Image

Step 10- Level out the epoxy, and don’t pick up your spreader too much, as this introduces air bubbles.

Image

Step 11- Use a butane torch to pop air bubbles. If you don’t have one (I didn’t), you can pop them, one by one, back- breakingly, with a toothpick. My husband is a saint BTW.

 

Step 12- Let the epoxy cure. It takes at least 48h before you can put something on the surface.

 

Step 13- Remove aluminum flashing, and attach the bar top to the cabinets.

 

Step 14- Add a beverage fridge, style to your heart’s desire, and step back and admire.

Image

Image

Image

Image

 

Happy Humpday!

xo

Celine

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 thoughts on “Penny Bar DIY

  1. What a great project Celine. Looks like it took a lot of patience, but so worth it in the end! Dude… try Craigslist for Cacti… we’ve had a lot of luck landscaping our yards with Craigslist finds. Some growers sell from their own “private collection” of plants.

  2. I don’t know if it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else experiencing issues with your site.
    It looks like some of the written text on your content are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let
    me know if this is happening to them too? This might be a problem with my web browser because I’ve
    had this happen before. Appreciate it

Comments are closed.