This basement is the ultimate a mancave. While the décor displays his love of the Greenbay Packers, he also wanted to display his love of America's signature spirit, bourbon whiskey. Fortunately, the basement had an alcove perfect for a bar to house his collection. He enlisted Donna Kirsopp and Kenny Choikhit to help design a custom bar. With thoughtful attention to every detail, our team created a custom, elegant shelf and cabinet system that looks like it's always been there.
The Stage
The perfect location for the bar, this alcove was just the right size and already had gimble lights ready to light it up.
Centerpiece
A stave (piece of a wooden barrel) from Buffalo Trace Distillery was to serve as the centerpiece of the shelves. Bottles of Blanton's, the original single-barrel bourbon, come stopped with corks featuring a horse and jockey in various poses and one of seven letters. Our client had collected the set of eight to spell out "BLANTONS" and sent them to Buffalo Trace, who sends them back displayed on a resin-coated stave from one of their Blanton's barrels. We measured the stave and built the middle shelf to house it at eye level.
Shelves
Aside from the stave, the homeowner had envisioned placements for specific bottles. This meant considering the dimensions of said bottles and building the rest of the shelves around them. Working with our client's wishes, our designers, Kenny and Donna, designed a symmetrical set of shelves around the handsome centerpiece.
Don Richeson and his team constructed the upper shelves, leaving a one-inch gap behind the perimeter and the full-length horizontal shelves to accommodate LED ribbons. Wiring for the lighting is hidden behind the perimeter trim.
Palette
The shelves' overlay of reconstituted engineered wood in Ebony nicely complements the medium wood tones of the bourbon and stave. The small space is replete with texture, from the petrified-wood-esque wallcovering to the quartersawn wood grain in the shelves and cabinets, two-tone hardware, and striking granite countertop. Warm lighting from behind the shelves illuminates all, completing the liveliness of the display.
Our client's wife found and selected this piece of titanium leather granite, as complex as the spirits in the bottles above it. The texture and dimension of the whole bar coalesce around the slab's large chunks of quartz, erratic veining, and brushed "leather" finish.
Function
The lower cabinetry includes drawers for bar paraphernalia, roll trays for additional spirits storage, and a split fridge to store wines and other bottled beverages.
The homeowner is thrilled that he can now share with his fellow Packers fans his love for America's vivacious signature spirit.