Home Bar Blog

These days, economic worries seem to come and go like so much good & bad weather, but people are smart, right? and smart folks prepare for the worst by adjusting their way of life, or at least anticipating an economic downturn by keeping a watchful eye on global events fueled by oil prices. Imagine for a moment if the economy took a major turn for the worse, what would you do? What if you HAD to stay home? No more going out to dinner & drinks, no more vacation trips or liesurely afternoon drives and life in in general becomes so expensive, you’d have to tighten your belt & hunker down as you and your family ride out the storm. Think this notion is outlandish? What if gas really does hit four or five dollars per gallon? Things could get ugly, fast!

Let’s not forget about all the other doom and gloom predictions either. The nightly news and even the Discovery Channel is full of signs that perhaps we should be watching more seriously. Global warming, glacial melt, super tsunamis, asteroid impacts, super viruses, terrorism and let’s not forget George W. Bush hinting at World War III. Could it get any worse? If you were forced to stay home, no matter what the circumstance, wouldn’t it be nice to have all the (southern) comforts you need at hand?

Building a home bar, rec room  or home theater area is one way to start preparing for the future by reducing your travel costs, saving gas and saving the money you might otherwise spend on expensive drinks and entertainment, freeing up that money for essentials like food and home expenses, and let’s not forget, a home bar built underground in a basement area can double as a protective bunker in tough times. Sure there is a initial cost to building your own family room entertainment area, but consider it an investment in your home that will increase in value. 

A basement area is best, but upper levels or your home also serve as great areas for a private place to entertain. Of course basements have the added advantage of protecting you from tornadoes and other potentially deadly events. To take it to the extreme, you could even reinforce the ceiling to provide better protection, add a large walk in pantry for food and beverages. It’s not a far fetched idea to combine a home bar area with a fallout shelter like those of the 1950’s. The bottom line is to be prepared.  

Does this mean we should all build bars and become raging alcoholics? No, rather we can preserve happier times by bringing entertainment back inside the home the way it used to be; playing games, watching movies and connecting with family members. Once you begin into building a home bar or theater project, you’ll spend many years not only having fun entertaining, but also “adding flair” to your own private establishment.

So look around you, keep your eye on the news and start thinking about how that empty or unused space in your home, especially those with basements, can be transformed into your new home bar refuge and bunker, shielding you from an increasingly crazy world.

“I’ll tell ya what, when the big one hits, I’ll be relaxing in my home bar”. Order Plans Today - Before it’s too late!

Recent news indicates that hops used in beer making are in short supply and this may cause a sharp increase in beer prices. Further investigation reveals that this increase will likely affect craft beer makers the most since this type of beer typically uses more hops. Large breweries, like Miller and Anhueser Busch should not fell the effect as much and prices may stay stable or increase by only a very small amount. Either way, expect a rise from all beer makers, since any excuse nowdays seems to bring out the greed in those affected or not. 

Modest homes line Lombardi Avenue adjacent to Lambeau Field, Home of the Green Bay Packers, but one residence recently became a mecca of sorts to one Packer fan famiy and their growing list of friends. An Atlanta businessman purchased a home directly across from the front of newly renovated stadium and turned it into the ultimate Packer fan dream home. The view from the remodeled rear of the home would be like a mountian vista for a nature lover, but in this case the floor to ceiling view is of Lambeau field and on game day the atmosphere is electric, with fans tailgating and the roar of the stadium crowd cleary audible from the roof top deck.
 The owner of the home purchased the property, then hired a builder to completely gut the interior and transform it into the ultimate pre-game party house with a fantastic view of the stadium.  The garage was trasformed into a party deck and a large “G” was etched into the patio concrete.

Inside, the house features a big screen TV, pool table in a large open area that lets in the majestic view of the hallowed stadium and the scene of tailgaters and fans gathering before the big game. It’s one giant party with a front row seat. 

 The owner says the house was “Designed by men, for men”, he said ”It is specifically to enjoy game day and the days leading up to game day.”, and there’s no worry about  missing the big play when taking your bathroom break, since the mens room is equipped with it’s own urinal complete with an overhead TV screen and includes the perfect target with the Packer Fans favorite chant “The Bears Still Suck” strategically enameled into the fixture. 
Born and raised a Packer fan in Milwaukee, the owner and his family will travel to Green Bay on weekends when the Packers play at home and open up their home to friends and relatives. They plan to use this vacation house about as much as most other people use their lakeside homes.”I’m not doing this as an investment or for any kind of commercial or financial benefit” said the owner. “This is truly a spot that we’ve picked to enjoy the Packer atmosphere.” The owner hopes his dream home doesn’t start a trend though, in which other homes in the neighborhood are sold and turned into party houses.”If somebody wants to sell out to somebody as moronic as I am, that’s fine, but I just like the neighbors, like the people here,” said the owner. “I welcome all of them to come over and have a beer with me on Packer day and get to know each other a little bit.” Safe to say a new era in tailgaiting along Lombardi Avenue kicks off on Sunday. “It’s the hallowed grounds and to be so close is pretty special”.

Well, it’s now about a week later and into the first week of September. The August flies have started to decline, but there are still a few stragglers. There are still weekend footbal parties that can be help outdoors, so let’s investigate fly control further.
We tested a few other fly erradication methods are here are the results:
1. The hanging CD: It seemed to work in reducing flies, but on warm early evenings, they were still pretty bad, but it helps.
2. Hanging bags of water above the door: This worked about the same as the CD method. Warm air and the smell of food from the inside of the house will certainly attract plenty of flies to a screen door. The solution? Close the door sliding glass or main door.
3. Fly traps: They always work great, but place them in a sunny area AWAY from your party.
4. Mothballs: These also helped. Just dump them into a coffee can and place around your party area. Downside? The smell. Don’t use the “old fashioned” variety.
5. Flay paper or strips: Again, these always work, but must be hung in wind free areas. If it gets too windy, the strips wind up sticking to the side of your house or worse, someones head! Add a smaill lead weight at the bottom to keep them hanging straight.

The bottom line is to be proactive. Don’t leave trash lying around and place garbage cans away from the party area, preferably near the fly traps. Get your fly traps in place a few weeks or even months in advance. Reducing the local population early can help in the long run.

There’s nothing like summertime, but in the upper midwest and elsewhere in the country, August is the month of the fly. An enjoyable Labor Day Cookout can turn into a nightmare of flies hovering around grill areas, food on picinic tables and doorways leading into homes. In the late afternoon and early evenings we have seen literally thousands of flies on the side of our house, waiting for a hot dog to wander by. When it cools down at night, they wait eagerly by the screen door for someone to enter or exit at which time dozens buzz into the warm house to pick over kitchen leftovers and be yet another summer health hazard. Bug sprays and fly swatters can never get rid of all the flies and for someone with flyphobia (actaullly it’s called entomophobia) it can be maddening to try. However, there is hope. Rather than using chemicals and aggression to get rid of flies, I found a few tricks that mess with their little fly brains, and they seem to work.

The CD trick: This one really seems to work. Find an old CD-ROM disk that has the rainbow pattern on BOTH sides. CD’s that have printing on one side are not as effective. Drill a small hole (1/8″) about 1/2″ to 3/4″ from the edge of the disk. Be sure to wear safety glasses when drilling because they can shatter. Then, get about 2 feet of monofilament fishing line and place it through the hole and tie the two ends together. Hang this fly ornament right outside your door and for some reason it “seems to” keep the flies away. The theory is that the rainbow pattern mimics a fly eye and the movement confuses the flies brain into thinkng it’s a BIG fly, and little flies prefer to avoid big flies or predatory insects, like mud daubers, which eat flies for breakfast. If nothing else, the sun shining on the disc will keep them flying and make your dog bark. The effectiveness also varies from morning to evening with morning working better. Combine this with other hair brained methods for better effectiveness.

In Part II we will examine some other wacky methods for controlling those irritating flies.