Home Bar Blog

Summer sun can deliver a beating to unprotected skin and too much exposure can cause overheating or worse, a nasty case of sun stroke. One simple solution is to drink plenty of fluids and locate yourself in a shady area such as under a tree, but when trees are nowhere to be found, try a patio umbrella.
This selection of affordable umbrellas will deliver years of solar protection and comfort from summer heat. For a limited time, get FREE SHIPPING on select orders.

Just a few short years ago, it was nothing to dump ten bucks in the gas tank and drive five hours for a two night vacation in the northwoods. Today that trip, financially speaking, is no longer a great idea. The trip burns about 20 gallons of gas for the round trip and today that will run over $78.20 (and rising) leaving much less cash for food and entertainment.
Unless you have a large stash of disposable income, vacationing away from home is fast becoming less practical for many families. So what’s the solution?
Take a Staycation! Staycatioing is fast becoming the “green” way to save green while investing your money into home improvements. Stay at home and invest the money you’d normally spend on a vacation into an unused space in your home; like a basement home theater or for summer months your backyard. Sure many people feel trapped by their daily grind and just have to get away for a vacation, but what if everything you ran 100 miles away to enjoy was right in your own backyard?
Taking a staycation has many advantages:

• No long “are we there yet?” drive.
• No speeding tickets.
• No traffic hassles.
• Clean facilities nearby.
• No crowds.
• Quick escape when weather turns ugly.

Taking just one staycation per year can not only save money, but also helps the overall gas problem. With the number of people out there today, we all need to start doing our part.

Once we got to our vacaton destination, the things we enjoyed the most were simply sitting under the tent and next to the fire, so rather than spend hundreds of dollars each year on the long trek to increasingly congested campgrounds and resorts, we decide to bring the best of the resorts to our back yard. Now we have our own relaxing gazeebo, jacuzzi and fire pit right in our backyard.  

Money spent on a vacation is gone the day your vacation ends, but money spent on items you can continue to use keeps providing fun and enjoyment year after year.
We decided a few years ago to start using the money we normally put aside for vacationing for improving our back yard. We first erected a fence, which for our rather large back yard was equal to a winter Mexico vacation we had planned to take. The next year we again stayed home and installed a Jacuzzi hot tub. Now we can feel like we’re in Mexico every day of the year!

This year we are continuing our staycation tradition adding more trees and a 12′x24′ garden garage with an attached 10′x12′ greenhouse. The greenhouse will help us offset the rising price of fruits & vegetables, allowing us to become less dependent of store bought produce.

This year, try taking a staycation, you’ll find it more relaxing than an expensive trip!
Tell us about your staycation experiences.

“You wanted the best, you got ‘em, the hottest band in the land KISS!”
If you don’t remeber that line, then you’re too young. The KISS ALIVE 35 Tour has added a stop Monday August 4th 2008 at Glencoe Camp Resort in Sturgis, SD for the 68th Biker Rally. The original Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are joined by guitarist Tommy Thayer (formerly Ace Frehley) and drummer Eric Singer (formerly Peter Chris).

Tickets go on sale June 1st at Startickets.com  

Adding quality bar stools puts the finishing touch on your home bar. If you’ve spent hours on getting the bar finish just right, why would you skimp on the bar stools? The fact is, cheap bar stools just look cheap and detract from your overall project, however, good quality stools really add the right amount of flair to all your hard work. We’ve found one bar stool that shines above the rest in quality and appearance, it’s the Dover Bar Stool.

The Dover is 32 inches tall, the perfect height for a home bar. This hardwood stool is finished in distressed antique cherry and features a padded leather seat with 360 degree ball bearing swivel. Priced at about $460.00 each, they may seem like a lot of coin, but they are an investment that will last a lifetime. Cheap bar stools on the other hand will last a few years at best. Right now the price on these stools is discounted $90 ($369.99 each) and includes FREE SHIPPING.
A matching set of four would total about $1476.00. Not a bad price, and buying online will save you an extra $73.80 in sales tax.

A similar hardwood model is the Vienna Swivel Bar Stool.
The Vienna is actually a better value, regularly priced at $511.99 each, but currently priced at $369.99, the same price as the Dover, but saving you $142.00 each. The Vienna is a bit more stable due to the slight flair of the legs. This hardwood bar stool is finished in a rich tobacco color and also features a 360 degree swivel seat.
It all depends upon your taste, but for the money, the high quality and attractive Vienna bar stool wins hands down.
Check out these other fine bar stools today while still on sale.

With Gas Prices Soaring our of Control, we’ve been cautiously looking at way to improve fuel economy in order to save gas & money. The obvious way is to SLOW DOWN! But even at $3.75/gallon I still see idiots tearing down the road at 80mph in their SUV or pickup truck. My neighbor’s kid just pickup a Cadillac Escalade with a 26 gallon fuel tank. Good thing he still lives at home with Mom & Dad becuase it’s going to cost about $100 to fill that beast.

So, how else can you increase gas mileage? 
The answer is not gas pills, fuel additives or other “snake oil” solutions, they just don’t work.
But we did find a site that claims you can use ordinary water to extend your fuel economy. It’s based on the old science project which demonstrates how electronysis breaks down water into it’s component gases, two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The ingenious device we discovered simply uses your cars electrical system to generate hydrogen gas “on the fly” and injects it into the intake manifold.
The $49.95 plans, which claim to work on 99.9% of cars is a fun tech project that will teach you all about this cool new fuel while extending your cars efficiency by 40 percent! 
Become a hydrogen fuel expert and run your car on water for under $50. 

If so, put down the bottle and step away, although gas prices are getting out of hand, there is some GOOD news to report! Lumber prices are at an all time low! The housing crash has resulted in stock piles of lumber and the lowest prices in years. Now is the perfect opportunity to load up on building materials and add that indoor or outdoor home bar or rec room addition. Here is the best deal on home bar construction plans.
Entertaining at home will help save gas and with the recent rise in grain prices, will help save money from the higher cost of beer at your local tavern. It also keeps you from being liquored up behind the wheel, and that’s a good thing! So, entertaining at home will not only help save gas, it will help increase the value and enjoyment of your home. So get busy! And as always, stay safe & have fun!