Setting Up Your Own Industrial Bar Ledge at Home - Affordable, Quick, Easy, and Novel

In recent years, a lot of new design trends have taken the interior design world by storm and grown in popularity. Some are genuinely new, others are simply new takes on old themes.

Take industrial design, for example, which is a modern twist on a classic, industrial theme. It’s rather something old becoming new again than a genuinely new trend. Let’s take a look at industrial design and how you can create your own industrial wet bar or nook at home.

What Is Industrial Design?

The hallmark of industrial design is a blending of old and new elements, with a focus on raw materials and unfinished features.

The industrial design makes use of a lot of used, repurposed, and upcycled elements and rough or unfinished materials. Exposed iron girders, pipes, brick, conduits, and coarsely finished, exposed wood are all fixtures of industrial design.

In industrial design, the emphasis is on raw function, not polish, but modern industrial interiors often include a few modern accents as well.

Open ceilings, exposed pipes, ducts, and rafters, are all common in industrial interiors. They offer a pleasant insight into the history of a building, as interior decorators often design around the exposed skeletons of old warehouses and factories rather than covering them up.

It is a trend that some homeowners have sought to emulate, even in their modern homes. Here’s how you can create a modern, industrial wet bar, easily and cost-effectively, with only a few tools and some scavenged materials.

What You’ll Need

To create the basic wet bar on a budget, rather than buying a prefabricated bar you’re going to improvise here.

You’ll need a panel of wood - preferably solid (see below) - and some iron pipe. Specifically, you’re going to need between 2 and 4 galvanized, 90° steel elbows and two flanges for each elbow used.

These flanges and iron pipes can be purchased at hardware stores, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other big box retailers. You may also be able to get them at agricultural supply stores.

You’ll want at least one elbow at each corner of the bar, though it’s advisable to place one in the middle for extra support. The longer your bar, the more support it will need.

You’ll also need one plank of wood for the bar itself. You can also buy these at hardware stores like Home Depot or Lowe’s, but if you buy a precut board for your bar, you’re going to pay top-dollar and it’s going to look finished.

Now, you can buy a nicely cut board and finish it with a torch or stain, but we suggest going on the hunt for your wood. One of the hallmarks of industrial design is upcycling; head out on the road on bulk trash or recycling day and see if you can pull something off the curb.

To mount it, you’ll need to locate studs to mount the flanges and elbow joints. Locate the studs, then drill corresponding holes into the studs and mount the flanges to the wall. Screw the elbow joints in place so they extend from the wall and make a 90° turn upwards, then screw the top flanges into place.

Mounted like this, the naked galvanized steel has plenty of industrial character of its own, but you can spray paint it a dark gray or black color if you prefer. One coat that flecks off over time will lend a nice industrial look, too.

Measure the distance between your top flanges, as well as the distance from the wall, then drill the bottom of your bar board, place it on top of the flanges, and secure it with screws.

That’s the basic formula for an extremely cost-effective industrial wet bar made with nothing but some loose hardware and a spare plank - now it’s time to do the rest of the setting.

The Backdrop: Brick, Wood, and Steel

Drywall and industrial, in general, do not mix. If you want to complete the scene, you’ll want to finish the backdrop accordingly.

One of our best suggestions is to get some brick veneer. You can also buy peel-and-stick brick veneer from some hardware stores and apply it to your wall for an automatic industrial makeover that is cost-effective, easy to apply, and not permanent.

Plus it will create a much more authentic setting for your industrial-themed wet bar.

For Seating: Saddle Bar Stools

If there’s one drawback about this sort of DIY industrial wet bar, it’s that there won’t be a lot of room for seating. This is even more true if you set up this bar against a wall - which is a given, considering the instructions offered here.

We recommend a solution like saddle bar stools, of which we offer several options here at Legacy Decor. Saddle bar stools are not only comfortable, but they are highly economical with respect to space as well.

Perhaps most importantly, saddle bar stools can easily be slid underneath the bar’s overhang, even if it’s only a foot or so from the wall, making them the perfect space-saving solution for this sort of wet-bar-against-the-wall setup.

Completing the Look with Lighting

Last but not least you have to consider lighting. There’s some flexibility in interior industrial design with lighting, but sticking with lower lumen ratings and warmer color temperatures that provide more ambiance than illumination is generally a good idea.

Edison lights are very popular in industrial design, not only because they offer a soft, lambent glow, but because they were popular at the time that industrial design is attempting to imitate - namely, the late 1800s and early 1900s. At that time, options in electrical illumination were severely limited.

Opt for stark, bare metal lighting fixtures and Edison lights; pendant lights and iron fixtures are best here. While incandescent lights provide arguably the best quality light output, there are LED options called LED filament bulbs that make a good substitution for incandescent Edison bulbs and which are much more energy efficient and longer lasting.

With the bar installed, saddle bar stools acquired, and lighting in place, all you have to do next is add the decorative finishing elements to give the space a sense of personality - and there you have it - a do-it-yourself wet bar with an industrial theme, plus all the bells and whistles to make it your own.