Guide to Choosing a Home Bar

When it comes to choosing a bar, you should first decide what type of bar you want. Then you’ll need to decide on the size you want and where you’ll be putting it. Once you’ve got a good idea of the style, size, and placement you desire, look for a home bar that fits your preferences and matches your interior decor.

Types of Home Bars

1: Hide-a-Bar

A hide-a-bar’s design allows you to store your alcohol discreetly—from the front, it just looks like a regular cabinet. One of our favorite hide-a-bars is our Leather Bar. This small but decorative bar is perfect for a room where you want to maximize your space. It can be placed in a corner or by a doorway so you can serve guests as they walk in. 

2: Cabinet Bar

This more elaborate choice is well worth it if you love to entertain. Cabinet bars are big, beautifully decorated, and always make a statement. A cabinet bar works best for a large room, perhaps a basement or an open-concept living room. There are plenty of shelves and cabinets to store all your favorite liquors and mixers. Our Spyrow Bar even has outlets, so that you can bring out the blender to make frozen drinks or crushed ice, for those on the rocks requests.

3: Wrap-Around Bar 

A wrap-around bar is one of the most common types of bars. Its L-shape design makes it a perfect centerpiece for the room of your choice. The wrap-around bar is the middle ground between the hide-a-bar and cabinet bar. Wrap-around bars have wine racks, cabinets, and often space for a beer or wine fridge.

Benefits of a Home Bar

1: Save Money on Drinks

Going out to bars gets expensive, especially when you’re celebrating a promotion or a friend’s birthday. Between drink prices and giving that generous tip, you can spend a lot of money in a short amount of time. A home bar allows you to save money while personalizing the drinks menu.

2: Create Tailored Drinks

Want a little more tequila in your tequila sunrise? Think of your favorite drink and its ingredients—how would you tweak it if you made it yourself? With a home bar, you can add that extra special ingredient and experiment with new combinations. A home bar provides you with the freedom to make your favorite drinks and find new ones to share with your friends. 

3: Entertain Your Guests

One of the most popular reasons to get a home bar is to entertain company. Home bars appeared in the 1940s and spiked in popularity in the 1950s. Home bars are great for parties—your guests will have a place to talk while enjoying their favorite drinks in the comfort of your home. Plus, you’ll be able to hone your bartender skills and impress your friends. 

Custom Home Bars in Jerome, Arizona

Home bars are meant to be unique, personal, and tailored to your tastes. At Western Heritage Furniture in Jerome, Arizona, we specialize in custom-made furniture. If you are looking for a specific finish or want extra shelves, our friendly staff and craftsmen will be happy to help. To start crafting your home bar, send us a message contact or call 800-616-1424.

The post Why You Should Have A Home Bar appeared first on WHF Jerome.

In August 2021, Western Heritage Furniture (WHF) customers Wendy & Raul Meoz ordered a customized bedroom set for a newly-designed bedroom in their Sedona home. 

Wendy approached WHF fully prepared with a vision of the design she felt would not only suit the space but also meet their functionality needs. With dimensions in hand, we worked closely with the Meozes to build them the bedroom set of their dreams.

The Design Process

The design process is the first phase in building a custom bedroom set. The initial step is ensuring all the dimensions for the pieces are correct. 

For example, when building beds, mattress thickness and box spring height are important factors. Not only do we need to make the overall mattress height meet a client’s requirements, but these dimensions also impact how high the side rails will clear off the floor. And in the case of this project, the bedroom’s ceiling was a bit low, limiting the height we could make the bed.  

Once Wendy and the WHF team finalized the dimensions, we began the overall design look. This includes a lot of back-and-forth discussion of wood samples and images of other furniture pieces for design ideas.

For the bed’s headboard, the Meozes decided on an arched headboard design. As the bed’s placement is under four window panes, we felt this would better feature the headboard. 

A photo Wendy sent us helped in the design of the bedroom set’s nightstands. The tops of the nightstands feature the same granite countertops used in the bedroom’s connecting bathroom. Main Place in Cottonwood, AZ, handled cutting the nightstand granite tops to the size we needed and the bullnose edge work.  

Moving Into Production

After extensively discussing color tones and barn wood placement, and receiving final approval on drawings, we began production on the custom bedroom set.  

At this stage, our engineer, lead project craftsman, and myself meet for an in-depth design and build session. We go over every function and design detail in exacting language, which is all documented at the meeting in our operating system. Supporting finish samples, pictures, drawings, and all other project documents are all clearly labeled for reference.  

The building begins with culling and picking the reclaimed wood for the overall approved look. I pick and approve all the detail wood pieces.

As the building progresses and some semblance of a piece of furniture evolves, I send progress pictures to the client. As some pictures may be hard to understand, I provide explanations as to what they are looking at within the design process.   

Because Wendy had her contractor’s hat on due to her remodel, she got to see more of the beginning of build pictures. When we completed the bedroom set, we set up how it would look in our shop and sent her pictures for her final approval. 

The WHF team hand-delivered and installed the Meoz bedroom set on October 29, 2021. They were very happy with the results!

Unique Design Details

We use many building techniques and hardware that are not common in the furniture readily available today. These special details not only elevate the quality of the furniture but also the overall look and feel of each piece.

Here’s a closer look at some of the unique design details used in the Meoz bedroom set. 

Laminated Curved Barn Wood Veneer on the Headboard Radius

We have been using this technique for the past seven years, and to date, I have not seen another barn wood furniture builder use it. This allows us to utilize bended curves on round tables and arches, while still showcasing the aged weathered wood on all surfaces. See the detailed shots of the headboard for reference.

Boxed Headboard Uprights and Foot Board Feet

We build a solid wood core and then apply the approved wood skins to the core.  This allows the grain directions to align, making the piece more structurally sound.

Drawer Boxes & Hardware

We made each drawer box from solid wood with hand-cut, half-blind dovetail joints. And the drawer hardware is soft-touch and self-closing, so the drawers open and close as smooth as butter! 

Waxing

After applying a lacquer finish to all pieces, everything is hand waxed with the best wax on the market. We literally apply the wax with a nylon brush in no more than three-inch square areas and then vigorously rub it with cotton rags. It’s an intense shoulder workout!  We’ve tried machines to do this but the result is not up to our standards. 

Heirloom-Quality Bedroom Sets in Jerome, Arizona

Wendy & Raul Meoz were an absolute delight to work with. We love being able to bring a particular furniture design vision to life. WHF is grateful for every client we have and are honored that they have chosen our furniture to include in their home. We do not take this responsibility lightly at WHF. Assuring the joy of clients with their furniture pieces is our obligation. 

If you would like to discuss making your dream furniture a reality, call Western Heritage Furniture today at 928-852-0061.

The post Custom Design Profile: The Meoz Bedroom Set appeared first on WHF Jerome.

What is reclaimed wood?

Reclaimed wood is lumber sourced from barns and old buildings that is then reused for other purposes such as furniture. The majority of reclaimed lumber originally came from old-growth forests. During the 1800s, American forests had large quantities of strong trees at record-breaking heights. Builders harvested them for many different types of structures that now lie abandoned and derelict. Today, the remains of these wooden buildings can be reclaimed to make furniture.

In our previous post, we talked about Ghostwood. We coined the term “Ghostwood” in the late nineties as a nod to the fact that our shop is in Jerome Arizona which is one of the more famous Ghost Towns in the west. In its heyday, Jerome was the World’s leading copper producer and had a population of over 15,000 people. By the mid-fifties, the mines were all but shut down and the population had almost entirely evacuated leaving behind a handful of hardy souls who scraped by in any manner they could.  In the late sixties and seventies, groups of young “hippies” had found Jerome which was an ideal spot to unplug from the World. The old Jeromans and the new hippies slowly revitalized the dying town into a tourist destination that is now World renowned.

Why do we use it?

Reclaimed wood is a sustainable, environmentally friendly option that has years of history behind it. At Western Heritage Furniture, we strive to preserve our natural resources. By making use of historical lumber, we eliminate the need to cut down additional trees. 

Compared to freshly cut wood, reclaimed wood is sturdier and often has a higher quality. Old-growth trees develop heartwood, which makes their lumber harder and more resistant to rotting. 

Reclaimed wood also makes great furniture because of its unique textures and colors. Lumber reclaimed from old barns and buildings that are 100 to 200 years old has marks and cracks that give it more personality and character. You can feel the experiences that the wood has been through in its grooves and talk about its history with your guests.

Reclaimed Wood Furniture in Arizona

When you buy reclaimed wood furniture from Western Heritage Furniture, you know that you’re getting a sustainable product that honors our country’s history. We grade and sort each piece of wood we use to ensure it meets our highest standards, is structurally sound and durable. We believe that the process of turning reclaimed wood into furniture is an art—our handcrafted furniture is bench made, which means that each piece is made by one craftsman. 

While this method may take longer than a production line, our furniture has the added value of craftsmanship and sustainability, with a story behind each piece. If you have questions about our reclaimed lumber, our friendly staff would love to share more information and help you select your next piece of furniture. Contact us at 800-616-1424 or send us a message today.

Photo by Cristina Gottardi

The post What is Reclaimed Wood & Why Do We Use It? appeared first on WHF Jerome.