Basement Bar Placement and Flooring Transition - Please Help!

last year

Hi All,

We’ve stuck on a design choice for our basement bar area and are in desperate need of input/wisdom from the community - we are terrified that we’re going to get this wrong and that it will ruin the look of the basement.

Our dilemma is this - we are working with an unusual/awkward space and are unsure of the best placement for the bar in this area. Here is a picture of the space:

I have scoured the internet but have been unable to find any comparable examples of how this should look. Our basement bar area sits directly beneath a breakfast nook on our main floor, so it is surrounded by walls on three sides (see floor plan below).

We are going to carpet the entire rec room because it’s warmer and easier for grandkids to crawl around on, but we intend to use LVP flooring for the bar area. In addition to the placement of the bar, we need to determine where the flooring transition will occur. This is complicated because the bar will have a 10-inch overhang and because the contractor said that the barstools would wobble if the legs are on different surfaces (not to mention the poor aesthetics).

We are considering a few different bar placements and flooring transitions and would like folks to weigh in on what makes the most sense.

Option 1: The bar overhang juts out beyond the rectangular bar area by 10 inches and the carpeting is taken all the way to the base of the bar, producing a clean line between the rec room flooring and bar area flooring (we use the natural transition point between the rec room and the bar area for the flooring change). All barstools sit on carpeting. (Option 1 rough rendering below).

Option 2: We keep the bar overhang flush with the “bar area rectangle” so it doesn’t jut out into the rec room, but we extend the LVP flooring into the rec room so the barstools lay securely on the same surface and don’t wobble when sat on. (Option 2 rough rendering below).

Option 3: Recess the bar deeper into the bar area and use the natural break for the flooring transition. All the barstools would be on LVP, but the space behind the bar would be tighter. (Option 3 rough rendering below).

Option 4: Have a bar without an overhang/with minimal overhang. This would mean that it would be uncomfortable /impossible to sit at the bar, but we would recognize that actually sitting at the bar is unlikely anyway - the more plausible use case is that people sit on the barstools facing the rec room between turns at the pool table or any of the other games, just using the bar to rest a drink, so there is no need for an overhang anyway. In this case, the edge of the bar is flush with the “bar area rectangle,” the stools all rest on carpeting, and the natural flooring transition point is used.

Thank you in advance for your input - we’re been struggling with this decision for weeks now and are not sure where else to turn! The flooring installers are currently working on other areas of the basement but will need a final decision for the rec room/bar area by when they show up tomorrow morning, or Friday morning at the very latest. Thank you again!

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