DIY Ranch Design Series: Dine & Entertain

It’s time for Part V of the DIY Ranch Design Series! This month I’m talking about function and entertainment. Though it may not seem like these two concepts relate, I assure you that they do. And when done correctly, even more entertainment possibilities can be imagined.

As I mentioned in last month’s DIY Ranch Design Series, this part of the house—along with the living room, dining room, and kitchen—is part of our open-concept space, so this is exactly where we envisioned our guests would congregate.

It’s a known fact that whenever people visit they gravitate toward the kitchen area. The kitchen is the heart of most homes, and that’s why we made sure the double-sided fireplace was available to all of these areas within the open-concept space, therefore tying everything together and creating a cozy environment. Now, check out how we did it.

Initially, the entertainment area was a sunroom and its own separate room, much like the kitchen, dining room, and living room. To open this space up, the wall separating the kitchen and the sunroom needed to come down. As I mentioned in the fireplace post, the arched entrances on each side of the fireplace were knocked out to keep the open, clean lines throughout the house congruent. Basically, this entire area was also brought down to the studs for a nice clean slate, allowing us to get to the electricity and plumbing and configure a great bar area, complete with a sink, Kegerator, and separate red and white wine refrigerators.

During the demo process, we sealed up access to the bathroom in the corner of this room so that we could relocate the wine refrigerators. Then, we reopened the bathroom access in the gym. The large windows on the opposite wall across from the bar were reframed into sliding glass doors, allowing wide access to the outdoors. Once the electricity and plumbing were arranged, we sealed up the walls and lime washed the brick. In order to accommodate larger crowds, we built another breakfast bar area to provide extra seating.

Since the entertainment space is a continuation of the kitchen, it was important to finish it out with similar colors, quartz countertops, and cabinetry. This worked out perfectly to support the bar area and to create enough storage room, customizing the look around the appliances. Lastly, built-in banquette seating was created on both sides of the fireplace for those who’ll want to come and hang out in the entertainment space and watch the pool players having fun.

Now it’s time for the pool table and to introduce you all to my best friend, Painter’s Tape! In my opinion, Painter’s Tape is the key to design. It helps in deciding where something should go and helps save money and time moving furniture and/or drilling holes. For the pool table, besides needing to locate a modern style, I needed to know how large it should be and where exactly it could be positioned to provide plenty of space for the pool players to play. The pool table had to be big enough to look adequate but also be convertible, for more seating and dining options. Remember? Function and entertainment.