Ben Anthony Updated on Oct 1, 2023 5 min read

How did I end up with a bar in my backyard?

Well it all began about 6 years ago in 2017. I was married at the time to one of my wives and I had just bought my current house in Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. Being the corner house, I have 2 lots which allows me to have a pool and a

The Wood Shed that would become Pour Decisions Bar.

My x-wife and I were in the backyard talking and out of the blue, she pointed to the wood shed and said,; "Why don't we make this a bar?" . I looked at her and said these exact words: "Why in the hell would I want a bar in my backyard". Clearly, at the time I didn't see the need or fun of having a bar in my backyard... Honestly , I don't know how else to explain it lol.

So fast forward a couple months, I was having a beer with my buddy Mark, who also happens to be my neighbor and in conversation I told him about my x's idea of "making a bar in our backyard". Mark being the creative, and handy man that he is, went on his quest to figure out "how to build a bar in my backyard".

Days later Mark showed up with a design on a simple white paper which even included dimensions! Being a self proclaimed, cheap on myself Italian, I ran the costs. If I remember correctly, the total wood cost me less then $150.00 CDN (~115$ USD at 30% exchange) for the frame as the rest of the bar would be made out of pallet wood that you can usually find for free.. like I did:

Actual picture of me gathering pallet wood for the bar.

And that's when the work began. The first thing we had to tackle was the actual foundation of the actual bar which is the frame. At the time, this was the only wood that I purchased for the bar. That and some nails as my buddy Mark had all the tools.. BONUS! (something he loves to say lol)

We used 2x4's (only wood that I had to buy) to create the frame of the bar:

The frame of the bar.

Side angle of the frame of the bar:

Another angle of the Bar's frame - only wood I paid for.

Now understand, I have a real job, a wife at the time and 5 kids (3 of mine and 2 of hers). So building the bar was done at night when we had a few hours to spare. I think it took us roughly a month to get the actual bar built.

The next step was putting in the pallet boards. Now the thing with pallet boards is that they are all different lengths, heights and widths but that's what I think makes them look so damn awesome:

Notice there is also nothing on the walls.. that came years later!

Another shot of the pallet board that we nailed on the outside of the bar. You will notice there are different sizes of pallet and I think that's what gives it such a unique look:

Just another view of the pallets that were used to face the bar.

Just missing the counter top:

Another angle of the pallet wood on the bar.

Naturally, the actual bar's surface was required next. It ended up that my parents in law at the time, actually had some old cupboards that they weren't using and we thought why not use those as the counter top!

After we got them cut and installed, we poured a lacquer glue over them to give them a smooth, bar top finish which ended up looking great! (still look great even today).

The black counters that become the bar surface.

And that is when the "Bar" was born. Honestly, it wasn't until a year later that Mark and I agreed to the name "Pour Decisions". (he had actually thought up the name "Pour Decision" and I added the "s" to represent all my divorces... TRUE story... lol . And well, the rest is history and I'll share more and more as time goes on!

And this is how the bar looked when it was first done in 2018:

The un-named bar - Pour Decisions in 2018 - when it was first born.

Compared to what it looks like currently:

AND a HUGE, HUGE thank you to my GREAT Friend and neighbor Mark (M.L). He's the TRUE genius of the building of this bar... Without him, this would NOT exist because I'm just not that handy... I just followed his orders :)

Mark and Bronx, my American bulldog when the bar was done being built:

Mark & Bronx - 2018 - Pour Decisions Bar.

Mark with the side frame of the bar:

Mark standing next to part of the bar's frame.

The famous FREE, behind the bar chair (where I sit most of the time) that I was so embarrassed to pick up from a neighbors driveway on garbage day. I'm NOT a garbage picker (not that I have a problem with it) but I just don't like being scene doing these acts ... again thanks to my buddy Mark for inspiring and encouraging me to do it :)