Although my drawing isn't perfect you can see what I've done here well enough to create your own plans for the bar.

My kitchen for all that its serviceable is also very small and has room for minimal extra furniture after the basics.
There was, however one vacant area, beneath a sunny window and I wanted a breakfast bar.
Being a middle aged kid, who was raised with the “eat in kitchen” thing happening, where we all shared discussion and arguments over breakfast, I wanted at least some means to eat in the kitchen as opposed to the adjacent dining room and I wanted some room to store a few extras..
But I also wanted something more.. I wanted a bit more fridge space.. My refrigerator sits in a pantry separate from my kitchen, but thats not always convenient and I thought.. Hey.. heres what I can do..
So heres what happened in my kitchen this winter.
I got my breakfast bar, and then.. had a couple brainstorms and took it back apart.. and started again.

Materials List.
*6 foot section of counter, with a splash, standard width of about 2.5 feet.
*One cabinet, purchased from a yard sale, with the lazy susan inside.
4 1 by 2’s about 6 feet long
one mini refrigerator
assorted drywall screws ( yeah I know.. not what you’re “supposed” to use.. but effective, easy and inexpensive.
8 L shaped brackets about 2 inches on each side of the L shape
Two bar stools, lower type, about 26 inches.

I built a frame over the small fridge, raising it up,from the floor about two inches, and also leaving about a six inch space between countertop and the top of the fridge. Also making sure that I had room with the countertop to open the door, and that it was level with the cabinet to assure the countertop laid level. I secured the frame to the fridge on two sides and extended the frame to take in the cabinet.

Mine is set against a wall on the back side, under a large window so that the natural light pours in.
I also hung apendant lamp over one end of it.
I ran power to it bu attaching to an existing electrical outlet.
I secured the frame to the floor using the L shaped brackets on the inside of course
and secured the countertop to the frame on top in the same fashion.

You can, using your imagination, make yours far better than mine..It takes no time at all.. an afternoons entertainment, its fun, its easy and it looks wondeful.
It gives me the added counter space, additional refrigerator room thats convenient in the room I’m cooking in and it gives me a place to take snacks or small meals.

The total cost for it?
79 pounds for the mini fridge
15 pounds each for the stools
15 pounds for the cabinet
25 pounds for granite remnant countertop.
25 pounds for wood and hardware.
Total cost for a lovely addition to my kitchen, about
150 pounds.
Try buying a breakfast bar with a built in fridge for 150 pounds>
Not going to happen.
Get creative.. Explore the possibilities and then just do it.

The technique of ragging paint off or ragging on, isn’t at all difficult to do and creates a rather, broken color effect that works well for creating country style decorating, old world decorating and has made some of my French country rooms just stand up and out..

The overall effect you get from ragging paint

To Rag you are going to use a thinner paint or a glaze, on top of a base coat of pain, then, using paper towels or sometimes plastic trash bags to get a different texture, your going to rag some of the paint back off the wall while its all still wet, which will give you thath textured, dual tone effect that works so well in living rooms and dining areas.

If you change the pressure that you use when you are ragging paint off or on, and how hard you press on the paper towels, you’re also going to make small variations in the patterns that appear when the paint is applied or removed.

Step one involves the brushwork

Two different colors of blue, as you see here, when raggged over top of a white base will create a cool feeling, like a cloudy september day.

Half the fun in doing something like this is experimenting to begin with.
I take a couple sheets of poster board, draw in room walls about a foot by a foot, and then paint them, and rag them off or on to test what the overall effect is going to be using samples of the paint which most companies will give you, or you can purchase for about a half pound cost.

You do want to make sure that you use alkyd paints, because they are far more translucent than the latex, being more dense and sometimes too rapid in the dry time.

The second step is the paper towel, the actual ragging off of the paint

Here’s what you’re going to need to Rag your walls.

Alkyd or latex primer
Low lustre enamel paint for the ragging
Low lustre paint for the base
2 3 inch paint brushes
4 or 5 rolls of paper towels
1 gallon odorless mineral spirits
2 large containers for paint mixing
Plastic sheeting
Masking tape.

DIRECTIONS:
make sure that you plastic your floors as the thinner paint tends to sprinkle more readily.
Mask off the woodwork and keep the area well ventilated.

Cover your wall with one coat or the base color and let it dry, then do a second coat if necessary.
Using a separate container, dilute the ragging colors with mineral spirits,(or with water if its latex) mixing well until it is something along the lines of heavy cream. consistency

Work in a 3 ft x3 ft area and I think you will get better results.. Start at the top and put on your ragging colors with brushes, alternating and overlapping the colors that you selected.
Use short strokes and do it randomly. don’t worry if it looks messy.. I was aghast when I first saw it but thats the way its going to look.l .Cross my heart it won’t stay like that,.
Working faster now, while the paint is wet, wad up your paper towels and press into the paint, so that you make the base color show through it.

REWAD your paper towels very frequently because the paint will start to build up on them and make them not work so well.. when they are completely wet with paint, toss them and start again..Honestly the sections you finish are going to look fairly consistent..

Repeat the steps until all the walls are completed.
Tips:
Bribe a friend to help you.. it will go faster and you won’t have to worry so much about the paint drying before you rag it off.

Want something a bit less simple? this is called the Ultimate computer chair

Now, sit down in a few chairs. Do your feet rest flat on the floor? If not, the chair is the wrong size. How comfortable is the seat in depth and width? Bear in mind that how you feel now and how you might feel in a few hours can be dramatically different. You need to be able to sit easily with your back against the rest, and the chair should allow for some forward/backward tilt adjustment. While you’re sitting also check out the materials. Is the fabric easily cleaned? Does it have a sturdy weave that also feels comfortable to your skin? Is there enough padding on the chair? And what about those arm rests – do you arms rest comfortably on them when your shoulders are completely relaxed? If not they’re not set properly for you. Now stand up – what size is that backrest? If it’s not at least 12” wide, it’s not going to be comfortable for long term seating.

A bit more traditional office and computer chair

Once you’ve found several chairs with all the right requirements for healthy sitting, you can then judge the style and price that’s right for your home office. Good shopping!

There are so many which have been reputed to make problems with our health, and several other things. Whats the best thing to get and why?

Cordless phones offer so many styles that you can get anything you want to match your decor

Well first does the phone system have one base or several. The multi-base units are great for households with teenagers. Additionally if you can’t find one phone where you are, there’s always another elsewhere that you can reach! Or, if you don’t want several bases how about a headset so you have two free hands the whole time you’re talking, or maybe a speakerphone function?

Most cordless phones include volume control, redial, and fast dial. Many also have built in answering machines. No matter what, however, digital technology is the way to go as it decreases interference and improves overall security on the line. Working in conjunction with your telephone company these types of phones are set up to accept caller ID, if you need it

A basic cordless phone with answering machine

Some nice features to get if you can include a lit dial pad so you can easily see numbers in the dark, a hand set locator for when the phone disappears into a couch or chair, a back up battery function so it will still work during a power outage, the ability to switch between “land lines” and “internet” (also called VOIP) and date/time stamps to help track calls for business purposes.

Finally, before you leave the store make sure you can return the phone if for some reason it doesn’t work in your area. Some homes have interferences that cannot be helped that also impede effective phone reception. In this case you’ll want to be able to get your money back.

A simple outdoor stove

An outdoor stove, given the right stove, can be portable, able to be moved about at will, or placed in one spot and left there, to be used as a permanent heater for a gathering place for your company or family while the outdoor fireplace offers an unparalleled elegance to where ever you place it and will permit you to use your patio or seating area far into cool weather, if not winter time itself..

An elegant outdoor fireplace in the seating area

Open air heaters permit the fire to be seen from all sides, yet screen the sparks from flying about to cause damage or injury, and allow for warmth on even the coldest nights.

We installed a patio stove last fall, on a porch that was covered, but not completely enclosed, because, as many find themselves doing, we were rather stuck with the doldrums of not being able to get out and spend time outdoors in the wintertime. Using your patio in the wintertime isn’t always a thing thats comfortable, given snow or rain, and we wanted to be able to sit outside, to be comfortable and not get wet. With the small outside stove installed, it was far more comfortable to sit outdoors, to watch the snow, breath in the crisp clean air, the porch roof prevents our getting wet and the heat kept us all fairly warm.. so we found that we could use our porch even in early winter.

As you might imagine, this one is more costly but certainly worth it in terms of atmosphere

Nothing is more fun than being able to be outdoors with a blazing fire, and seeing snowflakes falling down around us while we cook out in mid winter., reminscent of a skating or skiing trip, you can spend your time around the fire.

An outdoor stove or outdoor fireplace  can be placed not only on a patio, but also in a select spot in the garden as well. It can be used to make wintertime seem like summer, to draw the family out of doors on cooler, yet still reasonable evenings, to share some time together.

It can also be used to promote atmosphere, with the various styles available that will go with nearly any patio or garden decorating style. Most garden or patio stoves provide that the flames are viewable from all sides.

If you’re in love with your patio, but don’t use it as often as you’d like because of the drop in temperatures that the seasons offer, try installing an outside stove and see if it doesn’t help to keep you outside a bit longer in the year.

When I began designing smaller gardens, the questions I asked were met with, “well color is of course most important” and ” the most important element is size” and “Whats best is to take into account making the garden bloom in all seasons”, “well shape means everything”. I’m sure you get the idea..

Every element of a garden is important

It’s utterly and abjectly confusing to be bombarded with conflicting advice and conflicting ideas when you are new to the craft and already confused.

The truth is that all of those things are important and there is no.. single.. element that will make your garden delight all of your senses.

An herb garden needs to be designed not only to offer the best light for the herbs, and for assuring that you get maximum yield, but also to put them into some kind of shape and style  where you have ready access to get the herbs cut for use without stamping on the rest, as well as for scent, color and in some cases, to deter natural pests in a natural way.

Flowers on the other hand, have several  color  and design styles that can be put into play, depending on what you want from your garden.

You can use a  one of several color schemes, such as:

Monochromatic colors, meaning taking one color and using it to make the entire garden, using several shades or tints of that color, or moving through them progressively, making the whole garden seem to flow in the vision.

An example of a monochromatic color scheme

Analogous colors,  which means, moving through two or three colors that are close to each other on the color wheel, such as orange, red and yellow. This works well in that the transition from one color to the next is usually an easy one, that looks pleasing to the eye.

 Complementary colors, on the other hand,are just what they say.. Complementary. This style of decorating and design, uses two colors that are directly opposite, or diametrically opposed on the wheel, such as red and green or yellow and purple.  It contrasts well and is quite striking when done but it can also, if over done, or the contrast is too great, create nothing short of a cacaphony of color that isn’t pleasant to view.

An Example of complementary color schemes in gardening

The bottom line is, that in gardening, all of the elements of design, shape, textures, colors  are important, as well as assuring that you’ve got something planted that will keep your garden blooming all year, such as in a circular garden, plant some  spring bulbs in the front, surrounded by perennials in the center and perhaps fall blooming flowers toward the back of the garden.

Be guided by fashion, and design, but don’t be a slave to it.

If you love violets and lady slippers, then grow them..   at the end of the day,  although you want your garden to look nice, you are the one who needs to be pleased with the flowers, the design and the planting of it.

Do what feels right to you.

While they are typically seen as being somewhat delicate and very difficult and demanding to grow, the truth is that in many cases they aren’t, but are a hardy addition to your garden if you add the right variety for your particular environment and climate.

The showy lady slipper will be hardy in many areas

Most orchids do require a more warm, moist environment, so growing them in pots, where they will be able to be moved may be your best bet if you live in a climate that is subject to striking changes in both heat and moisture, however they are still able to be grown to fit into any landscape.

An orchid requires about 12 hours of light each day, as well as protection from the direct sunlight and its frying heat, but it also requires some decent air circulation, so select a spot where you are able to provide it with those things, and with a reasonable amount of care, you’re going to be successful in your efforts.
There are many orchids, some occuring naturally in even North America that are hardyenoug tobe grown outside, whose roots will winter over and return the next spring.
One of these is the showy lady slipper.

You want to plant terrestial orchics in a climate or environment that mimics their natural one, such as outside, under a tree or in a woodland area, while if you grown them inside, a terrarium might be the perfect solution for them, in that it will mimic the forests environment with the right conditions for the orchid to flourish.

As seen on wikipedia, some of the many types or orchids that exist

Orchids that you choose for potting require some special soil which might include the bark of fir trees, moss, tree ferns, perlite and some charcoal.
use a plastic pot, so that it will hold the moisture better, since clay pots permit them todry out too rapidly.

potting may include fir bark, moss, tree fern, perlite and charcoal.
Use plastic pots that have drainage holes in the bottom, as clay pots will permit the plant to dry out too rapidly.
For the best blooms, you will want to fertilize with orchid specific fertilizer about every three weeks.

Orchids love humidity, so mist them each morning very lightly.
If you use some care and common sense, you’re going to find that orchids, far from being impossible to grow, are actually quite easy and hardy.

The great news is that with all the new ones on the market, there are actually a ton of them that you can choose from, up to and including building your own, however,  if you aren’t the handy type, lack time, or even lack ambition, there are literally hundreds of styles and materials on the market in wood firepits for your yard or garden.

Fire pit styles are available that will go with any theme

A wood fire pit is nothing if not a necessity for the back yard.  Nothing says outside and summer like the smell of the wood fire and the flickering of the flames as the kids roast marshmallows, or the hot dogs roast.

For safetys sake, no matter where you live, having an outdoor fire is so much more sensible when you have it enclosed in a contained space.

While you can make your own firepit, simply by excavating a hole in the ground and ringing it with stones or building it up to the level you want it and adding a fireproof bowl in which to burn your logs, you may also find one of hundreds of styles that sit above ground to be appealing to you as well.

I personally fell in love with the brass and iron ones, since they are reminscent of the old medieval styles that appeal to me so much.

This firepit seems to have a medieval ambience

The ready made fire pits feature a vast array of attrractive styles and materials and much as you consider your style when decorating the indoors, you will want to do the same when selecting  a fire pit for the outdoors as well.

The styles range anywhere from decorative, medieval, old Roman looking, rustic, traditional or even contemporary.

The best material to get for a premade fire pit at the moment is stainless steel, given its resistance to rust, and its hardiness when faced with hard use and the elements that can present themselves to it in the outside world.

Another choice for your consideration is copper which is my personal favorite.

Like any other accessory that you will purchase for your home, don’t buy the firest one you come to, but shop around. A firepit, when it comes to enjoying your back yard, particulary in the evening time, is more of a neccesity than an accessory.

IF you don’t own one, chances are that before long, you’re going to find yourself thinking its time to go check them out.

Fireplaces don’t provide only heat, but also a certain atmosphere to your home that simply can’t be compared or beaten by other heat sources.

The more realistic models will retail up to about 1300 GBP

The Fireplace, however has evolved, as today, with some remarkable new technologies, we see the onset of the electric fireplace, primarily due to the need for a heat source that can be quickly installed in your home and maintained with minimal effort, the electric fireplace has seen a huge surge in its popularity, and with good reason.
The electric fireplace can, with the new technologies out today, nearly exactly duplicate the look and feel of burning logs and flickering flames, without, in fact actually burning anything at all.

As you can see electric fireplaces come in many shapes and styles

The flame sounds are simulated as are the effects of it, while the heat is produced by visual effects meaning that the electric fireplace can go anywhere in your home, from a bedroom to a bath, where there is an outlet to plug it in.

Being extremely easy to install the electric fireplace beats the real thing hands down, costing just about 150 GBP for some of the newer middle of the road models, and the installation, including putting them together may take you less than an hour before you can begin to use it.

A bookcase with an electric fireplace insert installed

While it is a bit more costly than the wood burning variety to fuel with electric, it is also far cleaner, requires less maintenance and  is far more environmentally friendly as well as being markedly safer than the wood burning variety, particulary when home is a small apartment or a mobile home where it isn’t feasible to have the wood burning sort.

Electric fireplace kits come with easy-to-understand and easy-to-follow installation kits. Installing electric fireplace also requires only the basic tools such as screwdrivers, glass cleaners and etc

This set of microplane graters retails for about 50 GBP

In most professional line graters you get sharp openings, a variety of sizes to suite everything from nutmeg to cheese, and a good grip on the handle. This last feature is one of the most important. It gives you control and safety (more than one person has scraped knuckles when using a grater that lacks a grip). Pick up the graters and see how they feel in your hand in terms of weight, balance and grip similarly to how you pick a good knife.
While you’re at it – look to see of what the grater is made. Some graters come in aluminum, but stainless steel by far is the way to go. It cleans up like a breeze and endures a lot of kitchen abuse.

If you’re going a lot of grating, and find your hands weary of the manual style, you may want to consider the electric option. Electric graters make grating far less of a chore, and they also save time. Most electric versions also provide a continuity of size and texture that grating by hand cannot. While an electric grater will cost a little more, you’ll save that money at the supermarket when you buy whole cheese instead of pre-shredded, for example. Just take care in how big you buy. This is another appliance that wants to gobble up your counter space. Find a size that’s right for the kind of cooking you do regularly.

In the electric line you can sometimes find both cordless graters and rechargeable graters. The beauty of this feature is that you can move around your kitchen easily. However, if the power in the grater wanes, the quality will suffer and you won’t be able to grate hard cheese. So make sure you keep this type of grater fully charged with fresh batteries.