One of the best things about living in a loft is the open-floor living room. But it’s not a cakewalk trying to organize and design functional spaces within this sort of blank slate that a loft gives you.

For example, part of my living room exists under a staircase. What exactly are you supposed to do with that?

Build a bar.

So I took the opportunity to browse rooms on IKEA Share Space for inspiration.

I had already used IKEA’s BILLY shelving system to create a veritable library of books, movies and knickknacks against one wall, so going back to IKEA for the materials for my home bar was a natural choice. There are plenty of pre-made home bars available at stores and online, but a lot of them feel cheaply made and are extremely small for the $1,000-$4,000 price tags. A pre-made bar also is hard to customize and make “yours.” I also am not interested in a walnut, cherry, or oak finish, which is all colors that the modular bars seem to come in.

To start, a lot of measuring was needed. I only had so much depth to work with under the stairs before the bar would interfere with the walkway between the kitchen and the entryway. I used two AKURUM 39″ x 13″ horizontal kitchen cabinets with frosted glass doors up top, with two AKURUM 12″ x 30″ kitchen cabinets and a PERFEKT end wall unit to give me some additional shelves on the bottom. I covered that with a 97″ NUMERAR black countertop that was cut to fit the 12″ width.

That covers the rear. For the main bar, I took two simple AKURUM 24″ base cabinets and screwed them together with a 50″ NUMERAR countertop. Using CAPITA brackets I was then able to create a seating area, with a third piece of countertop, just above the “main bar.”

And that’s your basic bar. Lighting was a challenge, because I could not add new hard-wired wall light fixtures. I used six GRUNDTAL lights, mounted below each cabinet, to illuminate the space.

I had some more space on the right side of the area, above an air conditioning return. I obviously could not put shelves or a cabinet over the return, so I mounted another piece of NUMERAR to the wall using IKEA’s EKBY wall brackets. That gave me a perfect space for a wine refrigerator and some bottles. I also mounted four IKEA LACK shelves on the left side of the bar, where the staircase starts to slope. This was perfect for storing bottles or red wine.

Assembling the cabinets was surprising easy, especially after I had finished the first one. The key for me was to take my time, resist the urge to use power tools, and then double-check the graphical directions. I did require some home delivery for the entire order, as the countertops would not fit in my car, but the cabinets would have been easy to transport in their signature IKEA flat boxes.

I also purchased extra shelves for the base cabinets and the 30″ wall cabinets, for added storage ability.

I rounded out my living room with two IKEA “tree” houseplants, two LACK side tables and a LACK coffee table.

I had planned on putting the bar project off until next year, depressed at the prices online. Adding all this lively surface area to my loft is a real jump-starter for parties and holidays, and having a home bar, that’s twice the size of the more expensive “ready made” bars is a dream come true. After going to IKEA, seeing the prices (the grand total for my custom bar was $812.88), and learning what I could do, I was really motivated to get the project done.

My advice is to spend some time in the store, if you have one locally. There are a lot of products, and you should not let yourself get overwhelmed. Take your time, measure everything twice, and pick a design that suits you. Just make sure you have someone to give you a hand mounting cabinets to the wall. They get heavy, and that’s not the kind of thing you want to do twice if you mess it up.

Want to see more of the finished design? Take another look at my finished bar on IKEA Share Space at: theshare-space.com/Spaces/blastmagazine

Note: The artwork on the wall is a digital image created by concept artist Andrew Kim for the video game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. It is printed on canvas.

IKEA is sponsoring this article, but the designs and opinions are my own.

Photo: Arkangel/Flickr CC

DEDHAM — Pouring a good Guinness is a science and an art. Any buff of the brew knows that a good Guinness pour is as beautiful as tasty; a clean glass is key to display the decisive line that separates black and white and showcase the slight boast of sturdy foam over the top of the rim. Just like any pretty lady, looking good takes time; if you order your Guinness and it comes right up, you know it’s no good.

“It’s incomparable to any other beer,” says Joe Gillespie, bartender at the Penguin in Brigham Circle.

A Guinness enthusiast, Gillespie agreed to accompany me on a recent search the best Guinness pour on the South Shore

Our trip was a short one. The pints at our first stop — a high-end, crafty brew joint — were sad indeed.

But our second stop — a local watering hole, worn around the edges -– was so good, we stopped crawling.

The YardHouse in Dedham is home to a row of taps that stretches past the eye, serving up a myriad of imports and domestics.

Alongside the original expansion on Guinness, the “Black and Tan,” the YardHouse offers six cleverly named Guinness blends. The tastiest is the “Black Velvet,” a pint glass half filled with Wyder’s pear cider whose puckery taste pierces the half pint of Guinness atop, followed by “Black and Blue,” a blueberry concoction of Guinness & Sea Dog Bluepaw Wheat with real blueberries bobbing in a sea of foam. The flavors created are intricate and fun.

But the tasty Guinness mixes are no mask for a poor pour. After a taste of the creative concoctions we hailed the bartender for a pint of Guinness, the star of the show. Our drinks arrive not ten seconds later, barely time enough for the bartender to travel down the Goliath bar to the right tap.

We exchange disappointed shifts of the brow and examine the pour; settling before our eyes, sloppily dripping down the side of the pint glass and topped with brown tinged foam. After a hesitant first sip, our fears are confirmed.

A taste reminiscent of sour coffee sends us out the door and down the street to a small, cozy bar called Lewis’s.

Unfortunately, the man with the mean pour was on the other side of the bar enjoying a Bud Light, but our hopes were satisfied. Despite a slightly quick pour and no shamrock decor, the taste was impeccable. It was pretty, creamy, refreshing, clean and good for a second round.

As black and white as the beer itself, there are good and bad pours.

“It’s incredible” says Gillespie “like drinking a whole different beer”.

MIAMI — Sixteen years ago, a well-known Florida artist, Antonia Gerstacker, painted the black and red sign on a unique light-blue background that hangs outside Tobacco Road, the oldest bar in Miami. This grizzled bar first opened in 1912, the same year the Titanic sank and New Mexico and Arizona were admitted as states to the Union. Tobacco Road offers much to its many patrons: remarkable meals, a distinctive environment, almost a century of history, and, most important: nothing less than a good time.

Prohibition

The Congress of the United States passed the 18th amendment into law on January 16, 1920, a well-intentioned but ultimately ill-advised law that forbid the buying, selling and consuming of alcoholic beverages in this country.  The wise owners of Tobacco Road refused to let the law affect their business, and responded by redesigning the bar specially for this unfortunate period, one that lasted thirteen years before it was repealed. This unique joint has several concealed doors and ladders that would redirect workers to the hidden alcohol they would stock for their costumers.  Rumor has it that on the second floor of the building,  there was the best cabaret in town.  Amazingly, the public thought that this alcohol supplier was a bakery.

Food and drink

The food is incredibly cheap and appetizing, varying according to what day of the week it is:  Tuesdays there is the Maine Lobster special; Wednesdays, costumers fill up with ‘all you can’ eat BBQ-Ribs; and Thursdays the week ends with a 16 oz. T-bone steak that is to die for.  All of these specials come with a minimum of two drinks ensuring that the evening spent there is even more pleasant.  The bar also offers a big selection of beer, liquor and wine with fairly decent prices and generous servings.  A very special characteristic about the bar is that every Friday they have 98-cent beer and liquor for an hour celebrating Tobacco Road’s 98^th anniversary.

Location and style

Tobacco Road is located in between Brickell Avenue and downtown, a convenient location that brings an extended variety of characters to the bar at all times of the day.  During lunch or in the early afternoon a varied assortment of individuals there can be found there, from senior executive ‘suits’ to the up-and-coming junior executive urban achievers who, during brief breaks from their downtown jobs, choose to go to the local bar to enjoy a nice meal along with a refreshing and relaxing drink. When the night starts to kick in, so does the bohemian mix of  people who live near by and want to go to a familiar and friendly bar before starting the night. These types of people can also be found at closing hours for the last call.

In between lunch and cocktail hour, long time patrons, individuals who have been going to the bar for as long as they can remember, once again wander in, seeking the comfort of the stool and the bar. Tobacco Road is definitely a neighborhood bar, a spot to have a drink with friends, or be alone, to drown sorrows, or to celebrate a good deed.  The bartender, Johnny, always welcomes the regular costumers and the new ones equally, providing excellent service and a terrific sense of humor.   Each individual at the bar has his or her own story; some even called the unusual bar home.

For six days a week, there are live bands playing in the back, an outdoor terrace where a homeless man called John hangs out every single night just to enjoy the good music.  John dreams of one day becoming a singer, and the good fellows at Tobacco Road encourage him at every show, allowing him to freely sing to whoever wants to hear.  This irreplaceable detail gives the bar a gracious personality that inspires these inimitable characters to return and, as many have in the past, create a home out of these simple memories.

The Rock and Roll and Blues vibe of the place is legendary, an atmosphere that gels and molds with the characters that can be found in between those wooden walls, metal ladders, signed posters, and alcohol ads.  If those walls could talk, the most interesting anecdotes in Miami would surely come out of that hole in the wall called Tobacco Road.

The Rear Bar at The Kells ... ah, memories

Well, this sucks.

We know it’s had its share of trouble on the mean streets of Allston, but The Kells has a special place in the very large heart of Blast and its contributors from our holiday parties to our editor and intern meetings.

Now, according to The Boston Phoenix, The Kells in Allston is closing.

The Kells (161 Brighton Ave.) has been open for more than 17 years. It’s an Irish bar that had to adapt to a part of Boston that was becoming increasingly un-Irish. Hence, there’s an Asian-fusion menu now.

It has multiple function rooms that we gladly used all the time because they were free as long as you were buying something like food or drinks. According to its website, The Kells was ranked one of the top 100 bars in America by Playboy and was called “The Cadillac of Irish bars” by the Phoenix in the past, and we could see the remains of that even at our spring interns meeting a few weeks ago. The place is huge.

According to Boston Restaurant Talk, The Kells will be replaced by a Tavern on the Square franchise.

To this day, one of Blast’s most-read and commented on stories was our snap coverage of the news that Miller would release a 64 calorie beer.

Sunday, we learned that MGD 64 has exploded onto the bar scene nationwide, and it’s 64 calories are available in draft everywhere.

Of course, that’s taking MillerCoors at their word. Please leave us some comments if you see it — or don’t see it — at your local house of refreshment.

The drafting begins this week. MGD launched nationally in bottles and cans in August.

MGD 64 has only 2.4 grams of carbohydrates per serving.

It’s also 2.8 percent alcohol by volume.