I thought renovating my pub would be a Herculean task, but it was a lot easier than I thought. Once I started picking out counters, colors, the wall dcor and even the bar itself, everything just seemed to fall easily and naturally into place. Why, I can even say now that it was a rather enjoyable experience, similar perhaps to putting together a life-size jigsaw puzzle and seeing the big and beautiful picture materialize right before my eyes. The truth is, the only thing which wasn't easy to pick was the bar stools.

I've had my old bar stools for years and have grown pretty fond of them, You know, they're those sturdy steel mounted saddle bar stools, embedded in the concrete foundation, that you think you're never ever going to be able to take out. I hardly gave them a second thought, but once we got around to redesigning the bar, they became my biggest problem. They were comfortable, no doubt about that, with their padded leather bar stools which made you never want to get out of them, one reason I believe why my regulars would stay put until the wee hours of the night. Thing is, the seats of the bar stools were far gone and way beyond repair. What's even worse is, once we started to look around, we realized that they don't even make that style any more.

That's been a sort of a puzzle to me. I had the kind of bar stools that were mounted into the ground permanently, which is a good thing because they don't ever get knocked over or get thrown around during fights. But this being the case, you'd think that they'd make them modular, with seats that can be easily interchanged. Not so. We searched almost everywhere and called every bar stool manufacturer in the phone book but many of the seats we cam across just couldn't even be removed. I mean, what's the point of having bar stools that will last forever when their seats won't?

Ripping the bar stools out of the concrete was out of the question, because that would cost a fortune. Also, getting new and completely custom-made stools would have cost a pretty penny too. What I ended up doing was to hand re-upholster each of the stools myself. It was a terrible pain in the neck when I started out, and I was livid and grouchy, but once I realized the fun of getting to pick out, design, and build the bar stools myself, I quickly warmed up to the idea.

Now, my pub has re-opened, and everything looks just perfect. I just love seeing the faces of my regulars when they see my new-look pub for the first time. And the good thing is, business has never been better.