Private Quarters: Basement pub in Peachtree Corners

Home and Garden

Photos: A look at John and Katy Carbone's upscale basement English pub, March 2013.

Off and on, John Carbone worked on finishing his basement for about three years. The basement, finished in 2004, has a great room, full kitchen and bar that can easily seat 24 people. The exterior windows are from a former Houlihan's in Atlanta. The rosewood bar rails previously were bedrails that he milled to the needed size. The bar is trimmed out in brass. (Text by Lori Johnston for the AJC)

"Recently we had a party downstairs and some people had never seen the basement before. They said it took their breath away," Carbone says. (Text by Lori Johnston for the AJC)

The Carbone home's unusual features include a two-car garage on one side and a single garage on opposite side of house.

The living room has an 18-foot ceiling with two illuminated stained glass panels flanking the stone fireplace. The two niches were built to hold the stained glass pieces. A wood trim piece from the 1800s sits above the fireplace.

The antique light fixtures, doors, stained glass, original French advertising posters and a number of architectural items were among the items Carbone previously had in his shop. (Text by Lori Johnston for the AJC)

This bench, which is 12-feet long, came out of a railroad station. Carbone stripped the bench, stained it, added polyurethane and had the cushions reupholstered. (Text by Lori Johnston for the AJC)

Carbone asked the builder to put as big as a window as possible in the basement to maximize the light in the space. He did not put a TV in any of the rooms, to encourage conversation. (Text by Lori Johnston for the AJC)

Carbone shows his fascination with aviation in the decor, which includes a model of a 1930s plane hanging from the ceiling and airplane photography. (Text by Lori Johnston for the AJC)

The original plan was for six bedrooms, but one bedroom was converted to the library. One entire wall in the library has bookshelves from the floor to the 12-foot coffered ceiling. The ceiling has an illuminated 5-by-10-foot stained glass panel. The entrance to the library is via a pair of glass, bronze and mahogany antique doors that came out of a hotel in Manchester, England.

The basement also has a great room that over looks the bar and the back yard. The walls have birch wood paneling and mahogany trim.

In his basement office, John Carbone added a 5-by-5 interior window with a venetian blind. He placed a poster of the Caribbean behind the window and illuminated the poster. "I have the illusion when I'm sitting at my desk that I'm actually overlooking a Caribbean water scene," he says.

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Off and on, John Carbone worked on finishing his basement for about three years. The basement, finished in 2004, has a great room, full kitchen and bar that can easily seat 24 people. The exterior windows are from a former Houlihan's in Atlanta. The rosewood bar rails previously were bedrails that he milled to the needed size. The bar is trimmed out in brass. (Text by Lori Johnston for the AJC)

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