you can do decopage and coat in varnish or varythane (sp?). The real thick stuff they use I think is epoxy. But, google and see for sure, I'm guessing!

Here's an idea for a small bar in a corner that you could close off with beautiful draperies. The second photo shows a pretty bar cart which could hold the necessary items, and the third photo is of a simpler butler's tray.

I'd put in a tile backsplash. Stick with a solid color tile so your bottles won't get visually lost. Solid color doesn't have to be boring, look for interesting shapes or textures, and play around with different colors of grout to make a statement. The one in your picture looks very similar to the 2nd picture below.

The red brick wall as a backdrop sounds very interesting. You can get quirky posters of various liquor brands like Jack Daniels, Chivas etc in black and white and get it framed and put them on the wall. Also industrial look is very in so the bar top can be done using a copper sheet over a plywood top instead of traditional granite or marble. Also utilise any empty beer bottles or wine bottles to make a customised chandelier. For stools you could have wrought iron stools with leather seats matching the brick wall. A small wall shelf with a display of shot glasses will make the look more interesting. Hope this is helpful, it will be great if you can share pictures of the area to give some more inputs.