Having a dedicated home bar offers a great place to treat yourself to a glass or two after a long day or week and keep your favourite spirits and non-alcohol liquids presently stored. And if you like to host parties or other social gatherings at your house, it is most likely a must-have.
There are many ways to set up your bar at home. And If you aren’t entirely satisfied with having a simple bar chart function as your bar area, you can pick up a few useful tips to create the perfect and fully fleshed-out home bar to make your guests truly envious.
Pick your bar theme
One of the most fun parts of building a home bar is finding out which theme you want to go for. Should it represent a classic English pub, an exotic beach bar or perhaps a cool Parisian wine bar? You can find inspiration from all over the world and from different architectural movements throughout history to help you create the perfect home bar area. You can also pick the easy route and design your home bar to fit the rest of the interior.
Furthermore, you should consider the choice of lighting for the home bar setup to truly nail the intended atmosphere, whether it is flashy neon lights or intimate light strings. In all cases, the best home bar is one that feels truly personal and inviting to both you and your guests.
Choose your household liquids
Every great bar has at least one signature drink. If you master a particular cocktail or mocktail, keep the bar stocked with your go-to spirits mixers and what else you might need. If you appreciate a great glass of rum or whiskies, you can store up a collection of Silver Seal rum and whiskies. If you’re instead creating your own little wine bar with your finest selection of wines, remember to have at least a couple of bottles stored. Some wines also get better with age, so you might also want to account for the possible option of serving other than only freshly stored wine.
Include comfortable seating for your guests
A bar is also a great place to hang out. Therefore, you should design your home bar around including seating arrangements for your guests. A couple of bar stools or lounging chairs ensures that your bar becomes an excellent entertainment area to relax and have a drink and a chat. The most important tip here is to not trivialise the importance of comfort furniture. Plus, remember to account for the theme you’re going for.
Gather your bar tools
You’ve got the spirits, mixers, syrups and garnishes sorted out. But what you also need is the necessary bar tools and glassware. Your home bar should include at least a cocktail shaker, strainers, spoons, jiggers, a muddler and an ice bucket. Plus, you most likely need a beer or a wine opener as well as something to decant the wine with.
Tailor your glassware to your drinks
Glassware adds a nice aesthetic touch to your home bar and can improve the experience. If cocktails like Martini, Moscow Mule or Pina Colada are your trademark, or you prefer a straight rum or whisky, you’ll surely want to have the intended glassware for it. The same goes for having the ideal wine and beer glasses for the kind of wine or beer you usually serve. Take the number of different glassware and how much space they all take up into consideration when you’re designing the home bar.
Remember proper storage and shelving options
If you want a fully-fleshed-out bar at home, you need to consider having enough space for storing your various bottles, glassware, bar tools and other essential bar items. You might need to account for how you can include a small refrigerator to store your cold drinks.
Do you want to also keep wine in the home bar? Make sure to store it correctly. Otherwise, you might risk spoiling a perfectly good bottle or – in the worst case – a rare vintage. As such, you need to make sure that it isn’t placed in direct sunlight and stored horizontally, preferably on a wine rack. Temperature and humidity are also both important factors to consider. Here, you can consider investing in a wine cooler as well to guarantee a proper storage temperature.
