Creative home bar ideas

© Matt Gamble

Calling all dedicated hosts: elevate your next party and create your dream home bar. Whether you’re mixing virgin mojitos on a Sunday afternoon or inviting over friends for a big milestone birthday, if you’re someone who loves entertaining people at home, a bar could be a fabulous addition to your home. Here are some tips for creating yours.

Choose atmospheric lighting and kitchen islands

When it comes to a home bar, atmosphere is everything. Curating your kitchen lighting is one vital way of transforming your space from a practical family kitchen into a superb hosting space. The combination of a kitchen island and pendant lighting highlighting the centre space is a particularly stylish way of creating ambience. Check out the unique and varied designs available from Pooky to find one that suits your personal style perfectly.

In addition to this, partnering aesthetic pendant light shades with underlighting can boost the amount of light to ensure you can safely see what you’re doing – particularly important if you’re shaking up something a little complex.

There are numerous different layouts that could totally transform the sociability of your kitchen but kitchen islands reign supreme. They’re the option most akin to sitting at a swanky bar in Soho while you get an exclusive glimpse directly into the kitchen.

Garden room

If you have ample space for a garden room, it could be the perfect place to build your very own home bar. As long as it’s well insulated and ventilated it’ll make a fantastic all-weather option for celebratory moments. Garden rooms are a construction, away from the main part of your property that’s completely functional. Made correctly, it’ll have electricity and heating so you can accommodate a fridge and freezer to ensure that your drinks are always crisp, refreshing and impressive for guests.

Take cover in colder months while still being able to enjoy a great green view or open up your garden room during spring and summer and utilise the space of your whole garden.

For a guide to building a garden room on your property, read this article.

Upcycled serving tray

Upcycling is having more than a moment – its environmental friendliness and satisfying money-saving nature make it a superb option for breathing new life into existing items in your home. For a portable option that can transform any space, why not revamp an old serving tray (they used to be referred to as ‘butlers trays’ and would have been on wheels) into your very own home bar.

If you’re upcycling a wooden butler’s tray, you’ll want to sand away the top layer to smooth out any dents or scratches before either repainting or varnishing. For a more detailed guide, and some more creative approaches to upcycling yours, check out this guide by Lia Griffith.

It’s all in the details

Take your home bar to the next level with a spread of delicious food and drink. Wow guests with snacks made from unique and artisan ingredients. If you live in the capital and you’re running low on time to curate your ultimate platter, check out Grape & Fig’s creative table arrangements. From cured meats and cheeses to birthday-themed spreads, they’re a one-stop-shop for all your party needs and an unmissable source of inspiration should you wish to attempt crafting your own.

Grape & Fig's Toria outlines her top tips for seamless entertaining:

1) If you’d like to create some height, depth & intrigue, place some platters on some stacking equipment as well as placing some directly on the counter space.

2)Display your accompaniments, such as crackers and chutney in beautiful dishes, alongside some tongs and serving utensils.

3) Add some floral or foliage arrangements try to make sure the display compliments the colours in the platters.

4) Wait for your guests to arrive and enjoy!

If you’re considering building a home bar but you’re not sure where to begin, book a free advice call with one of our consultants.