For a less permanent solution, a drinks cabinet can fit neatly into an alcove or the corner of a room, and can look inconspicuously like any other cabinet when not in use – a good choice for those who don’t wish to have their alcohol on view 24/7. The designer Bethan Gray (bethangray.com) recently launched a new bar cabinet in response to demand from customers, with the aim “to bring as much glamour into the home as possible”. Hers is as beautiful on the outside as on the inside, with handmade marquetry facades, and an impeccably arranged interior with sections for bottles and glasses, little drawers for barware and a marble shelf for mixing drinks. “It’s practical, but also makes a design statement in its own right,” she says.
At a starting price of £13,900, it’s the luxury choice, but bar cabinets are increasingly becoming an element of homeware collections elsewhere, too. Look for those with a decorative exterior and a well-designed interior, or, as Lucy Barlow suggests, find a vintage one and paint it in a bold colour.
Style up a table or trolley
“I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with home bars,” says interior designer Christian Bense (christianbense.com). “A dedicated, built-in bar area in a home can feel like it doesn’t work with the rest of the scheme, particularly when it’s sharing space with other activities (ie in a TV room or snug). However, I do find myself leaning more and more towards the idea of a curated, and slightly less formal, drinks console.”
Such is the case in his own home, where he has used a free-standing table and decor to create a drinks area. “I think it paints a slightly different image than a dedicated bar; a little more grown-up,” he says. “It’s matched exactly on the other side of the door, with the same console table, albeit styled with a lamp and some objets. Together they read as a considered design, rather than a forced must-have.”
For a portable option, the cocktail trolley, one of the most in-demand pieces of furniture for some time, is widely available in a range of materials from brass to garden-ready rattan, and can double as a standard side table when not in use for drinks. Eleanora Cunietti turned a bathroom unit into a makeshift cocktail trolley during lockdown, and is still using it.
The beauty of this approach is that a table or trolley can easily be moved to wherever the party is, and dismantled at the end of the evening – or left in situ, as a reminder that Friday night is never too far away.
Designer tips for the perfect home bar
Go all out with decor
A self-contained bar or drinks nook is the perfect place to be bold and deploy colours and patterns that you wouldn’t necessarily want everywhere. “You can have lots of fun with a home bar and create something really playful, sumptuous and showstopping,” says Lucy Barlow. The deep-blue, gloss-painted ceiling in Octavia Dickinson’s bar, for example, might be a little overpowering in a larger room, but is perfect for making an impact in a self-contained bar like hers
