Entertaining friends and family is one of the true joys of life. When we gather with those we care about, we are reminded of why we work through the bad parts of life. All of us need to feel connected to our fellow human beings in some way, which is why we always find joy in gathering together.
While there are many ways to host a gathering, and many places it can be done, one of the best things to have in your home is a well-stocked bar. Not only are home bars a great place to store your own beverages (both alcoholic, and non alcoholic), but they make a great place to host planned and impromptu gatherings. The home bar is more than just a place to store and serve beverages, when it is done right it can act as one of the centers of your social life.
Start With A Bar First
So what does every home bar need? To begin with it needs a bar. You can't have a home bar without a bar. There are many good looking and well designed bars out on the market, a quick search on the internet will reveal hundreds of different bars each one with its own style.When you are choosing a bar for your home, you want to keep some things in mind. First you want to consider the space the bar will take up when it is installed. Along with the space it will take up, you will want to think about how it will look with the rest of the design of the home.
For example if you have a lot of hand carved wood molding, a metal style bar will probably clash. You don't have to make the bar fit perfectly into the rest of the house décor, but it should look like it belongs there and not clash with the other furniture and decorations.
What Accessories Should You Have
Once you have selected your bar, your next step should be in deciding what else you want to add to your bar. Most prefab bars come with a counter, some shelving, and maybe a few bar stools which means that if you want anything else you are going to have to get it yourself.If your bar doesn't come with a mini fridge, seriously consider getting one because running back and forth from the bar to the kitchen can be a bit of a pain. Even if your bar came with bar stools give some thought to getting more. Bar stools can add a lot to a bar without a lot of work. As you consider what other appliances you want to add to your bar, make sure to think about things such as water supply, maybe a carbonated water dispenser, and possibly a sink.
All of these things and more will be incredibly useful in your home bar and should be given some weight in the design process.
The Decorations
Once you have your bar to the point that it seems ready to be used, the next step is decorating the whole thing. If you have the budget for it, invest in a flat screen television to put behind the bar so people can watch the big game or a favorite show together while you serve them up their favorite drinks. If a television is not your thing, give some thoughts to neon signs.There are a lot of neon signs available for about every taste out there. If you are a sports fan, it's pretty easy to find neon signs for your favorite teams, if you like music, again there are neon signs to serve this interest as well. If you want something a bit less gaudy than a television or neon signs, then look at simpler decorations such as heartwarming hand carved signs or a couple of stylish lamps.
How you decorate your bar will determine a lot about how other people feel when they are sitting at it.
Now It is the Liquor
So you have the bar, you have additions to the bar, and you have decorations, so what is the next step? Well at this point you probably want to decide what you are going to stock the bar with. While it is one thing to simply say “I want to stock the bar with a bit of everything” this isn't necessarily that easy.Even the biggest home bar only has so much space, so when it comes to stocking the bar you are probably going to have to make some sacrifices when it comes to what you stock. The very first thing you are going to put in your bar is of course what you prefer to drink.
While you probably are hoping your home bar will see lots of people, there will be many times when you will be the only person drinking at it, and you want to make sure you have your favorite beverages on hand. Once you have yourself taken care of, it's time to consider everyone else.
When it comes to other people, things can be a bit weird. While one of your friends may like scotch, they may only like a certain brand. Another of your friends may be happy with any vodka on the market except for a particular brand that they detest.
If you know your friends well and have drank with them often then stocking your bar shouldn't really be too much of a challenge. However, the problems with stocking a bar isn't really about the people you now well, it's about the people you don't know so well.
You never know when someone is going to stop by your home. Whether it is the in-laws coming over to have a chat or it is the new neighbor down the street, you will have guests that you don't know that well. While there is always an option to simply give them whatever you have, a good host tries to offer a choice to their guests and this is something you should be cognizant of.
A good idea when it comes to stocking a bar outside of your personal tastes and the preferences of your friends is to go with a wide selection of different alcohols that are all about mid-shelf in price point. By having a wide variety of beverages available you show other people that you are thoughtful, by keeping it all at mid-shelf in price you show that you are willing to give people the good stuff but are not showing off your money.
Are You Ready for A Bar?
Okay, so right now we have a bar, accessories for the bar, some decorations, and we got the booze. But we are not at all done because having the bar set up and stuff put in the bar is only the first part of all of this. Believe it or not the most single important part of what a home bar needs has absolutely nothing to do with the bar you pick or what you decorate it with. The single most important part of a home bar is you.Chances are pretty good that you had the idea of hosting a party or two in mind when you first decided to build a home bar. There is something inside all of us that enjoys the idea of being the life of the party and one of the best ways to make sure that happens is to invite friends over and serve them drinks. But tending bar is more than just the bar itself, it's more than fancy looking bar stools and a big television, tending bar is a skill that requires a bit of dedication and learning.
This does not mean you have to enroll in a bar tending school (though it is a worthwhile option) and it doesn't mean you have to learn thousands of jokes. Everyone has their own style when it comes to bartending and that is part of what makes a home bar so special.
The first thing every bartender needs to know is how to make drinks. While it is an easy thing to simply make a variety of alcohol available, if you really want to impress your friends, you want to be able to mix up some fancy drinks. While bartending school is a good option, what is probably better for most people with a home bar is going out and buy a few books with a variety of mixed drink recipes.
What you want to look for is a book that gives you easy to make but popular drinks and cocktails. If you know your friends well you probably know what they tend to order when drinking, but as stated earlier it's not your friends you are worried about, it's the people you don't now so well. Having a book with a wide variety of mixed drinks in it is going to be a very good thing to have.
Once you have your book of drink recipes, take some time to try a few of them out. Not only are you doing this to learn how to make those drinks, but you are also learning how things taste when mixed together. The reason you want to do this is because nothing can impress people faster than when you whip up a drink of your own design that tastes good.
Play around a bit with things, invite a friend over to help you do it. Just because you are learning something doesn't mean you can't have fun doing it. Don't expect yourself to learn everything all at once, most professional bartenders take years to master their craft so don't worry about being perfect, just get to a point that you know what you are doing.
Be A Good Host
Once you have figured out a few mixed drinks, the next step in becoming a good bartender is learning how to host company. You may think that hosting your friends over for a night at your home bar is no big deal, but once you stop and think about what alcohol does to people, you probably realize that hosting at your home bar could be a challenge.Even when it's just done at a home bar, bartending effectively requires more than a friendly smile and a good drink, it takes being aware of how other people can act once alcohol is involved. Some people become happy-go-lucky when they drink, others can become sullen and silent. Part of your job is to know how to recognize a problem before it starts and take steps to avoid it.
No one wants to be the bad guy, and most of the time you won't ever have to be, but you need to be ready to stop serving drinks if things could go bad. If it looks like someone might be getting angry, slow down the drinking somehow.
Offer people soda or coffee instead of alcohol after a certain point. Keep them mindful of the time and of the fact that you don't want people passing out at your home, but you don't want them driving home drunk either. Home bars are there for us to have a good time, but there are times when too much of a good thing can be a very bad thing.
Chances are that you won't ever have a problem when serving at your home bar but you never know so it helps to keep this in mind.
Now that you have yourself prepared we can add the final ingredient that every home bar needs and that is other people. You have worked hard to get your bar set up. You picked a bar and you installed it. You took a good look at your bar and added some accessories like a mini fridge.
After getting the bar installed and set up, you added some décor, then went out and bought a wide selection of beverages. You learned a few mixed drink recipes and you are mindful that sometimes people get stupid when they drink. Now it's time to bring all that work together with some friends and see what you can do.
About The Author:
James Ruben is a home improvement specialist who contributes to places like customkoozy.com and other home websites. He enjoys enteraining and has built his own home bar that he especially enjoys with his friends and family.
Image Credits:
nekidtroll
James Ruben
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