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68 Chic Home Bar Ideas to Channel Your Favorite Cocktail Lounge
The best martini in town is at your place.
A night out is great every now and then, but there’s something so sophisticated about making cocktails at your own home bar. Put a little thought into your setup, and you can entertain in a space that rivals even the coolest of clubs (and plays only songs you love to boot). You'll need more than a well-stocked liquor cabinet to make it happen, although that's essential. A great home bar has all the right tools, glassware, and mixers for every drink in your repertoire. Then there's the decor. Luckily, we have stylish home bar ideas and inspiration to help on that front, even for small spaces. You can elevate your cocktail game whether you're working with a butler's pantry, a bar cart, or just a section of your kitchen counter.
The best home bar ideas, like a great cocktail lounge or hotel lobby, can be sleek and modern or cozy and library-like. At home, it's up to you. Borrow their lighting, color palettes, and accessories to get the atmosphere just right. Mixologists may want a sink and an undercounter ice maker (or at least a chic ice bucket). Beer drinkers will love stocking a dedicated beverage fridge. Not a drinker? Set up a home bar to add some glamour to your daily coffee ritual. No matter what kind of refreshments you're in the mood for, these 68 home bar ideas will make you want to clink glasses. You might even start to cheat on your favorite bartender—you know, the one who always gets the gin-to-tonic ratio just right.
Keep it Simple
Streamlined and simple, this home bar sticks to its midcentury surroundings with a coordinating set of crystal decanters and glassware. A silver tray keeps everything contained and easily portable.
Buy Now Crystal Decanter
Use Art as a Backdrop
Casually leaning framed art defines the zone for this home bar and makes it look contained. For an added touch, coordinate your glassware with the art's colors.
Buy Now Framed Artwork
Make a Statement
Rather than continue this room's black-and-white scheme, these homeowners filled the area around their home bar with a bold variation. Ample storage ensures drink fixings are easy to find.
Buy Now Blue Paint
Stick to the Essentials
Whether you lack square footage or don't want to dedicate a whole area to a home bar, opt for a cocktail corner instead. Close proximity to the sink allows for easy cleaning after last call.
Buy Now Silver Tray
Go Full Glam
If you're able to, place your home bar in a whole separate room. A private speakeasy cocooned in grasscloth is made more glamorous with metallic accents and an oversize pendant light.
Buy Now Grasscloth Wallpaper
Add a Window
Experience the joy of a swim-up bar at home, even if you don't have a pool. Oversize windows allow the party to carry on inside and out. Guests can enjoy the summer weather with a cocktail while the family cook preps dinner—and no one misses the action.
Buy Now Metal Bar Stools
Bring a Bucket
If you prefer to prep in the kitchen, invest in a small ice bucket you can bring from room to room to freshen drinks. It'll save you a dozen runs back and forth to the freezer.
Buy Now Copper Bucket
Customize Storage Space
Studio Osklo made use of a windowless space in this L.A. home by turning it into a modern home bar. They carved out two corner nooks with built-in shelving, cabinets, and even a sink. The narrow console ensures a streamlined look while still providing extra room for taste tests and hangs.
BUY NOW Skinny Pub Table
Sneak in Personal Touches
In this Palm Beach bar designed by Phoebe Howard, swiveling vintage barstools have seats embroidered with a duck in a nest that the client's daughter designed, a nod to the home's longtime nickname ("The Duck's Nest").
BUY NOW Bamboo Bar Stool
Add a Mirror Backsplash
Tuck mini wine fridges into enclosed cabinets, then flank them around a central wine cubby for an aesthetically pleasing and functional display in a narrow nook. The smokey mirrored backsplash brings the right touch of formal style to this space designed by Mallory Kaye, too.
BUY NOW Beveled Antique Mirror Tiles
Get Creative With Doors
In a Texas home by Meredith McBrearty, homeowners and their guests can hang out in a swanky bar within the study, where a porthole door adds a nautical feel.
BUY NOW Vintage Porthole Window
Bring Drinks in on a Tray
No space for a full home bar? No problem. Transfer your liquor to pretty decanters and glass bottles and then put them, along with your glasses, on a serving tray (or even more exciting, a Lazy Susan!). Then place the tray on a console table, desk, or really any surface in the living room as a makeshift home bar. Designer Lathem Gordon set out some hors d'oeuvres right next to the bar display for good measure.
BUY NOW Resin Lazy Susan
Channel a Speakeasy
If you're bisecting one room into separate zones, create an actual dividing line with a counter (plus, it gives you a place to sit during tastings). Here, Reath Designs color blocked to separate the two "rooms" further, with the adjoining family room featuring a like green color and the moody bar area boasting a deeper shade of green as well as dark eggplant. The internal stained glass windows in the right corner were the jumping-off point.
BUY NOW Bar Stools
Use Your Garnishes as Decor!
Limes are a home bar essential, but aside from being a great cocktail ingredient, they also brighten up a space. In this tropical oasis designed by Kevin Isbell, the bowl of limes speaks to the real greenery as well as the floral curtains.
BUY NOW Citrus Reamer
Get Playful
Designed by Meredith McBrearty, this basement wine cellar is cozy and comfy—the perfect place for lounging and sipping. And where better to have a little fun than at the bar? The moveable sconces here are a playful touch; sometimes the hands will be arranged in a Texas Longhorn gesture or flipping the bird, depending on the day.
BUY NOW Mannequin Sconce
Employ Strategic Task Lighting
Tamsin Johnson Interiors embraces the cavernous nature of this small, windowless room by opting for moody materials and colors, from the black marble backsplash and khaki-toned paint. As a result, it feels mysterious and romantic—plus, the strategic task lighting makes it extra functional.
BUY NOW Wine Cooler
Customize to Your Space and Lifestyle
Stock your little bar nook for morning, noon, and night. Nestled right next to a casual built-in dining nook, this Reath Design home bar made the best of sloped ceilings with custom shelves for glassware, mugs, and booze, and then kept the remaining counters clear without skimping on storage by hanging a curtain to hide essentials tucked below the sink.
Buy Now Martini Glasses
Keep Records Nearby
Store your liquor and barware near your records to ensure a good time. In this rustic cabin designed by Leanne Ford Interiors, the retro bones of the space lend themselves well to a record display.
BUY NOW Records Rack
Match Glassware to Cabinets
This glossy home bar designed by Ashley Whitaker is the perfect blueprint for anyone with a glassware collection they'd proudly display. Here, the cobalt and lime glasses both speak to the deep marine cabinets.
BUY NOW Green Wine Glasses
Invest in Custom Millwork
Designed by Studio Shamshiri, this home bar is like a little speakeasy. The sliding doors open to a spacious serving bar. This way, you can keep it closed up and save space when you're not entertaining.
BUY NOW Champagne Bucket
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