Setting Up Your Own Retro Bar

Setting Up Your Own Retro Bar

Setting Up Your Own Retro Bar

Part One: Planning and Selecting the Right Bar

Your bottles of Macallan and Bombay Sapphire are crowding out the balsamic vinegar and olive oil in your pantry. You wish your modest collection of cocktail shakers could be shown off instead of being shoved in the closet, and you find that your good chrome bottle openers and stir sticks are being misplaced or wrecked in the cutlery drawer.

My friend, it's time to fix yourself up a proper bar.

Getting Started

As with anything in your home, good advance planning is a must. Start by thinking about how you want your bar to fit into your lifestyle.

  • Do you have spare floor space in a room you use for entertaining, or are you space-constrained?
  • Do you want your bar to be a decorative focal point of the entertainment area, or do you want it tucked neatly away behind a door?
  • If you've picked a location, will party traffic be able to flow around it easily?
  • Do you have an interesting collection of bar accessories you wish to display?
  • Do you want an elegant and tasteful bar, a kitschy one, or an eclectic combination?

Once you've decided these things and have an idea about where you might like to locate the bar, then the next step is to start putting it all together.

Ideas for Simple Built-in Bars

Contrary to what most of the decor-related magazines would have us think, we don't all live in the Hamptons with several thousand extra square feet (or several thousand extra dollars) to spare. But even you have a 350 square foot studio apartment, you can still build or buy the perfect bar using a little imagination and not a lot of money.

If you have a jog in one wall, you can build a small alcove bar into the space. Counter height should be 35 inches from the floor, and the space between the lower and upper cabinet should be 18 inches. Finish the counter top with any materials you like, from Raymond Loewy boomerang or slate look formica, a simple gray or black composite resin surface, to ceramic or stone tiles.


Raymond Loewy Boomerang Pattern and Slate Look Formica

Make the cabinet counter 25 inches deep and the upper cabinet 13 inches deep. Or leave out the upper cabinet altogether and install a mirror and shelves. If you're lucky enough to have plumbing connections nearby, a sink and small refrigerator can also be installed in the cabinet.

 


Alcove Bar


Closet Bar

A bump-out closet makes a neat and convenient bar in a very limited space. This idea also works great when converting a freestanding armoire. You may need to modify the armoire door if it's too narrow, gut armoires are perfect for home bars. Some even have shelves already built into them. You can usually find the best selection of armoires at moderately priced antiques auctions. Keep your eyes open; you'll know when you find the perfect one.


Armoire Bar

Buying a Ready-made Bar

If you have a basement, covered patio, recreation room or loft, and you do a lot of entertaining, you should consider purchasing a freestanding bar and barstools.


Freestanding Bar

Where do you find that perfect freestanding vintage bar? As you might imagine, the cocktail craze has made vintage bars hot stuff, especially deco models and funky fifties designs. You can find everything from homemade padded naugahyde numbers to sleek solid woods, to bamboo or rattan. One personal favorite is a boat bar, which resembles the prow of a sailboat, complete with portholes.


Boat Bar

Smaller bars are often available at antique shops and specialty stores that carry furniture from the deco to fifties periods. The bars you find in shops are usually in good condition, so expect to pay premium prices. Antique shows are another good bet, and selection is much better to find a wide selection of elegant as well as novelty bars.


Smaller Bars

Barstools

Purists may cringe, but in most cases we recommend buying reproduction barstools. Rarely will you find that perfect set of corrosion-free, mint-condition vintage barstools in the right color, right style, right quantity and right price range. If you do, then go for it, because you've just gotten incredibly lucky. Very nice reproduction barstools are available in styles ranging from streamline moderne, to bamboo to fifties diner, and rattan, and in all price ranges.


Streamline Moderne Bar Stools


Bamboo Bar Stools


Fifties Diner and Rattan Bar Stools

Doing it up big time

If you actually have tons of space available and you want to install a serious bar for serious entertaining, commercial vintage bars can be found for sale at auctions and certain specialty antique shops, such as those who deal in architectural salvage. However, moving and retrofitting a vintage bar can be tricky and costly, so often a homeowner chooses to have a bar custom designed and built to look vintage, or has vintage accessories or details added after the fact. If you're going this route, look for design ideas in period reference books, and in classic movies. The RKO sets from the thirties were especially nice. (grab a screenshot of a sleek bar from a Fred Astaire YouTube video...isn't technology wonderful?) Compile a folder of ideas and have some specifics in mind before meeting with an interior designer.


Art Deco Bar from Architectural Salvage