This blog post is Part II of the series on your bar. The information takes you from decorating your bar to the actual bar itself, regardless of the size or type.
However, Its important to make the bar ... "look good".
Primero, Prima, Verst, Πρω'τα, ... First
Location - Before you start anywhere, by that I mean designing, making, buying or any other way of considering the kind of bar you want (see later in this article), first choose the location where you want to set up this bar, the living room, a foyer, wherever; forget about what kind it is yet, just where to put it. Without repeating myself, I can't over emphasize the necessity of you choosing a location first. There is no reason for you to go through the efforts as my compatriot, Dave did in designing a Colonial 17th century room unless you know that you have a space for it. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Choose the location!
The Portable Bar
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Bols of Amsterdam
Bols Bar Tool Bag |
If you have no bar and a limited income and your lifestyle is transient, this might be ideal for you. It can be packed away easily, doesn’t take up a lot of room, and you can take it to a party. Next time you travel out of town - if and when that ever happens again! – you can take it with you and impress your friends with your bar equipment and techniques.
House of Bols makes a rather enchanting portable bar for a nominal amount of money easily available in Europe, and of course worldwide. Otherwise, you might be able to find one on eBay United Kingdom or your own eBay in your country; gently used and quite stylish. https://bols.com/products
Serve - House of Bols Genever.
The Picnic Bar.
This is a reasonable, very inexpensive route to go should you have a larger gathering outside and wish to take a large plank of wood, perhaps a gently used and stylish-looking door. Top it off on some wine barrels. Likely easy to come by if you’re in Bordeaux ville. Or use some other platform. I have used some 2-foot-high logs, with a plank of about 5 feet on top of them. Convenient enough for a couple of wine bottles and some glasses, a bowl of ice and maybe a bottle of scotch.
Champagne and St. Germaine, I would offer.
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Wet Bar, Accentuated
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Essential for that stylish household with small rooms and small space. You just put this together for the party or the social gathering. It can be as simple as a couple shelves put together as a platform, permitting you to place bottles and glasses on it along with a bucket of ice with ice tongs. One might be able to use a small desk, or a small table would equally work and may be even more preferrable. The essential component of this is making it with some panache, not just a tabletop where you place a bunch of bottles and glassware. A bottle of Campari makes a very attractive addition.
Custom Built Bar.
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Blue Bar from Bulgaria.
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This is a dedicated bar. Depending upon your abilities, you might include a bar refrigerator below and then on top of that the built-in bar top as a work surface with some shelves and a mirror. Don’t forget to include how you might light the area, along with some color. This is an easy addition along the wall in a vacant hallway, or perhaps some unused space you have; you could also endeavor to build it into an existing wall, so it sets back into the space. Suggestion - Sazerac Rye Whiskey.
Portable, On Wheels. The Trolley.
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From Pasadena, California
and born in France |
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The Design Within Reach
Herman Miller "Moller Trolley" |
This is the classic bar cart. Been around since the turn of the century. Became very essential to the mid-50's modern era. I recently acquired one of these with a glass tabletop; it’s circular and opens to 180°. Inside is the essential for a few bottles, glasses and storage. The convenient thing about this is, depending upon where you are holding the party, you can maneuver the cart to that room or space. Also, it’s convenient as your gathering gains momentum to be able to withdraw the trolley from the room or bring it into another room for use. So, it’s very convenient, portable and equally as stylish. Design Within Reach, A Herman Miller Company has unique and creative bar carts. https://www.dwr.com
Suggestion - Calvados or Armagnac.
The BAR ROOM!
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The D-M Home Bar
Custom Designed and Constructed.
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This is the creme de la creme for a home bar. For this, I turned to a gentleman who had this created & built for his colonial era home in Virginia, United States. Custom built.Suggestion- Guinness Stout
A Plug for Entertaining -
I make a plug for entertaining. The social gathering. The cocktail party. I believe we’ve gotten lazy over time. Too reliant upon bars and restaurants. There was a time when we had cocktail parties at home, not just meet at a bar. Not that a bar is a bad place. But one in which somebody would host a cocktail party. No, you didn’t BYOB nor bring your own food. But with an associate or a friend or a family member we throw a gathering, go to the creation of an outstanding guest list, pull together an intimate gathering, just a few bottles of liquor and champagne. Some nice glassware. And some special, as “CD” would say ... crudités.
Splurge and throw a dinner party to follow. It’s not as difficult as you might think. Some pasta, a good tomato sauce. A salad to follow. Splurge on the dessert- perhaps from your favorite patisserie. Keep the wine simple but good. Bordeaux's are a bargain right now.
Drink : The Lemon Drop
3 cl Vodka Citron*
2 cl triple sec - Bols (21%) preferred
1.5 cl fresh lemon juice
Garnish - sugar rim the edge
as always, chill the cocktail glass with crushed ice; and chill that shaker.
use your Maison Rondeau.com strainer (sieve)
Music - Marcel Zanini song Un Scotch, Un Bourbon, Une Biere
Appetizer - Pretzels with Mustard
Acknowlegements (or my confession that I have cheated and plagiarized! Again.)
1. My guy Z.
2. Dave and Martha
3. My Muse - Sarah
4. Lumens on-line magazine, Lumens.com
5. Bols of Amsterdam - Gilles Bensabeur
6. Lorraine - my Interiors Muse
and last but not least, my life muse, my very-hard-to-get-along-with Blog Editor.
RESOURCES - please explore these sites; they offer more than it appears and are a resource--be choosy, don't purchase inferior "copied" items -
Design Within Reach, DWR.com bar trolley
London - Marks and Spence, and Great Britain Ebay
Germany - GALERIA
France - Galeries Lafayette
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