Gathering over a few drinks at a pub or bar to discuss thoughts and catch up on friends’ lives has long been an important part of community life. In Britain pubs have historically been integral as working-class social hangouts. However, Paul Jennings, author of The Neighborhood — A History of the English Pub, says that these spaces have actually been declining for more than a century. “motives include the ever widening array of alternative leisure pursuits, and the greater importance of the house as a place to spend some time in,” he told BBC History Magazine.
While I couldn’t agree more with Jennings about the importance of spending time with family, I’d venture to say that perhaps Jennings has forgotten how smart we ever-evolving humans can be. Pubs aren’t decreasing. We’re just bringing the concept home.
Current Concepts Home Automation
RMT Architects
The house bar has turned into one of the funniest bonus rooms in homes now. And while people alike are adapting and planning these spaces, it is common to find a masculine influence in their own designs. Rich wood, TVs, leather-backed seats, pool tables and cigar porches are popular features of this modern-day home bar.
Bespoke’s Art
Heather DeMoras
“It is the best man fantasy — have your bros, and some pretty girls too, sidle up and loosen up,” says Tina Skinner, a writer and writer who’s written over 100 lifestyle books, such as Entertainment Rooms: Home Theaters, Bars, and Game Rooms. “With the boom in square footage that drove the marketplace in the last 15 decades, there are a lot of homes with rooms to fill. Why not meet fantasies?”
Crisp Architects
This homeowner’s business takes him to London often. Every time he’s there, he stops off in his favorite bar. He loved the air so much that he re-created it in his New York country residence.
Crisp Architects
His wife had more control over the decoration in the main house, so he made this his personal endeavor. He reached out to architect Jimmy Crisp to help him realize his vision for developing a London-style bar in his basement.
There has been a very strong push to acquire an old feeling just right from the space. The contractor even dragged chains round the stained pine floor to add dents and marks.
Paint: Bittersweet Chocolate, Benjamin Moore
Crisp Architects
“He can have a celebration for 60 individuals and in the close of the night near to the door, and the house is still pristine,” Crisp says. “Everything is perfect except the bar.”
Crisp Architects
From the all-pine space using a custom bar top, the owner watches sports, plays pool, entertains a few buddies and has large parties.
“This is the man cave,” Crisp says. “The homeowner wouldn’t call it that, but that is exactly what it ends up being.”
Macaluso Designs
This is a legitimate man distance. The owner, a lifelong mentor in Las Vegas, had complete say in all that went to the space. Signed guitars, jerseys and other collectibles adorn the walls. There are multiple TVs for sports and even doors that lead out to a courtyard for cigar sessions.
Designer Michael Macaluso chose the deep wine-reddish wall colour to match the wood bar, which is alder with a medium stain, and the walnut flooring. He added an animal print and embossed leather too. “As a man designer, it was not difficult to come up with everything in this,” Macaluso states.
The designer claims when constructing a house bar, it is important to ascertain how much space you’ll actually need and use. “A pool table takes up a great deal of room,” he states. “So unless you’re planning to use it a lot, don’t get one. People need slot machines, baseball games, they then realize they have nowhere to sit.”
Macaluso estimates that a room in this way would cost approximately $100,000 for the makeup — furniture, custom cabinets, floors, comprehensive wood ceiling, custom cabinets, high TVs, sound system, wine rack.
Ike Kligerman Barkley
Bar stools: Mimi London
A retired professional baseball player transformed the two-bedroom casita on the land of his Arizona vacation home to this bar space for storing his sports collectibles.
The remaining portion of the house is done in a Venetian style, so he wanted something that was his speed. The African-chic aesthetic features bamboo walls and animal prints for a summery feel.
Knight Construction Design Inc..
The rest of this house is bright and white with pops of colour, so the owners of the space needed something darker and moodier. The husband revealed designer Kristen Peck a photograph of a bar and said, “I need the exact same feel.”
While the husband and wife agreed about the aesthetics, the husband’s preferences drove many of the selections, such as tin ceilings and knotty alder cabinetry. There is also a gas sink, a dishwasher, a microwave, and LED rope lighting, a TV and a pure quartzite flooring.
Bob Michels Construction, Inc..
Contractor Bob Michels turned a storage space above his house garage into a coveted pub with great views.
His wife had picked out the rugs and wall colours in the main house, but this space was his. The room has a pool table, in-floor heating and beautiful custom cabinets from Dura Supreme.
Princeton Design Collaborative
The designer of the New Jersey basement bar maximized a tight room, which makes room for essentials like a sink, a refrigerator and plenty of bottle storage. The ceiling is actually Fry Reglet acoustical wall panels (design B) that were fastened with stainless steel screws and trim washers.
Bar stools: Room & Board; wine rack: Wine Enthusiast
Build Cincinnati of Coldwell Banker
Lucy Call
After moving further away from downtown, where he couldn’t walk outside his door and into a bar, Ian Wade discovered that having a house bar space spurred social gatherings. He constructed this bar from old and plywood wood pallets.
Bob Michels Construction, Inc..
Peter Santrach and his wife collaborated on gutting their Minnesota basement and turning it in an amusement area. They wanted the darker look of Lyptus cabinets from Dura Supreme, and Santrach wished to integrate a Coke machine he’d had since college.
Santrach added a table for poker games along with a pool table, popcorn machine and oven. “It is definitely a man distance, but it is also a combination family room, too,” he states. “If it was my man space, it would be filled with a lot more beer mugs and maybe a trophy deer mind or ducks. Right now all I’ve got is a wooden duck.”
Santrach estimates that the bar area cost approximately $25,000 for parts, labor, counter, mirror, lighting, metal ceiling, installation, electrician, appliances and plumbing.
Michelle Fries, BeDe Design, LLC
This is a basement space in a lake cabin for a young family with four kids. The wife drove its own aesthetic. She wanted a more rustic vibe, with knotty barn wood provided and installed by local craftspeople. There is an electronic poker match on the bar top plus a fridge, popcorn maker, wine cellar and microwave.
Michelle Fries, BeDe Design, LLC
The baseboard is corrugated metal.
Michelle Fries, BeDe Design
A local metalworker designed the footrail.
Your turn: Display us your home bar!