A Checklist For Getting Your Home Bar Cabinet Design Right
Bar cabinets for your home not only provide essential storage solutions but also add an element of style and class. Your bar cabinet can be used to display your collection of spirits and glassware, bar tools, utensils and appliances, curios and knick-knacks, coveted memorabilia and even your favourite books and flowers. Bar cabinets also offer versatility in the sense that you can conceptualise them as pieces of standalone furniture or portable stations or built as a fixed element into a section of your home.
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Whichever option you go with, a few basics remain constant across all types of bar cabinets (i.e. if you want to ensure that it fulfills its purpose optimally). Your dream bar cabinet can be just that: provided you pay attention to these details.
Keep It Simple
If your glasses and spirits are visible through the cabinet shutters, or if you’re placing them on a flat surface immediately outside the cabinet, using an ornamental tray works marvellously in adding a design touch. A chic silver tray or an heirloom, embellished brass tray infuse so much personality and charm into your bar cabinet without even trying. Space out your liqueurs and crystalware on the trays, along with a delicate curio, LED tea-lights or a few fresh flowers, especially in the run-up to the festive season or a house party with friends.
Use Art As The Backdrop
A framed poster, vintage print, photograph or artwork elevates your bar cabinet when used as a backdrop. It serves another purpose in that it demarcates the area where your bar cabinet is positioned, as a separate area of your living space. Here, your guests can gather around to admire the artwork even as they sip on the drinks that you’ve prepared for them, all while marvelling at your good taste of course! You needn’t even take the “art” in this cue literally: think of an intriguing backsplash design or the use of an accent wallpaper, and how they would frame your bar cabinet.
Make A Statement
Even the dullest or most staid of bar cabinets can be made better with the introduction of a pop of colour. Inlay a floral pattern or neon-hued veneer for the inside of your bar cabinet. Alternatively, leave the cabinet untouched and position a high-back chair or vibrantly patterned lounge just before the bar area. That lovely old silk zari sari that unfortunately now has a rip or two in the fabric? Artfully drape it over the cabinet so it introduces colour and style into the scheme of things.
Find Innovative Uses For Bar Essentials
That custom coaster set you’ve been gifted by your bestie? Put it on display! The pair of ornate bar spoons you picked up on your last vacay? Put it on display! The dainty bottle of liqueur your partner presented to you? Yep, put it on display too. Don’t be afraid to let the beauty of your bar cabinet’s contents shine through. Let garnish bowls double up as décor. Who says they can’t!
Don’t Overlook The Essentials
It’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees, or do we mean the opposite in this instance? Anyway, the point is that you don’t want to focus so much on the aesthetics of your bar cabinet that you overlook its functionality. Ensure your bar cabinet has all the essentials recommended for home bars, be it in terms of equipment, spirits or glassware. Stock your supplies neatly and in a way that streamlines access. Put things back into their proper holders/drawers once done so finding them the next time is easy. Trim and water any plants or freshen any flower vases you may have positioned here. Ensure your bar cabinet is clean and dust-free.
And now that you’ve mastered the basics, go forth and set up your home bar cabinet in just the way that you like it!
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