apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i have a similar utilitarian broom closet-ish area converted into a bar. not nearly as cool as this, though. mostly because it's got counter space and cabinetry to match the kitchen (which it adjoins), and it's a rental, etc.

but i would LOVE ideas on how to make it this cool... loving the 30's/40's manly smoking room aesthetic lately.

ooh, I want a bar now! not that I entertain guest very often... it may serve as temptation to just stay in and drink! Drinking alone watching tv... not good.

As for question posed by opoponax, (hello!) for some reason I thought of cutting squares of "manly" fabric-- herringbone or glenplaid in hunter green or something that you can paste/velcro/glue inbetween the shelves (to avoid painting). Not sure how that would look/work though...

My bar is a stainless steel credenza near the kitchen and dining table. Liquors and glasses go inside, shakers and pitchers rest up top with plenty of space to mix the drinks.

I love a good bar, and have something of an obsession with having the correct glassware for each drink.

Opo, I'd mirror the back and buy a slab of stone to use as the "bar". If it's in a closet I think you'd likely be able to get a small piece of marble or granit relatively cheaply. Most of the nice older bars I've seen use stone over wood.

Lately I've been wanting to get nice spirit decanters for my more commonly used beverages.

I've been using the Madison Wine Tower from Crate and Barrel since I received it as a birthday gift from my fiancee a few years back.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=911&f=18929&q=madison&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1

Its small size (18x18) makes it a good fit for a NY-sized apartment. Plenty of wine storage, but I rarely have more than six or so wine bottles at any one time and tend to refill as needed. However, it doesn't store as much liquor as I'd like. I tend to like a good variety of mixers with different types of rums and vodkas (not to mention some reasonably cheap whiskey...ah...Dewar's!) so that I can whip up a batch of drinks whenever the desire hits me.

As such, I prefer to store most of my liquor within easy reach...on my window ledge by my sitting bench with a couple of double old fashioned glasses. The nice stemware go into the kitchen cabinets. The light from the windows, all the different glass bottles...it all makes for a pleasant and relaxing living room that invites my guests to ask for a drink or make their own.

I used to store it on a beautiful lucite cart, but since I moved to my very small apartment, decided to save the floor space and just keep it in a kitchen cabinet. I've recently come to the decision that it still takes up too much valuable space, so I'm planning to just get rid of it through attrition, and to only keep the wine that I have in a hanging winerack.

My husband and I lucked out in this. Our apartment comes with a beautiful untouched butler's pantry between the dining room and kitchen. Two sides of shelves, a glass cabinet on the end and a low credenza on the other end, which we've turned into a bar. We have dishes on one side, books on the other, so it's like a tiny library/bar!

But again, this was just a lucky feature of our apartment, nothing we did ourselves (except decide to make it a bar).

my friends and i drink....a lot....so I have mine out on an antique mirror laid on top of a counter height book shelf I have running along my dining area. The glassware is on the shelf below -works great and the mirror makes it *sparkle*

I use a tall mirror-doored Ikea cabinet (Varda?) for the bottles and swanky cocktail glasses.

I have an English tea cart which I purchaed some years ago...liquor and my decanter, and glasses of choice on the bottom shelf along with a must have small glass and stainless ice bucket with tongs. When I have friends over I move what ever I need to the top shelf and it is a party. Even better because it's on wheels...I can move it or place where it is most needed or effective depending on the occasion. I also place a vase with fresh floweres on the top shelf or other items for different looks. After reading what others are doing I am considering placing a large mirrored flat tray on top to for addtional sparkle sometimes...

I use an antique television cabinet. It's the kind where you open the double doors and the television set is up top with speakers below (very early days of TV). The TV and all the inner workings are long since gone, so it's really just a cabinet with one shelf with lots of space and an area on the bottom divided in two by a partition. I love it though, because all the old service stickers are still inside (the diagrams showing all the different tubes and whatnot). I simply draped a linen napkin across the top and have my glassware there with all my bar tools.

We line our bottles up over our kitchen cabinets (probably not the best place to store liquor but...) and intersperse the bottles with saint candles. They're a similar size and shape but the beatific designs are really eye-catching and fun to see between the bottoles o' whiskey.

Does anyone remember that 30's era faux alligator rolling bar shown in a slink last winter? I was busy all weekend, watching the ebay auction, counting down the hours til I could drive to a neighboring town and bring it home to its perfect and rightful place in my living room. It did not sale because minimum was not reached, which was a price I wouldn't have thought of spending on it for one second. They should have said that at the start instead of ruining my weekend. I've hated ebay ever since. I do have a nice little glass and chrome rolling tri-level cart 2nd hand $30 find with beautiful ice bucket and shakers. I am planning a real cocktail party for this winter.

We have our small bar set up on a cabinet/shelf between the living room and dining room:

http://flickr.com/photos/leeep/1438702550/in/set-72157602148077422/

I apologize in advance for the photo quality—I took the photo at night using flash and have yet to sub in nicer photos for my set.

I've been trying to finish up a bar that we built-into a hallway closet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/sets/72157602246616922/

I just purchased some glass cable shelves to install above the backsplash.

I have one of those skinny broom closets in my 1913 condo. But I turned it into a dish cupboard. I keep my liquor on the open part of my built in china cupboard. I love the idea of having it out on a sideboard or table for people to help themselves; I'll have to think about that one.

But...where do we all keep our brooms now? :-) [I keep mine in my mudroom back hall]