Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Jun 01, 2025

When You Can’t Leave the House, a Home Bar Can Be Your New Place for Cocktail Hour

When You Can’t Leave the House, a Home Bar Can Be Your New Place for Cocktail Hour

For drinks at home in 2020, there’s no such thing as last call.

If you’ve turned to drink to muddle through what remains of 2020, you’re among friends. “We’re seeing clients make space for a home bar even if one didn’t exist before,” says Dallas designer Jean Liu, whose friend stuck one in a coat closet as COVID-19 descended. The standing order: a bar with all the glitz of Bemelmans at the Carlyle hotel in New York City, without the socially condensed throngs.

As with a Cabernet Sauvignon, boldness wins. “It’s the perfect place to paint something bright or dark or moody that they wouldn’t have had the nerve to do otherwise,” says Liu, who has had clients request cast-pewter bar tops in recent months. New Jersey designer Beth Diana Smith concurs: “It’s important now when we’re entertaining at home that you’re giving someone the feeling that they’re not at home,” she says.

            

According to ELLE Decor A-List designer J. Randall Powers, who is based in Houston, clients love their houses, yet they always had a life and did social things. “Now we don’t really get to do that, so everybody seems to be focused on interesting little parts of their house that maybe got overlooked, like a bar,” he says. Powers recently fashioned a bar for a bourbon-obsessed client atop a 19th-century Portuguese table, the bottles corralled on a shagreen tray. “It used to be, ‘Come look at my rare antique book collection.’ Now, it’s a little bit like, ‘Hey, check out my Pappy Van Winkle.’ ”

Don’t think these bars have to be tucked just off the living room, either. Dallas designer Michelle Nussbaumer has stationed them everywhere from a home spa to a dressing room tailor-made for Champagne cocktails and playing dress-up. For her space at this year’s inaugural Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas, she settled a bar in an upstairs bedroom secreted behind a Moorish arch, then ornamented it further with a mix of 19th-century French glasses, American pressed glass, and her decades-in-the-making horde of swizzle sticks. “There’s something intimate about inviting people to a smaller area for a drink,” she says. “It’s almost like a vacation.”

            

In comparatively cramped quarters, even a classic bar cart can suffice. “I was definitely one of the people who jumped onto the bar-cart bandwagon during COVID when we were sheltering in place,” Smith says. “The fact that liquor stores were considered essential businesses was very telling.” She offset her brass cart by flanking it with textured pieces, including an ovoid basket to hold bottles. “This is the time where you should be splurging on yourself. Fancy and not casual is the way to go.”

Some clients are veering toward the British tradition of a dry bar (sans sink for spaces that can’t be plumbed), Powers says: “In an interesting way, people are going back to the art of making a cocktail as opposed to just having a cocktail.”

            

While a simple jigger and shaker can get the job done, there are high-tech upgrades; Nussbaumer has installed dishwashers specifically designed for crystal barware and refrigerator drawers aplenty. “We’re even buying little machines from Williams Sonoma that smoke your drink,” she says.

For a bar concealed behind jib doors in a Dallas family room, Liu placed floating shelves painted a shamrock green before an antiqued-mirror backsplash, which visually doubles the homeowner’s crystal barware. But for Powers, such exposed glasses can be dust traps. “I don’t need to see your passed-down crystal collection. I’d rather drink out of a good everyday glass. If I get smashed and drop it, I don’t feel the need to go buy you another one,” he says. “If you’re going to display it, it really should be behind glass doors. Otherwise, I’m like, ‘When’s the last time that was dusted?’ ”

Liu, however, has a very 2020 rebuttal to that argument: “I don’t know anyone who is letting dust accumulate on their glasses right now.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
European and Arab Ministers Convene in Madrid to Address Gaza Conflict
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
UAE Offers Free ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions to Citizens
Lebanon Initiates Plan to Disarm Palestinian Factions
Iran and U.S. Make Limited Progress in Nuclear Talks
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
Trump Administration's Tariff Policies and Dollar Strategy Spark Global Economic Debate
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive’s Startup for $6.5 Billion to Build a Revolutionary “Third Core Device”
Turkey Weighs Citizens in Public as Erdoğan Launches National Slimming Campaign
Saudi-Spanish Business Forum Commences in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia and Spain Sign MoU to Boost SME Sectors
UK Suspends Trade Talks with Israel Amid Gaza Offensive
Iran and U.S. Set for Fifth Round of Nuclear Talks Amid Rising Tensions
Russia Expands Military Presence Near Finland Amid Rising Tensions
Indian Scholar Arrested in Crackdown Over Pakistan Conflict Commentary
Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Amid Internal Dispute Over Military Strategy
President Biden’s announcement of advanced prostate cancer sparked public sympathy—but behind closed doors, Democrats are in panic
A Chinese company made solar tiles that look way nicer than regular panels!
Indian jet shootdown: the all-robot legion behind China’s PL-15E missiles
The Chinese Dragon: The True Winner in the India-Pakistan Clash
Australia's Venomous Creatures Contribute to Life-Saving Antivenom Programme
The Spanish Were Right: Long Working Hours Harm Brain Function
Did Former FBI Director Call for Violence Against Trump? Instagram Post Sparks Uproar
US and UAE Partner to Develop Massive AI Data Center Complex
Apple's $95 Million Siri Settlement: Eligible Users Have Until July 2 to File Claims
US and UAE Reach Preliminary Agreement on Nvidia AI Chip Imports
President Trump and Elon Musk Welcomed by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim with Cybertruck Convoy
Strong Warning Issued: Do Not Use General Chatbots for Medical, Legal, or Educational Guidance
Saudi Arabia Emerges as Global Tech Magnet with U.S. Backing and Trump’s Visit
This was President's departure from Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince personally escorted him back to the airport.
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
Trump takes a blow torch to the neocons and interventionists while speaking to the Saudis
US and Saudi Arabia Sign Landmark Agreements Across Multiple Sectors
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
Michael Jordan to Serve as Analyst for NBA Games
×