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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask if you do/would use a bar area at home?

24 replies

familystuff · 30/03/2022 16:08

I am moving to a new place. It has no outdoor space but kind of an extension on the back, with open (no glass) windows. Needless to say I'm not in the UK!

I have decided to make it a bar area because I'm hoping to do a lot of entertaining.

If you have a bar at home, do you make use of it? How? When? What makes you/your guests decide to hang out there rather than the dining table or the comfy sofa?

I haven't been able to entertain at all in the place I've lived for the last 7 years so I almost can't imagine how it would work, although I'm excited at the prospect!

I just want to ensure it's enticing enough to make it worth while kitting it out as a bar. Originally it was just going to be another seating area but there's only 2 of us and we really don't need another place to sit that's less comfy than the sofa.

OP posts:

FuzzyPuffling · 30/03/2022 16:10

No, I wouldn't ever use a bar area.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 30/03/2022 16:12

I have a bar cart in our living room so we use it as and when we entertain/have a glass of something. But it's not a specific location in the house we move to.

Is this space you have in mind big enough for a gathering? Could you add speakers for background music and some seating to make it more inviting?

BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 30/03/2022 16:14

I do drink, as does my husband and we socialise and entertain at home fairly often but I wouldn’t use one at home and it wouldn’t be an attraction to me in a potential home. I prefer to go to a real bar for that experience and am more than happy to serve drinks from my kitchen when I entertain or drink at home.

Original poster

familystuff · 30/03/2022 16:38

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

I have a bar cart in our living room so we use it as and when we entertain/have a glass of something. But it's not a specific location in the house we move to.

Is this space you have in mind big enough for a gathering? Could you add speakers for background music and some seating to make it more inviting?

It is big enough and originally was going to just be a seating area but I wanted to add a bit of fun to it, otherwise it would never get used. My biggest worry is that is just becomes storage for our bikes or old suitcases or something, so I am trying to make something fun of it.

OP posts:

StripeyDeckchair · 30/03/2022 16:41

No
I don't like houses that have them as they always seem to be dated & dominate the space.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 30/03/2022 16:44

You could make it more usuable all day by putting a coffee counter, chiller fridge with soft drinks/water in, then the boozy bit at the end. Then it could be used as an indoor/outdoor living room

Original poster

familystuff · 30/03/2022 16:47

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

You could make it more usuable all day by putting a coffee counter, chiller fridge with soft drinks/water in, then the boozy bit at the end. Then it could be used as an indoor/outdoor living room

Absolutely love the idea of putting my coffee machine there! That’s brilliant!

OP posts:

Glowinglights · 30/03/2022 16:48

If you like entertaining, I think it’s lovely - you can have people around for nibbles/tapas/drinks, just make sure you’ve got enough bar stools etc. It’s often more informal than sitting at a dinner table so can work really well.

Caspianberg · 30/03/2022 16:50

I wouldn’t use a bar. Hardly anyone we knows drinks now either.

A fridge for cold drinks, and tea/ coffee better and a comfy seating area

Roselilly36 · 30/03/2022 16:54

I am old enough to remember the 70’s, most homes had a “bar” I know fashions come round again,, but bars just seems old fashioned to me.

Westpoint · 30/03/2022 16:56

Do it! It's a natural space that people will gravitate to when you entertain. It's also nice to keep it contained away from other areas of the house.

Agree to make it multi use though - coffee machine, tea and soft drinks as well as alcohol. Some nice soft lighting and good seating, fans for hot weather and maybe some kind of radiant heat if you have a 'winter' so it's multi season.

nearlyspringyay · 30/03/2022 16:58

Depends where you are. When I was in the ME most villas had a bar area, because you're mostly outside. Now back no the UK, not relevant, I use the kitchen.

stripeyflowers · 30/03/2022 17:32

No, I really think they look awful - but maybe it's just awful ones I've seen!

Getoff · 30/03/2022 17:45

I think a bar area would be ideal for suburban home, with a swimming pool, in a warm country, lived in by a 20-something extrovert, who is trying to take up alcoholism.

If you live in a decent city then it will be much more fun to go out to socialise. A bar area is for people who live half-an-hour from the nearest pub, as opposed to having five pubs within staggering distance of their front door. Also, if you live in city rather than suburbia, then your visitors maybe can't drive to see you, as no parking, so meeting up centrally works better than taking public transport to someone's home.

Getoff · 30/03/2022 17:46

who live half-an-hour by car from the nearest pub

FuzzyPuffling · 30/03/2022 18:00

@Roselilly36

I am old enough to remember the 70’s, most homes had a “bar” I know fashions come round again,, but bars just seems old fashioned to me.

Not in my experience. In the 70''s I didn't know a single person who had a bar in their home.

Otherpeoplesteens · 30/03/2022 18:06

It depends what kind of bar you're going to have and how you and your friends live.

A no-glass open room with some rattan furniture and potted plants which happens to have a small bar counter in the corner with a fridge under it is very different from a long bar counter with beer taps and brass draining boards, a display fridge with spirit rails on top behind it, stools to prop it up, facing a pool table and dart board.

My family homestead (also not in UK) has a pool-side bar which is basically the front of the outdoor kitchen. It's the focal point to pretty much all the entertaining done there from early Spring to late Autumn, and in the winter when it's dry and the barbecue is being used.

In thirty years we've only ever had two bottles of beer go missing from the unlocked fridge, and whoever took them left €2 for our troubles!

Fairislefandango · 30/03/2022 18:25

We absolutely wouldn't use one, but then we very rarely entertain. When we do, it's almost always extended family staying for several days. We eat and drink around the table - none of us would want to stand around in a bar area tbh.

MrsSkylerWhite · 30/03/2022 18:26

No, wouldn’t use one.

17CherryTreeLane · 30/03/2022 18:57

We have one right down the bottom of the garden, away from the house. It's mainly used by my DH and DS1, when they have friends round. I'd rather just sit in the lounge to be honest

balalake · 30/03/2022 18:59

I'd never use one. Drinking alcohol is something I do in pubs and restaurants, not at home, except at Christmas. I don't need one for the limited entertaining I ever do at home.

BeanStew22 · 30/03/2022 19:18

I think it’s a good idea if you like to entertain, not just as a bar but as an additional space so you can have more people over comfortably, give kids their own space etc…

Making it liveable with nice decor, seating and some drinks options also gives you flexibility if you then want to use it for other things as your time in the house goes on (WFH space, playroom, hobbies etc)

ImplementingTheDennisSystem · 30/03/2022 19:42

No I wouldn't use one and would always end up somewhere cosy and warm like the living room.

sophienelisse · 30/03/2022 20:00

We do have a bar in the back garden in a room we built ourselves. It does still need insulating to make it a proper room but we have the hot tub in it.

It's good in the warmer weather when you can sit in it.

It's got a telly in it so my husband and dad make use of it to watch the telly etc and I sit at the bar and work from it whilst my daughter plays in the hot tub in the summer. Well I did last year.

I also go in the hot tub and watch tv when it's warm.

It's definitely used even if not for drinking in.

Depends really how big it's going to be. What will you put in there?

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