Many homeowners dream of a place in their home that is perfectly geared to socialising, entertaining guests and helping loved ones unwind after a busy day, and often the particular room they have in mind is a home bar.
However, a garden room bar is an even better prospect, as it is a dedicated space separate from the rest of the house, which helps for many practical reasons.
More than that, however, it is also the closest you can come to a third space in your own home; it is somewhere you can go that has neither the responsibilities of work nor those of the home, outside of keeping it topped up of course.
What makes it so special is that it is your space, but with those great choices also comes the responsibility to ensure that your space is not only stylish but practical as well.
Here are some common mistakes in this regard and what you can do to avoid them.
Not Getting Your Spirit Variety Right
A bar can be as elaborate or as simple as you want, and that is also true of the drinks you have. However, if you intend to centre your garden bar as a place to entertain or socialise, it is important to get the variety of your drinks correct.
It is important to ensure your guests have whatever they want, so stock a few different types of spirits, as well as wine, beer, cider and various mixers. It’s a lot of fun to get a drink request, glance at the shelves and optics and be able to tell it’s coming right up.
However, whilst it is good to have a lot of options, you do not have to stock everything, and it can be counterproductive to try. Having an overstocked bar can take away from the ambience and make it harder to pick up the bottle you want to prepare.
Exactly where the balance lies will depend on how big your bar is and what you and your expected guests prefer to drink. Make sure they have a choice, but store any excess out of sight.
Choosing Spirits That Are Never Drunk
You do not need to keep careful analytics about everything your guests drink, but try to avoid keeping spirits on the shelf that simply do not get used. They are taking up valuable space and only serve to further highlight when other supplies are getting low.
This is particularly true of lower-budget house spirits such as vodka, tequila, white rum and bourbon whiskey, where having multiple brands or types is simply redundant unless you go through a lot of it.
Not Grouping Types Of Drinks Together
If you look at any bar, whether it is at home, a cocktail bar or a public house, one commonality is that similar types of drinks will be located together.
Wines will be on the wine rack, beers will be either in the fridge or hooked up to a beer pump, other canned drinks will be in the fridge, and spirits will either be on shelves or on the optics.
However, it is worth taking your organisation further; put white, navy, gold and spiced rums next to each other, have your single malts, blends and bourbons close by, and sort your wines by reds, whites, rose bottles, and anything a little more unique.
Not Having Enough Space Or Seating
Even if you are not building a wet bar, having enough practical space on both sides of the bar is vital in order to be comfortable mixing drinks as well as ensuring that your guests can sit down wherever they want and whenever they want.
This is especially true if you plan on making a cocktail bar, where you will need space for your tools, your shakers, your ice, a chopping board for cutting citrus fruits and anything else to avoid messing up another part of your bar.
Few people want to stand up for the whole night, so make sure you have a table or a couple of tables, as well as stools around the bar, depending on how much space you have available.
Neglecting Your Lighting Ambience
Lighting inherently shapes the feel of your bar, and relying on the big light can make everything seem too bright and less intimate.
Instead, rely on soft, warm lighting with dimmer switches to help the mood, install uplights or downlights in the bar itself to make the bottles stand out, and take advantage of mirrors to give the room a sense of space, place and class.