My Home Bar

In August of 2019 we bought our first home. It was a stressful and long process that took us pretty much the whole summer to accomplish. After viewing so many houses we surprisingly ended up settling on a cozy 5-bedroom home on the outskirts of town. The price was right, and a benefit of this particular home was that it was next door to my husband’s friend from work, so we already knew we were going to like at least one of our neighbors.

In a time before the pandemic, I could not wait to throw an elaborate and exciting housewarming party. Before I could get to that though we had to put our new home together. The rooms in the house for the most part came together pretty fast, but the front room was a creative space that I decided would be mine. Some people would turn this type of room into an additional seating area or even a nice playroom for their kids. My husband took over the loft upstairs and immediately turned it into his office. I knew that none of these themes would be the first thing I wanted to see walking into our house, so instead I decided it would be a perfect bar room. I’d had a nice little bar set up in our previous rental home, but this time I had the space to really make it an actual bar area.

My husband was kind enough to get me a bar and barstools for my setup. I took advantage of few shopping trips for some décor, shelves, mini fridge, paint, and frames for my autographed Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco pictures, but the fun part came in building my alcohol stock so that I could make a variety of different cocktails. Putting the room together was one of the easiest and most enjoyable projects I had done. After the paint had dried on the walls and the shelves were hung up, I was full on ready to have friends and family over to see it in person in all its glory.

The debut of the bar wasn’t as big of an ordeal as I anticipated it to be. For the most part everyone was impressed and thought it was a cool idea, and great use of space for that room. The bar had so much more potential though, all it needed was some a little splash of ambiance!

Working in a restaurant in my early 20’s, I was able to learn a few different basic drinks, but thanks to the wonderful world wide web I’ve managed to extend my knowledge of different ones. I’ve even had some fun creating my own drinks and naming them after different characters from books and movies (the Edward Cullen is my favorite), then eventually creating my own drink menus for holiday seasons. I’ll share one of the recipes from the Halloween menu.

Edward Cullen

(Sweet and dangerous!)

1 oz Raspberry Bacardi

1 oz Milagro Tequila

½ oz peach schnapps

4 oz pomegranate juice

Sprinkle of gold sanding sugar for that “sparkle” effect

Christmas of 2019, we hosted our first Christmas party in our new home. As introverts we had never really been social butterflies, but knowing we had a big enough home now equipped with a full functioning bar, it gave us a bit of an unexpected confidence boost. The bar had gained some LED lights and its own Alexa now to play music in the room which gave it the complete feel of an actual bar. I made fun holiday themed drinks and by the end of the night everyone was in good spirits and mingling. Being a bartender in my own home proved to be a lot of work, and I’ve had my friends even joke about adding a tip jar, but I truly enjoyed making drinks. I still enjoy it to this day without a doubt!

The bar has become more than what I had originally envisioned it to be. I thought it would have just been a fun room where we would occasionally gather and share a few drinks, but it has evolved into so much more than that. It’s become a place for us to enjoy each other’s company and really laugh together and get to know more about each other. It’s been the perfect bonding experience and allowed two introverts to learn how to come out of their shells a bit.

Since Covid hit though the bar has been a bit dim and lacking because of social distancing, but it’s still thriving and ready for when it’s safe and okay to gather again with all our friends and family. It’s always going to be a place to come together and appreciate one another a little more. A place to dance, share stories, make new memories and most of all …drink.