Something I know that Joe would absolutely love in the house one day, is a bar.
I think he imagines us to be ever so sophisticated, coming home after a hard day of work, shaving a lemon, squeezing a lime, and shaking up some exotic cocktails, followed by swirling around luxury whiskeys in antique crystal glasses and saying things like: “Oh yes, the wooden flavours are shining through on this brand, but it’s nothing compared to the ten year.” Or whatever.
In reality, we’re much more likely to just get a little bit trollied after a regular white wine spritzer, on sale for a fiver from the supermarket.
Don’t worry, we’re responsible drinkers! But it’s these type of bar-related decorations that we’ve made a conscious effort to try and collect to get the ball rolling, and it’s something that I think could make a lovely little feature in the house.
So far, this is what we have. This humble little area in the lounge is our dedicated bar. Sure, it doesn’t look like much right now, and I know that proper grown ups will normally always have stashes of weird and wonderful spirits ready and waiting, but firstly, drinks never last long at ours (check out the 12-bottle iron wine rack to the right of the above picture. Do you see any wine in there? No, me either. *weeps*) and secondly, it’s a work in progress.
We do have a few bits and bobs though.
We’ve been given this absolutely gorgeous decanter and whiskey glass set from my auntie and uncle as they didn’t want it! Can you believe that? What’s amazing is that, when my nana sadly died a few years ago, I took a few items from her house as mementos. Amongst these, were some glasses identical to the ones in this set, which my granddad – who passed away when I was just 6 months old – used to drink from. I’m determined to have the perfect whiskey glass collection on display (if we’re going to start a bar area, we’re going to do it right!) and I think it’s nice that so far we have items that have essentially been passed down in the family. We’ve got some plain ones too which I bought for Joe last Christmas, but they’re not special enough to be put on show.
We’ve got lots of our favourite spirits on display at the minute. Partially because I think it’s sometimes a waste to have such pretty bottles locked away in a cupboard. And also because we actually don’t have any cupboards! Oh yeah, that not having a kitchen thing…
There are metal ornaments dotted around the lounge too, as I just love the contrast of hard silver decorations against dark wooden furniture. Hung above, is this framed Martini mirror which I picked up at a carboot sale for a whopping 50p. The frame could do with a touch up, and I’m sure I’ll give it a fresh lick of paint at some point soon. If I can find a Southern Comfort version too, I’ll be a very happy lady.
I doubt we’ll have the room for a fully fledged bar in our house – one which can cater for bar stools and a full wine fridge – but I’ve been lusting away on Pinterest for some design ideas (see below). Who knows, maybe we’ll just go for the traditional Globe bar, stash it in the office and tell people it’s full of stationery. Dream big, Karen!
