The 47 Best Home Bar Ideas to Shake Things Up

A tucked-away bar in the living room of this Katie Ridder-designed home in Birmingham features wallpaper based on a 1940s Ed Willis Barnett photogram called Cocktail Party. The folding door closes when not in use. Chair fabric, C&C Milano

At stunning Blackberry Farm, with Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains as a dreamy backdrop, Mary Celeste Beall showcases her refined, low-key, and luxurious entertaining style. Here, a simple bar table dressed up with a La DoubleJ tablecloth overlooks a pasture. A spray of wildflowers gathered from the fields adds height to the vignette.

Covered in architectural moldings from Casa Metier and topped with Cosentino's Silestone Le Chic stone, this elegant bar in the 2024 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Palm Beach welcomes all to this contemporary-meets-classic lounge. The space is accessorized with a sleek Kohler bar sink and faucet and earthy-colored artwork by Tim Woolcock.

This “vision in terra-cotta and blue”—aptly dubbed by its creator, kitchen designer Jim Dove—pays tribute to New York’s beloved Monkey Bar, which closed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tropical de Gournay wallpaper climbing with dapper monkeys delivers a glamorous yet playful pièce de résistance. Silk taffeta drapery, fabricated by The Shade Store, in a poppy orange shade envelops the 2022 Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach room in pure elegance and softens a striking (and glowing) quartz bar.

Treasured glassware, both heirloom and collected from around the world, commands a bar crafted of Eramosa vein-cut marble for a glamorous glowing effect in a sizzling Mexico City condo. Bronze hardware, Funart

This lounge in the 2024 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Palm Beach oozes opulence and contemporary Parisian maximalism with a dose of seaside flair, moody colors, and plenty of texture. The sectional, covered in a Larsen fabric reminiscent of nearby sandy beaches and trimmed in Samuel & Sons bullion fringe, and the sheer draperies (fabricated by The Shade Store) bring a sense of coastal breeziness.

An octagonal rippled-edge Soane Britain table doubles as the barn’s bar at Lauren Santo Domingo's home in the Hamptons. The abstract glassware echoes the colorful and contemporary artwork found throughout the barn.

In this outside-meets-inside pavilion space at the 2024 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Palm Beach, an elegant games table and plenty of extra seating draws the party poolside. An inviting bar filling the side wall makes lingering longer a breeze.

Dry vodka martinis are served from a 1940s garden table on the front porch of designer Jan Showers's Colonial-style home. Showers greets guests with bubbly, “of course,” or a mocktail, too. “Always make sure people are offered refreshment when they first arrive, especially if they’ve been traveling,” she says. “That’s the first lesson I learned from my mother, a consummate hostess.”

Now this is a proper watering hole that is sure to be a top destination for entertaining! Because this area connects with the family room in the 2023 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Dallas, designer Jason Jones made sure the spaces felt cohesive. "It's such a fantastic space to entertain in," Jones says. "Even from inside the bar you can see what's going on, and if you lived here, it would be a pretty incredible place to host from because you can see the party flowing and the fire going in the family room."

In the 2023 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Dallas, a 10-foot built-in velvet banquette is an inviting perch for afternoon tea and evening cocktails alike. More for receiving drinks than preparing them, this former hallway space got a complete makeover from Richmond-based designer Sara Hillery who infused it with a bright green Stroheim velvet and Fabricut tassel trim, playful artwork framed by Fleur Home, and a stunning oyster shell-inspired light fixture provided by James Showroom.

From the ceiling's breathtaking custom Phillip Jeffries wallcovering to the mirrored gossamer draperies (fabricated by The Shade Store), this jewel box of a bar in the 2023 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Dallas has everything you need in one compact space. Designed by Morgan Madison Design, wood grain cabinetry (housing Jenn Air's under-counter beverage center, ice machine, and coffee system) is paired with a boldly veined marble countertop and backsplash.

An 18th-century portrait from 17 South Antiques in designer Melissa Rufty's low ountry pied-à-terre keeps a watch over a makeshift bar in the living room. The early 19th-century Northern Italian console table is from Uptowner Antiques.

This Martha's Vineyard screened-in porch makes entertaining a breeze. A long table with bench seating beckons a crowd for meals. A bar cart stocked with cocktail ingredients invites guests to linger longer to soak in the ocean view beyond.

In her former New York loft kitchen, designer Katie Leede's goal was ultimate functionality. Depending on the event, the island can be used for dining at night, working during the day, or setting up as a bar for entertaining on weekends.

Playful gestures, such as the bar's neon sign, animate the Jazz-era details of this 1920s New Jersey estate by designer Steven Gambrel. Deep, satin-brushed shades of teal (Pantone Stargazer) connect the bar to the neighboring library.

With a kitchen as sexy as this one in Garrow Kedigian's Manhattan apartment, who wouldn't want to stay a while at the curvecous bar for Champagne and nibbles? Leather stools, Le Forge. Wallpaper, Christian Lacroix

Rich warm colors invite travelers to sit back and relax in the upstairs bar designed by Errez Design at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House. The bar's built-in undercounter JennAir beverage center makes it easy for guests to treat themselves to refreshments.

At this Amy Meier-designed Michigan cabin, stitched leather stools (Matteograssi) and vintage Swedish lamps (Hans Agne Jakobsson) welcome guests to gather around an oak bar after a day on the lake. Meier relied on reclaimed materials like the barn wood ceiling and oak-and-paver flooring (Surfaces Material Gallery) to give the space rustic charm and character.

A sexy tortoiseshell wallpaper (Schumacher) and antiqued gold shelving (Kathy Kuo Home) create a dazzling bar in this Arkansas farmhouse by Heather Chadduck Hillegas. The counter skirt fabric (Ian Mankin) elegantly hides any bar supplies.