‘In 2021, the home bar has come out of the closet!’’ Heather Vaughan of Heather Vaughan Design (www.heathervaughandesign.com) proclaims. Instead of tucking bars behind closed doors, clients want them out in the open, often with boutique hotel-type vibes.
Designers are installing speakeasies and sports bars in basements, morphing unused sunrooms into grownup getaways, and outfitting empty rooms over the garage with high-top tables and ice makers. Andra Birkerts of Andra Birkerts Design (www.andrabdesign.com) refers to such spaces as “lures’’ because they pull people into more remote parts of the house. “It gives people a cool place to go and provides a location for alternative interactions, like sitting at the bar,’’ she said.
Home bars aren’t always out-of-the-way. Nikki Dalrymple of Acquire (www.acquireboutique.com) is re-imagining formal living rooms in suburban homes as cocktail lounges. Since these rooms are usually adjacent to the dining room, the
