Cheers!
Home bars lend warm, relaxing ambience
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY

Chances are that more and more often when you slip onto a bar stool and ask for your favorite beverage, the person taking your request will be a spouse, family member or friend. In all shapes, sizes and designs, home bars are a popular home feature as entertainment areas or extensions of kitchens and dining rooms.

"I think a lot of times it's a novelty, but it is a place for entertaining," said Joe Gamberoni of Cross Rip Development. "It's a great place to watch the Red Sox or the Patriots without having to go out. You can pour your drink when you want it and people can get up and walk around. With a lot of the houses we're seeing now, people are building them for entertainment. Nobody is going to build a bar just so they can have a drink - they can pour a drink on a kitchen counter top. They are going to build a bar because they want one for their home as an entertainment factor."

Gamberoni built a bar in his own home, but it does not have facilities such as a sink for mixing beverages. Instead, his is in a billiards room made of 16-inch wide mahogany and with stools along the front. He also built beer rails that measure about eight inches wide and four feet long positioned in two corners that provide a place to set down beer or a drink while playing pool.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WOODMEISTER MASTER BUILDERS A beautiful piece of cabinetry, this home bar is incorporated into the home's living space.

In one customer's home, Gamberoni built a 12-by-14-foot square bar with a sink and other features similar to what would be seen in a restaurant and which can seat 20 people. That bar body is of mahogany, which Gamberoni favors because it is waterproof and possesses a deep, rich color that offers a nautical feel. In another home, he built a half-moon shaped bar, also of mahogany, with a portion of the bar facing a billiards room and the back against a wall with shelving, cabinets and a large mirror. That bar seats four people. Both bars have tiled floors and are situated adjacent to wine cellars.

"You can watch a wide screen TV or play pool, but there is always that looming rack of wine in back of you," he said, adding that he prefers the appearance of dark woods such as cherry or Brazilian walnut.

A home bar can be can be any size, although it is important to offer comfortable chairs. PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY

"When you've got a fire going and low light or candlelight it makes a warmer feeling."

Gamberoni said the cost of a home bar depends on the materials chosen, the size, ice machines or other features, fixtures and bar counter or behind-the-bar tile and stone, for example.

"There are a host of decisions that are made, but to build one is straightforward after the architect designs it," he said. "Anything that is drawn well is not very difficult to build."

Jim Catlin is a designer with Woodmeister Master Builders, and as a former bartender he feels familiar with what creates the best features for a home bar.

"The trends I see typically are people who want to have a bar because they entertain and it's a fun kind of spot," he said, explaining that many homeowners have their bars built off

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY Mr. Peanut adds a bit of whimsy to this bar.

recreation rooms where children can play or watch TV while the adults converse nearby.

Some bars are tucked into a corner on the main living floor and are more functional than geared to guests because they provide an area out of the kitchen and dining traffic zones when a party is held.

"Placement of the bar is very critical. Is it a service bar or a sit down and enjoy kind of space?" said Catlin. "Some bars are hidden in cabinets within a beautiful piece of furniture we build that will open up. Other times, a bar is a secondary kitchen where people can sit and there is a microwave and refrigerator, cabinets and built-in wine coolers."

Catlin has definite opinions about the home bar environment and does not like what he termed "a big, honkin' piece of wood that lips around and provides an elbow rest."

"To me, when you put a bar in a home it should not look like a bar from a saloon," he said. "I prefer to do a bar that is more fitting to the home and that is comfortable to sit at."

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY The train light, photos and decoys are a few of the personal touches that make this home bar cozy.

Catlin, as has Gamberoni, has created home bars using mahogany, in some instances where the ceiling and walls of the room are of the same material to give the sense of being on a boat or where teak and holly have been used as inlays to resemble a ship's deck. Other bars he has done have incorporated glass in the bar counter or bar back, or for a striking artistic effect, within the bar front body and lit from behind. In Catlin's experience, owners of large, high-end homes that will be used often for entertaining family, extended family and friends have more than one bar, usually on the basement level as well as on the first floor near the food and dining areas. Some homes also have bars extending to the home's patio or outdoor room.

"I think the luxury is that it's a place where you can have all your liquor storage and wine storage. It makes it easy to have a drink at night or open it up to entertaining and take it away from the kitchen area where whoever is cooking doesn't want people underfoot.

"I think people enjoy having a bar. Your local bar is a comfortable place to go, and your home bar should be the same thing," said Catlin. "A lot of people put collectibles on the back bar. It's kind of an accent of your personality."

Chris Bouque, co-owner of Nantucket Millworks, offered his suggestions for wood that looks good in bar designs. Nantucket Millworks has supplied several local builders with home bar materials.

"I personally like reclaimed antique heart pine. The Rose and Crown and Faregrounds have heart pine bars. I like it because it's got a nice, open grain and a beautiful orangish color. It's got character," said Bouque.

He said American hardwoods are excellent bar materials because they withstand dings and dents and are available in a number of shades from pinkish to whitish brown to almost white, red and deep brown.

"We took over the business two years ago and since I've been doing the wood ordering I ask what it's for. There are a lot of people building bars," he said. "Don't be afraid to stray away from the typical woods. People tend to use mahogany and not think about the other woods that are available instead of depleting all the rain forests."

If you are considering installation of a home bar, it is important to know ahead of time that if it is going to be on a basement level, drains must be placed into the concrete floor. The process is more costly if the bar location is not included in a house plan before the structure is fully built. That work involves a plumber, but an electrician will be needed and the finished bar must be approved by the island's plumbing inspector. I