The Home Bar – Natural Stone Design Ideas
A lovely wet bar will enhance both the comfort and splendor of your home.
Having a home bar is both a luxury and a convenience. It adds a modern feel to the space and enhances the comfort and appeal of your home. A lovely home bar is not only a great place to mix your favorite cocktails and entertain your guests, but can also double as a coffee nook or kitchenette, improving both the functionality and splendor of your living area.
If you’re planning to incorporate a wet bar into your home design or want to refresh and renovate your existing bar space, you will find that there are very little limits to what you can do. Whatever your available space, interior décor, aesthetic preferences, practical needs, and extravagant ideas, there will be a style, material, size, and color to suit them all.
Despite the wide variety of options though, stone bars have proven to be the number one choice among contemporary homeowners. In fact, if you take a closer look at the most prominent home bar ideas, you’re very likely to find that a natural stone design will be perfect for your own cocktail station as well.
Home Bar Location
A stylish cocktail station will look glamorous in almost any setting, no matter the size and layout of your home. A stone home bar can be conveniently located anywhere in a house:
- In the living room – Traditionally, home bars are situated in the family room or between the dining room and the kitchen (in open home layouts). This is very convenient for serving wine, coffee, and after-dinner drinks, as well as for hosting cocktail parties and leisurely gatherings;
- In the basement or cellar – Tucked away from high traffic areas within your home, the basement is perfect for creating a rustic home wine bar where you can entertain your friends and enjoy your time together, “hidden” from the rest of the world;
Incorporating a wet bar into your home design will completely transform your living space – even the boring basement may turn into a fascinating entertainment hub.
- In a tight space – If you are short of space, you can have a single wall home bar installed into an alcove, a little-used closet, or under a staircase. You can make use of any recess in your home and turn it into a charming mini bar;
- Outdoors – An outdoor bar is the perfect solution for entertaining a small circle of friends, throwing a huge party, or enjoying some fun time with your family in the open air. If you are considering an outdoor food and drink station, stone bars are your best bet as most natural stones can stand up to the weather without any risk of damage.
Wherever your home bar is located, make sure it blends in your overall interior décor and provides a fabulous stage for entertaining. Include some seating (if the space allows it) and transform the area into a delightful entertaining hub.
Home Bar Design Ideas
When looking for a new home bar, you will be presented with an overwhelming variety of styles and designs. To make the best possible choice for your own bar space, you need to review different stone bar ideas and keep in mind that your cocktail station needs to be as practical and durable as it is fascinating and attractive.
- Decide on the optimal home bar height and layout for your new entertainment hub. Consider raising the bar, adding barstools, utilizing wall-hung cabinets, or any other home bar ideas that may be appropriate for your living space;
- Choose a stone home bar design that will perfectly fit the available space and overall design scheme of your home. You can go for a built-in bar (for greatest convenience and maximum storage space), an island (ideal for serving drinks and setting out hors d’oeuvres), a single wall bar (when tight for space), a buffet table (for better flexibility), or even a bookshelf (for a modern, open-shelf design), depending on your home’s layout and your available budget. Don’t forget to factor plumbing and electricity into your stone home bar design as well – a wet bar needs a sink, a cooler (or a small freezer), ample lighting, various electrical devices (a mixer, a blender, etc.) and many other accessories to work efficiently;
Simple, yet impressive – that’s what you’re looking for, right?
- Add an attractive backsplash to enhance your home bar practicality and aesthetic value. You can choose a stacked stone backsplash to make a “big style” statement, a tile backsplash to allow for creative designer solutions, a metal backsplash for a modern and glamorous feel, etc.
Considering the wide range of stone bar designs, countertop surfaces, and backsplash styles available, you’re certain to find the combination that will perfectly suit your needs and aesthetic preferences. There is just one more important aspect to consider when deciding on a new stone bar for your home – the kind of material that will be used for the bar top design.
Bar Top Designs and Materials
To strike the perfect balance between beauty and function, you need a bar top material that is not only elegant and good-looking, but also durable, waterproof, and heat-resistant. This makes granite, quartz, soapstone, marble, laminate, stainless steel, and natural wood worthy rivals for the title “best bar countertop material”.
Granite Top Home Bars
Granite is a high quality natural stone that will provide a luxurious look and feel to your bar top. It is very durable and easy to maintain – it stands up well to heat, splashes, knife nicks, and other wear and tear and doesn’t accumulate too much dirt and grime. What’s more, granite comes in a variety of beautiful colors and patterns. To ensure the serviceability and gorgeous appearance of your granite bar top throughout the years, you need to have it regularly cleaned and resealed (granite is porous and will quickly absorb spills unless it is properly taken care of).
Marble Top Home Bars
One of the most delicate and highly appreciated natural stones, marble makes unique and stunning bar tops. It stands up to heat well, but the surface is very soft and susceptible to stains and scratches, even when sealed. Therefore, marble countertops require more careful use and greater care than most other stone surfaces.
Quartz Top Home Bars
The mahogany cabinets, combined with a sparkling granite backsplash, black granite tops and black leather bar stools, add unique elegance and luxury to the ambience.
Quartz is stronger than most natural stones and shows little signs of wear and tear, which makes it an excellent material for a highly functional and convenient bar top. Quartz surfaces are durable, non-porous (so they’re stain-resistant and easy to clean), and quite appealing to the eye – the engineered stone comes in a wide array of hues and tones and has a consistent color pattern throughout the entire surface. Besides, it allows for a variety of edging options and finishes, so that your new bar top can perfectly match your existing interior décor and your bold designer visions. Have in mind though that prolonged exposure to heat can damage a quartz countertop.
Soapstone Home Bars
Soapstone is another good choice for an elegant and practical bar top. It has a simple yet very refined look that adds a lot of charm and warmth to the ambience. Soapstone countertops, however, require regular maintenance – they are very porous and can’t handle knife scratches and nicks as well as other types of natural stones.
Stainless steel and laminated bar tops have also gained lots of popularity in recent years due to their great practicality and ease of maintenance. Despite their flexibility and diversity, however, these engineered products simply lack the splendid look and feel of natural stone designs.
With their classical appeal and unparalleled charm, wood home bars represent another widely preferred solution for a stylish, traditional bar station.
Whatever your choice, a wet bar will add luxury and comfort to your home. It’s up to you to find the design that you’re going to love.
About Vince Sandri
Vince Sandri is a content writer and blogger with more than 12 years of experience. His expertise is in creating content related to disaster restoration, including information about preventing and reacting to natural disasters like flooding, water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold growth, storm damage and more.
Vince has been the main contributor to RestorationMasterFinder.com since 2014. Over that time, he has written numerous service pages and blogs for disaster restoration providers featured on RestorationMasterFinder.com. Vince has done extensive research and covered a wide range of topics relating to disaster restoration to help homeowners, business owners, and property managers better protect their property. He understands the problems that disasters like flooding, fire, smoke, and mold can cause as well as the best ways to respond to these issues to limit the damage.
Vince completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Aurora University and his master’s degree at DePaul University. He has been writing SEO website pages, blogs, and press releases since 2012. Vince is also a musician and can be seen playing in the Chicago, IL area.
