I always think it looks super fancy when people have basement bars or little bar carts like on Gilmore Girls. Unfortunately, those things cost money that I don’t feel like spending right now. I don’t even really drink much hard alcohol (I’m more of a wine person), but my husband has the annoying habit of repeatedly buying a whiskey/scotch/brandy/whatever to try and then letting it sit in our cramped liquor cabinet until we have guests over who want to try it.

I have gotten so sick of looking at all those mostly full bottles every time I open the cabinet to get the cat food (or a bottle of wine :D) that I finally decided I was going to make my own bar.

It took a few weeks, but finally I found a perfect piece on the side of the road while walking home from the library. I brought it home and now every time I open the old liquor cabinet, I am greeted with a beautifully organized array of wine bottles. Some of you may read this as I-made-a-bar-for-my-husband’s-liquor-so-I’d-have-more-room-for-my-wine and you wouldn’t be entirely incorrect.

Onto the tutorial.

1. Find a piece that works for your needs. This is really the hardest step. You can find cheap furniture at secondhand stores or garage sales. Curbside finds are a great option as well. Look for media cabinets, shelving, storage cabinets, etc. that will fit your space and the amount of alcohol/accessories you have.
This one was small and fit perfectly in my space-limited kitchen/dining room. I also liked that it had a covered section because I wanted some of our fancy glasses to go in the bar (because we no longer had room in our glass cabinet- I’m seeing a pattern here), but don’t like glasses sitting out in the open.

2. Clean it up. Like any item you’d find on the street or secondhand store, you’ll want to make sure you thoroughly clean and disinfect the item. Be sure to give attention to the bottom as well. Many items left on the side of the road have been sitting in storage before finally being tossed, meaning there may be a few spider webs. For this, I also removed the main shelf to make room for alcohol, because that’s kind of the point.

3. Find a place for your newest addition. Like I said before, I’m a bit limited on space in my kitchen/dining room. But I was able to make a nice new home for my beautiful bar. I recommend finding a place for the bar first before putting anything in/on it, because if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to test it out in a few locations to see what works best. This is easier to do when there are not glasses/bottles/other breakables around.

4. Now that you have found the best location, load it with alcohol and alcohol accessories. My kitchen was kind of haphazardly arranged before with bottles in one cabinet, glasses in another, those rarely used shot glasses on a shelf way out of reach). With the addition of the bar, I was about to put all of those things together. Flasks, shot glasses, bottle openers, bitters, tasting glasses, martini glasses, actual alcohol, all now conveniently located in one place. I also put in a vase for discarded bottle caps, because… future crafts! Duh!
You’d think I drank a lot of alcohol, but honestly I just mostly like all those pretty glasses.

5. Optional Step: If you are not the person who actually likes hard alcohol, wait for said person to come home and have them help you arrange the bottles so they are easily accessible. I recommend putting bottles you use most often in the front for obvious reasons. Additionally, you can also add a hook (I just attached one to the side with a Command strip) for a bar towel, because I think that’s a thing people do.

6. Now sit back, relax, and have yourself a drink. You deserve it.