The Benefits of Home Bars

There is little doubt about it, in the long run, home bars cost a lot less than heading out to the local pubs every weekend.  Depending on the talents that you may or may not have, installing a home bar might be a reasonably priced way to increase the value of your home and maybe give your popularity a little boost as well.  No matter what type of set up you have in mind, there are home bar plans and pre-built home bars to fit most situations.  I've had no problem finding pre-built bars for sale.  I've shown a few popular ones later in this article and made comments about them.  What I did have a tough time finding was actual home bar plans that described how to BUILD your own bar at home.  Even Amazon came up short.  They did have one book that looked promising, and I was going to include it here, but it was out of stock and they didn't know if it would ever be published again.  What the heck???  Anyway, if you have been looking for do it yourself home bar plans, I was able to find a nice collection, and it is actually able to be downloaded for immediate access.  You can find some great plans for home bars (including Tiki bars) by following THIS LINK.  Drop me a line through the contact form if you have found any other favorite home bar plans and I'll include them here.

Home bars seemed to be all the rage when I was a little kid back in the 1970s.  Most of my parents' friends had bars in their homes and their group of friends would gather from time to time at each others' houses to hang out with each other.  Sometimes it would be for special occasions like New Year's Eve or a playoff football game, but other times they just hung out together.  The kids went off and did things to keep busy.  I remember learning to play bumper pool one time and going out in the yard at night to catch worms on another occasion.  I guess we did what we had to to pass the time.

I never minded going on those visits because I really liked actually looking at the bars.  I know that sounds kind of strange, but my Dad did carpentry work on the side and he actually built many of the custom home bars in their friends' homes.  It was pretty cool.

If you are able to build things on your own, you can save a lot of money, but modern home bars are not all that expensive when you consider how much other home improvements can cost.  Honestly, I was shocked at how little pre-built bars actually cost when I checked out the prices.

Before you build a bar, compare your costs to what a pre-built bar would cost. This Cherry Finish Bar Unit w/Wine Rack is available on Amazon. Click the image above to learn more.

Discount home bars are actually available for under $200 and I know that is a lot less than my Dad spent even back in the 70's for just the materials he used for building a really nice bar on his own.  Now, if you are looking to build a deluxe type bar rather than a simple home mini bar, your costs will obviously be higher.  The cheap home bars that come pre-assembled are basically rather short and straight, as opposed to L shaped corner bars that can actually be the centerpiece of a game room.  You can add all kinds of accessories like running water or set ups that allow you to keep refrigerated kegs of beer available.  You can also go all out and pick out a particular theme that you would like to build around.  If you have a favorite sport, your decorating might be based on that.  If you like neon lights to give the feel of a "real" bar, you can get those too.  Be warned, those home bar accessories are where you might end up dropping the bulk of your money.  Even bar stools can be pretty expensive.

Shown here are three popular pre-built bars that are currently for sale on Amazon.  I chose these three to show off mostly because I liked the way the look!  I really wasn't sure what to expect when I started checking out pre-built bars online.  To be honest, the idea of shipping costs sort of put me off until I realized that many of the units sold online offered free shipping as part of the purchase price.  There are a TON of popular pre-built bars for sale, but you'll have to check each one individually to see what kind of breaks they offer on shipping.  The prices are definitely comparable (or better) than any of the units I found for sale at retail outlets near my house.  The selection is also much better online.  You can find a nice selection of pre-built bars by clicking HERE.

 Pre-built Home Bars for Sale

Coaster Home Bar Unit, Black with Chrome Accents

City Chic Bar Cabinet - Espresso

Sixteenth-Century Italian Replica Globe Bar

If you would like to save some money, I would highly recommend checking out your local classified ads or sites like eBay and Amazon when it comes time to buy home bar accessories.  Just signs and lights for decorating your bar can be very expensive.  Shopping around a bit has its advantages.

There are some very cool things that can add an unbelievable amount of atmosphere to home bars.  Personally, I think if you have the room, you should have a pool table.  I really like playing pool with friends and this is another addition that you can usually pick up pretty cheap if you shop around. If you are willing to go with a second hand pool table, you can really save a ton. New pool tables can be fairly expensive.  With that said, I do have to say that I found some pool tables on Amazon that were priced lower than some of the tables sold locally. So if you are thinking of adding a pool table to the mix, it is worth looking online. Most of the ones on Amazon included free shipping.

For sports fans, you might want to consider installing a mounted television and/or sound system for when big games are going to be on.  Obviously the cost here depends entirely on what type of system you choose to enhance your set up.  Finally, having a dart board mounted in your game room is the perfect compliment to your bar if you are going to be entertaining friends.  The electronic dartboards that keep score for you usually come with plastic tipped darts that are designed not to damage things when they hit something other than the board.  A bonus is that they are usually really inexpensive.

This is just a small list of ideas.  Certainly home bars can be pretty much anything you want them to be.  They can be very simple or if you have enough money to spend, they can become very extravagant.  I wish I had photos of the one my Dad actually built.  It was an L shaped bar that had a sink built in to the lower level.  That level was also lit (by a very cool red light that matched the overhead lighting he installed).  The base had sliding doors that hid a ton of storage space.  I would imagine having that custom bar built now might carry a hefty price tag.  Like I said though, he was able to do the actual building himself.

If you are able to do the grunt work, you might want to just look around for some home bar plans to guide you.  You will certainly save a lot of money on labor.  If you just want to pay the money and get your bar, you should probably consider looking for home bar sets that come complete.  You may have to pay a bit for the convenience, but you will be able to get started entertaining right away.  Even for the higher priced home bars, the entertainment value is great if you like to hang out with friends.  If you are a regular visitor of "real" bars, your savings from not going to them could probably go a long way toward getting your own home bar up and running.  That would probably work as a good justification too if you have a partner who is on the fence about getting a home bar!

Once you have your home bar up and running, you will need to stock it with something to drink. The video below gives some tips on how to stock a home bar. Of course, this too can get as expensive as you are willing to let it get. If you stay very basic, you can get by with some basic staples that are used to mix up the most common drinks. If you are into creating fancy drinks, your supplies will cost more. The initial cost of stocking your bar could set you back a bit, but unless you have some very thirsty friends, maintaining your stock shouldn't be all that expensive.  In fact, if your friends are willing to contribute a bit, home bars could end up being a real bargain for those folks willing to put one in their home.