The festive season is fast approaching, making it a great time to look at how to create an awe-inspiring garden room bar that’s just steps away from home in the peace and tranquility of your own garden.
Having a relaxing space to socialise with family and friends is important to many of our clients, making bars a popular feature in our luxury garden rooms. Getting the layout and positioning right up front is key to ensuring it works well for all different kinds of get-togethers.
There’s no better feeling than having a separate entertaining space away from the mental and visual ‘to-do’ lists within the home. Garden room bars are the perfect way to continue using your garden all year round in ultimate comfort and style, while enjoying the best of the evening sun and the distinct colours, sights and smells of each season.
What to consider when planning a garden room bar
We always recommend starting with space planning, and then working backwards.
Space planning
We start by looking at the overall size of the room, and where the entrance will sit. All our garden rooms are carefully positioned to capture as much sunlight as possible, along with specific design features like bi-folding doors/French doors, floor-to-ceiling pencil windows, slim window frames and roof lantern skylights. The natural placement of the bar therefore tends to often be on the back wall, in either corner.
The average home bar is 1066.8mm high and 609.6 mm deep, but you can customise to fit the area you have. Just remember that most bar stools are 762mm tall, so your bar should not be lower than 1066.8mm high, to allow for comfortable seating.
The bar
We then move onto the bar itself. There are plenty of options for garden room bars, so you really can get creative with your multi-functional space:
- Double Bar (image above): This is a great space-saving way to build a drink preparation area, with a separate serving area.
- Full Back Bar: If you have the space, this gives your garden room bar an impactful and professional look. It provides plenty of space to prepare drinks, as well as the option to add shelving (floating glass shelves look great) for bottles and glassware, and even cabinets for extra storage.
- Podium-style bar: This is a great option for smaller spaces and when combined with bar stools, you can effortlessly make drinks as you continue to mingle.
- Curved Bar: A visually style-led and impactful option that gives a more flexible flow to a garden room.
- Pull-Out Bar: This is ideal for smaller spaces, or where you don’t want your bar as a permanent feature. It’s a popular choice for people using their garden room as a multi-functional space, whether that’s an office, workout area or creative workshop.
Practicalities
It’s also important to consider practical issues like where you need your electric points and options for Wi-Fi (great for playing music). We also think through the ideal number of seats (behind and in front of the bar), where your fridge and/or wine cooler will sit and what sort of optics, shelving, and storage are needed.
For the bar area, swivel bar seats are a great choice if you’d prefer not to have to keep getting up. A sliding door fridge, or a regular-door drink fridge that is slightly offset from the back bar area, means that it won’t open up ‘into’ your back-bar space.
A tabletop ice maker may be considered a luxury to some home bar owners, but if you’re using a fair amount of ice, it can save you lots of time and hassle in the long run – there is nothing worse than warm drinks!
Finally, placing floating glass shelves along your back bar will give you additional space for storing bottles – the perfect chance to show off your collection of high-end spirits.
Additional seating area:
Where space allows, an additional seating area can take your garden room bar to the next level. We’ve entertained friends and family in our own garden room for many different celebrations over the years, and recommend:
- Seating close to the bar: Ensure a comfortable and relaxing lounge area close to the bar. Angle it so that it faces the bar, so everyone feels ‘connected’ and you don’t have to break away from the conversation to make, or serve, another drink.
- Sociable seating: Where space allows, opposite seating spaces are particularly sociable.
- The view: Consider how each ‘socialising’ space in your garden room can get a good view of the garden and any evening sunsets, while still maintaining a balanced division of space. What can face the bi-fold doors (or a side pencil window), and what area takes priority for the best view?
- The focus: Consider the visual impact you’re going for when people walk in. Do you want the focus on the bar itself, or the lounge area?
Theming & Interior Design
Then you can move onto how you want it to look and feel. You can get creative with atmospheric mood lighting and interior design aspects like signs and whether there’s a particular theme you’re looking to achieve – possibly an American-style bar, a sports-themed bar, a country pub, or alpine après ski style retreat.
Entertaining your way
Entertaining in your own garden room bar brings indoor living outdoors and is a great source of relaxation. Garden room bars offer a more personal experience, and are the perfect escape from everyday life. They’re away from your home, don’t require a cab ride back, are a real show stopper and the perfect way to make use of your garden all year round.
We hope you enjoy reimagining and making room for quality time with family and friends on your own terms where you get to choose the company, the music, the temperature, the drinks and the snacks.
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