How to create a cool home bar no matter how tiny your living space

'Home bars bring nostalgic glitz. You can lean into fantasy and design an area that temporarily transports you to a more glamorous time'

You don’t need as much space as you would think to install home-bar features. File picture

In the world of interior design, few phrases have such allure as “the home bar” — provocative, vaguely illicit, full of the promise of fun. 

Decanters are suave, martini glasses are sophisticated, and the glinting metal of ice tongs and cocktail stirrers is exotic. No matter how many years you’ve been legally buying alcohol for, there will always be something mildly clandestine about a home bar. It evokes early childhood memories of falling asleep to muffled crystal clinks and straining to hear the adult conversations downstairs; and teenage ones of furtively sneaking contraband from their liquor cabinet (how did they not notice the bottle of gin was 50% water?).