Tips to Stage a Basement Bar
A basement bar is a fun piece that adds an element of entertaining fun to your home, whether you’re performing home staging to sell or just upgrading your house for yourself. To get you started on outfitting your new space, here are a few suggestions.
The Bar
To begin, you’ll need to set up the bar. Make sure it looks attractive and has plenty of room for people to relax and hang out, whether you build it yourself or buy one ready-made. How the bar looks will reflect on the rest of the house, so err on the side of quality and attractiveness if you are building your own.
The bar counter should be clean and have plenty of space for your guests to enjoy a drink and snack on finger food.
Most bars are 40 to 46 inches high. This is a comfortable height to stand around and the height that bar height stools are built for.
Snacks & Drinks
If this is a new bar space, you will need to stock up on drinks and snacks, as well as a refrigerator, ice machine, blender, shakers, and a variety of fashionable glasses and platters with which to serve your visitors.
If you are staging this space, make sure the counters are cleaned off and these appliances and serving ware are stowed away so the bar area looks spacious and not cluttered with stuff.
Seating Alternatives
Bar stools with or without backrests are the right seating option for a basement bar area. Seating should be functional and comfortable. It should not be wildly out of style with the rest of the home’s décor. The bar should be the focal point, not the seating.
Bar height seating is 30-36 inches high. This is the optimal height for your bar counter top. Metal, wood, rattan and wicker are all popular types of bar seating frames.
Tools
For the normal basement bar, a set of tools should suffice, although the size of the bar will determine this. Remember that you are not trying to clutter up the space, but make it functional and attractive.
Other Furnishings for Your Basement Bar Space
If you entertain large crowds, then a few bar stools aren’t going to be enough for everyone to be comfortable all evening.
You may want to add a sofa and some chairs and arrange them in a conversational grouping so everyone has a place to sit and socialize if they are not at the bar. Make sure there are places to set drinks and plates down such as a large coffee table or end tables. Don’t forget to provide coasters so that your lovely new coffee table doesn’t get rings or water marks.
A Place for Entertaining
You want people to have a nice time and relax, so entertainment is the finishing touch to your new basement bar. For sports parties, movie evenings, and other gatherings, having a huge TV with surround sound speakers that is visible to everyone in the room is ideal.
Music is also crucial since it sets the tone for a fun night out. To get that surround sound effect, play it through the TV speakers. Get a billiards table and a couple of decks of cards to turn your basement into a game room as well as a bar.
Final Notes
Outfitting your bar for yourself and your guests is a completely different exercise than staging an existing bar to help sell your home.
However, if your basement is finished, but lacks a wow factor that makes it a truly livable entertaining space, (that is, it has a defined function that would appeal to your potential buyer) a basement bar area may be just the thing to turn a boring basement into an entertainer’s paradise.