When the decor takes over

What better time than Advent to tackle this trend, which has been emerging for several years, which consists of integrating a festive corner into the decor? After having been confined to the basement, then to oblivion, the bar area is reincarnated in the living rooms in a form glam like never.

“Forget the 1960s and the man cave,” says Jean-Sébastien Michel. The corner bar has earned enough stripes to get out of the basement. As the owner of the Alambika boutique, which presents everything necessary for professionals and cocktail lovers, he is obviously not the most neutral, but he is nevertheless at the forefront of witnessing the trend.

More and more, he observes, cocktail accessories are adorned with engravings, carvings and other finery to match the decor or set the tone. “We work a lot with craftsmen and they don’t make objects intended to be hidden at the back of a cupboard. The material becomes decorative even before being functional. »

The integration of a bar area in the living room or dining room has also been observed by designer Philippe Harvey for about five years. Like Jean-Sébastien Michel, the designer attributes this growing demand to the enthusiasm for mixology, encouraged by the arrival of Quebec alcohols. “People are proud of the bottles they’ve brought back from their escapades and they want to show them off,” he says.

Far from fading during the health crisis, the trend has on the contrary been propelled by a new breath… with the scent of gin! “People stopped inviting each other, but paradoxically, they drank more and had time to experiment with different combinations of cocktails,” notes Jean-Sébastien Michel. But what is most striking is the exit from the pandemic and the arrival of a generous offer of non-alcoholic options. »

Tequila, absinthe, amaretto, scotch, vermouth, Campari, prosecco, bitters… We can now make traditional alcoholic cocktails without a drop of alcohol or have fun mixing the two – liqueurs with or without alcohol – to stretch pleasure without the headache and other inconveniences that come with less glorious tomorrows. The bar is thus open to everyone, including children, to become a drinks centre. “At home, the non-alcoholic section takes up almost as much space as the section with alcohol, which allows us to have a drink even on Tuesdays”, argues the cocktail specialist. The alcohol evaporates, therefore, but the ceremony remains!

The beverage center

If having a wine cellar used to be the icing on the cake in planning the interior of a residence, the demand is now being competed by the bar area, unless the two team up at the same place in a configuration that allows everything to be centralized. In this case, there will also be a cellar under the counter.

The formula for fitting out a bar is relatively simple, says Philippe Harvey, listing the key elements of his recipe: closed storage, often a low cupboard that accommodates most bottles of spirits and accessories, a work at counter height covered with a resistant material – marble, granite, quartz, corian… – to comfortably work on your potions, a hutch where the glasses are stored within easy reach and to which a glass holder can be added and some tablets. To finish, beautiful bottles and a few accessories are displayed to define the atmosphere, the basic equipment of the mixologist being the shaker, the mixing glass, the pods, the bar spoon and the strainer which allows the ice to be retained.

“For practical reasons, I try not to leave too many glasses at the mercy of dust. On the wall, I will often put a mirror, wallpaper and even leather, ”explains the designer. Indispensable, an auxiliary light integrated or simply placed on the furniture will highlight the range of colors of the spirits and the carvings of the glasses.

For all budgets

The bar area designed by Philippe Harvey for Frédérique Chapuis and Marc Gérardin uses classic ingredients in an expansive amalgam: closed storage topped with a mirror and shelves with integrated lighting. “We like to receive our friends with cocktails, underline his customers, but beyond the reception, there is something pretty and festive that enriches the decor. »

More or less detailed depending on ambitions and budgets, the corner bar formula comes in many versions. “There are a lot of “jewelry” pieces of furniture in various price ranges that allow you to group together everything you need,” says Philippe Harvey. In a pinch, grouping together a few essentials in a cabaret and placing them on large granite tiles that will serve as a work surface is enough to improvise a corner bar by reconverting a piece of furniture such as a bookcase, a beautiful sideboard or a retro console , proposes Jean-Sébastien Michel.

“We are in a period when it is fashionable to revive things from the past. And the cocktail, by definition, does. It embraces Prohibition with wood-rich environments as much as it does the 1950s tiki, Tom Cruise-esque neon vibe in Cocktail in the 1980s or the boho of the 2000s. The cocktail crosses the ages, maintains the expert in mixology. It’s a little corner of madness in an otherwise very square environment. So let’s toast to this less and less guilty pleasure that we certainly won’t want to sulk, especially during this holiday season!

The bar cabinet

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