Use an Antique Secretary as a Bar
My parents brought up another antique piece of furniture to our home when they visited last weekend. This time is was an antique secretary that had belonged to my dad’s first cousin once removed, Florence. I originally figured we would put it upstairs in one of the bedrooms, but as Mike and my dad unloaded it from my dad’s truck, it struck me that we could use an antique secretary as a bar.
And boy am I glad I thought of it, because this antique secretary looks great as a bar!
How to Get the Look
We put my collection of Eber’s Works in the secretary as well. Georg Eber was an Egyptologist, and if you didn’t know, I had grand aspirations of being an archeologist/anthropologist when I was younger, so the collection is quite fitting. The spines of the books are in rough shape, but I think they still look nice, especially considering they are from the 1890’s.
Next, making an antique secretary a bar isn’t complete without liquor decanters! We started collecting decanters to display our whiskeys and bourbons in and have continued acquiring them. And surprisingly, a decent crystal decanter doesn’t have to break the bank. Amazon has the one below with the bourbon tag on it, here. A couple decanters and the secretary really starts to look like a bar.
Having multiple decanters, you’ll want to be able to keep them straight. This is especially true of whiskeys, ryes, and bourbon, or gin and vodka. Basically liquors that are the same color. Adding liquor tags to your decanters solves the problem while looking very classy. I have these liquor tags, but there are a ton out there. They also make a pretty cool gift for the person who has everything. (It’s never too early to start your Christmas shopping!)
What else is in our bar?
Mike and I are always looking for different things to do together. We made this little bottle of gin together. No, we don’t have a distillery in our basement. It’s basically starting with vodka and adding in spices to achieve your desired gin flavor. The kits are inexpensive and really easy to do, get yours here.
Add in some rocks glasses and copper mules to the secretary, and the bar is complete!
I hope you liked seeing how to use an antique secretary as a bar. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
6,277 comments found