People living in the city often find that they don’t have a lot of space to entertain guests unless they come from a lot of money.
Most city buildings don’t have a lot of outdoor or free space where people can have guests over for a drink. However, one space they may have would be a balcony.
You can do many things with the right amount of space on your balcony. You may turn it into a hangout spot or a bar. In either case, you’ll have to put a fair bit of effort and money into the transformation.
Look no further if you’re considering turning your balcony into a bar. We have listed everything you want to know about the endeavor, so you don’t have to.
Turning Your Balcony Into a Bar
Planning
One of the first things you need to do is to plan. You want to ensure that you have a layout regarding where you’ll place your bar and other essential equipment.
To do this, you will have to know your space quite well. If you have a small space, you can likely not fit all that you want into the room, but if you plan correctly, you just might.
Create a Countertop
A bar is where you mix drinks and ensure that the alcohol is flowing. But to mix drinks, you need a solid surface. This means that you would have to have a countertop or build one to start the fun.
There are two ways you can create a countertop.
The first way is to get a table with considerable height so that whoever is mixing the drinks can do so in an orderly fashion.
The table also needs to be something that isn’t bulky and fits into your balcony without too much space.
The second way is for you to make a countertop. You can do this by attaching a wooden panel to a wall or some other support.
You can get a slab of wood and some screws to attach it to a support, maybe a wall or a railing. You also want to add additional support so the wooden slab doesn’t fall and hurt other people.
Prepare the wooden slab by sanding it down using sandpaper. This will create friction, so none of your drinks slip and slide on the countertop.
You can then stain the wood or paint it to add color. It’ll light your space right up.
Most people recommend choosing a neutral color so you don’t end up clashing with the other colors you may have on your balcony.
You can also add a layer of varnish. Adding a layer of varnish will help weatherproof your countertop against any of the elements that your countertop will have to face.
The countertop is on the balcony, so it only makes sense that you want to protect it.
You should also add brackets to your countertop to securely have a countertop.
Style The Rest of Your Balcony into a Bar
Now that you have got the most critical part of your bar squared away, you can work on the rest of it.
You want to add the rest of your equipment in a way that lets you add to the countertop you just built.
By this, we mean that you want to use your countertop or bar area as an inspiration or piece de resistance for the rest of your balcony.
The color you would paint your countertop can tell you what color theme you will follow.
Furthermore, you also need to know where you want to store your drinks. If the countertop is attached to the wall or the railing, it likely doesn’t have storage.
Thus, that’s something you will need to figure out.
Textiles
The rest of the balcony is where you would likely want to entertain your guests, so you need to cozy it up. Some ways to do this would be to bring rugs and textiles into the space.
This would be a way for you to ground the space into something much homier than a regular bar unless you want your balcony to be a party space.
In this case, you can just as quickly change the kind of textiles you bring in. You could instead hang a mirror ball from the ceiling if you want to look at a more party vibe overall.
Lighting
There are also other things you may want to add to the overall style of your balcony. You can add different fairy lights to make your balcony a space where people feel welcome.
Adding fairy lights could be a way to give your balcony bar a more peaceful ambiance where people can grab their drinks and chat with each other while listening to some calming music.
The lighting is another way to curate your balcony’s vibe. This fact means you can choose fairy lights or use something like strobe lights. This means that you can make it as party-like or as chill as you want.
Bring in Some Green Plants
Another way to add a pop of color is to integrate foliage into your bar balcony.
Again, it’s all about the kind of vibe you want to curate. However, having green plants on a balcony is a beautiful way of giving the place a more grounded vibe.
The bar will feel like a more comprehensive place for you to hang out rather than just a place where you can grab drinks and go.
The bar’s vibe can go from the lounge to the party bar with relative ease if you know what changes to make.
For a lounge bar or even for a party bar, having some herbs on the go can be a great help.
You can have these fresh herbs on a landing outside so you can use them for all sorts of food and edibles, and not only drinks.
Does Turning Your Balcony Into a Bar Make it Specific to Alcohol?
In recent years, we have been looking into the social and cultural effects of alcohol.
We know that while alcohol can be an excellent social lubricant, it’s also something that loosens inhibitions and makes for a great gateway drug.
Alcohol addiction is also a serious concern for a fair few people all around, so turning your balcony exactly into a bar could have harmful implications for you and all those around you.
However, turning your balcony into a bar doesn’t have to be about alcohol.
You can turn it into the ambiance that you would want in a bar. The bar also doesn’t have to be specific to alcohol.
There are many lounge and hookah bars out there that are also a way for you to interact with other people.
Turning your balcony into a bar would mean ensuring that there are drinks or snacks for people to munch on as they have conversations.
It could be a place for you to host your friends for food or a game night even, all with the backdrop of the city lights in the distance.
Turning your balcony into a bar doesn’t have to affect your alcohol consumption if you don’t want it to.
What Are Some Other Things You Can Do To Your Balcony?
You don’t have to turn your balcony into a bar if you don’t want to. You can have it be a space for you to relax and unwind for a bit.
You can add many features to your balcony so that it feels like a more welcoming place.
Add a Lounging Chair
You can add a chair that helps you read and lounge in peace. You can take out a recliner on the balcony to have a nice time laying back and enjoying your time reading.
A lounge chair that’s length can be a great piece to fit into your balcony if you don’t have a lot of space.
Add Curtains For Privacy
If you think that there are too many people around you who are looking into your space, you can always add more curtains for privacy.
The curtains could also be a way for you to add a more romantic element to your balcony. It could give a mysterious yet movie-like reference to your space.
Add a Hammock
If your balcony allows you to, you should add a hammock to the mix. Doing so can make you feel much more relaxed and like you’re on vacation mode more than anything else.
You can set your hammock up to let you enjoy your time on the balcony without worrying too much about moving about.
Final Thoughts
You may want to turn your balcony into a bar for many reasons. However, as you continue to do so, you should bear in mind that it doesn’t have to be something that’s strictly related to alcohol.
You can turn your balcony into a bar to have a place with food and snacks ready to welcome all the people you want into your space.