Barware

MID-CENTURY BAR

The Mid-Century Modern bar is an ode to color, architectural finesse, and tiki kitsch. Whether you opt for a teak bar cart or a brass-and-glass one, colorful and cheeky Mid-Century barware will make it pop. In fact, when it comes to the Mid-Century bar cart, throw inhibitions out with the first martini, and opt for all the fixings—we’re talking swizzle sticks, ice buckets, and dishes full of paper cocktail umbrellas.

Likewise, dress your cart with tropical-flavored booze, glass bottles of soda (which, when you think about it, are just about as retro as it gets), and dishes of plain candies. Keep an eye out for vintage designer glassware too, as the Mid 20th Century spawned scads of famous glassware designers like Dorothy Thorpe, Georges Briar), and Culver. All produced brilliant, metallic glassware that was born ready to top a bar cart.

Alternatively, Blendo Glass, produced by the West Virginia Specialty Glass Company in the 1950s and 60s, was a rainbow-bright line composed of highballs, cocktail pitchers, and fruit bowls with bases frosted in bold, sunset-worthy hues. Being the vintage addicts we are, we love the idea of using Blendo as a Mid-Century bar cart’s jumping-off point. The ombre colors are perfect for complementing fun extras like swizzle sticks, ice buckets, and vintage brass bottle openers.

ART DECO BAR

Bar carts naturally have an Art Deco joie de vivre, making Art Deco styling a must-try. To play up your bar cart’s Deco assets, look for vintage barware in chrome and crystal. We personally love heavy, cut crystal decanters, silver julep cups, saucer-sized coupes, and mesh-dressed seltzer bottles. Highlight the heavy metals with tightly edited bouquets of red or white roses (a great vessel for them are those julep cups!), and stacks of jacketless books. Both will play magnificently off the silver, adding nothing but elegance in their wake.

Also a must? A silver shaker with a pour spout, and an old champagne bucket filled with ice. Plus, major extra credit for finding the space for the grand dame of bar carts: the punch bowl. As a final kiss on the seal, layer on prim and proper bar accessories like striped paper straws, printed napkins, and of course, bottles of champs. Over your bar cart, pay your respects to the generation that started it all by hanging some cinematic, 1920s-inspired black-and-white photography.