I'm with you, we would probably never use booze as décor. We don't hide it, although it is in a cabinet with a door, but I have never thought of alcohol as décor. I am seeing this more and more often on Houzz and décor blogs. It seems to me everything about décor the past few years is more like merchandising than decorating. Most decorating I see anymore, aside from most of what I see here, where real people hang out, seems to be staged, and I feel like alcohol on a bar cart or wherever is staging. The bloggers who display alcohol, for example, will select bottles that are pretty, like the pretty blue of the Bombay Sapphire bottle. Any of my friend who have alcohol out more often than not just have the bottle of wine left over from last night sitting on the kitchen counter. Definitely not staged. Just my two cents....

As for prints of wine bottles, wine themes, corks, and the like, I have no idea why they have become so popular.

Agreed.

I have never been a drinker as well and would also never use booze as decor, but I'm also not a fan of animal skulls, taxidermy, animal rugs or even animal prints but I think all of those things can be used in the right setting and look nice or uniquely cool. My SIL brews beer and collects bottle caps. Their kitchen table is a large hammered copper bowl with a glass top and they used the bottle caps to line the interior of the bowl. It's uniquely cool and looks like it belongs that way.

We like to display cool bottles and decanters. I think the decanters and bar carts made a comeback thanks to MadMen, though in the most recent years, they showed the brand label (product placement) vs. the cool decanters and bar carts.

My husband likes to have his Scotch and top shelf stuff out as... Not sure. A sign of being a good host? I find it difficult.

I barely drink 3 glasses of wine a week, but I find the bottles attractive, if I'm sitting at a bar I'll gaze at the array of bottles of alcohol nicely displayed I find them attractive as objects, not so much for what their content is but the shapes, the labels, the colours....

A home is very personal.. it reflects the occupants and their lifestyle. While I am not a fan of some of the wine decor-- I know many who are. Those same people aren't likely to like all of my decor. I am kind of surprised by the response here. Issues with a wine cooler or a beer tap or bar? I don't play piano but I don't have issue with those of you who put a piano front and center.. Alcohol in a bar or on a bar cart? Sorry-- this isn't new. I remember my grandfather having a grand bar with crystal decanters-- oh, and so did the characters in a number of old movies and tv shows.

Here, I keep my alcohol in a cupboard-- if I had room for a nice bar cabinet, I'd have one. I don't have wine decor but then I have a large gold frog sitting in a yoga position. Tack comes in many shapes and sizes-- and we're all entitled to use as much or as little of it as we like :)

I think this is the operative statement in the original post:

"When I was growing up people who had booze on hand generally kept it hidden."

I remember 25 years ago when people had dolled-up geese with blue french bandanas on every surface. It's just a style. Wait a little while and the style will change.

I think the mad men comment has some truth to it. My dad was career army and my parents always stocked a variety of alcohol. They never drank all that much, but it was part of the era, the military lifestyle, wanting to be good hosts or some combination thereof. So the mixed drinks, the bar carts, all of that seems retro to me.

Dh and I hardly drink at all and I'm content to offer just wine or beer to guests so we don't keep much liquor around and with a five year old I don't keep like to keep heavy glass full of liquids out so I probably wouldn't display to even if I had it. But it is a glamorous look to me.

I don't really have an opinion of booze decor, although I find an open bar display perfectly acceptable. It is practical for some, and aesthetically pleasing for others. But, I will say, I got a good laugh imagining a house full of cookie displays, complete with an Oreo picture over the mantel LOL!

And, I would love to have a friend that always brought me nutter butters. Forget about a glass of wine, you are making me want cookies!

As an aside, cupcake decor is popular--especially in little girls rooms.

Thank you for all of the input! Yes, we all make personal choices for our home decor. My statements were not regarding drinking....all of my family and friends drink...it was about the fact that it is on display prominently.

And I still think that if I had cookies on display folks would think it crazy....and they would most likely talk behind my back....:)

Along with this I wanted to add....There are many bus companies in our area who run tours to wineries. They are quite popular. I often joke with my friends and tell them that I am going to start running " bakery tours"! We would hop on the bus, drive to perhaps Lancaster County and stop at bakeries along the way. At each bakery we could sample cookies/cupcakes! Pair them with a hot coffee or a cold glass of milk.....nirvana!!!

I have a full open bookshelf of dried goods stored in mason jars. Really I don't see a difference between that and the alcohol on display. I'm not a big drinker, but I do drink from time to time. At my last house I did have a wine shelf, which was easy storage. Here we have a liquor cabinet in our basement. We don't even tend to use it. If we do get a bottle of hard liquor it will end up sitting on top of our fridge once it's opened. LOL If we ever finish building our kitchen cabinets, maybe I'll just make the above the fridge cabinet the liquor cabinet. If I had pretty bottles though, I wouldn't be turned off from displaying them.

I rarely make mixed drinks at home, but I guess in my fantasy world, I do. I tried to pull off a bar tray with mixed bottles, etc., on top of a cabinet in my dining room, but it ended up feeling too "staged" to me. I may try again someday, since I have a bunch of bar pics saved on Pinterest.

I love this look.

http://www.housebeautiful.com/room-decorating/g1310/home-bar-design-ideas-1012/?slide=17

I keep all my liquor in a cabinet, except this one:

I have a lot of my crystal glassware in glass cabinets on display, but agree with you on the alcohol-- it does seem to be trendy to have so much booze sitting out just as building huge bars in the basement has been...

all I can think when i see homes of parents with young kids who build large well stocked bars with displayed booze in the basement is 'what the heck are you going to do with it all when your kids and their friends are preteens and teens??'

regardless of people's personal views on alcohol and teens, there's so much parental liability with underage drinking that it's pretty stupid/irresponsible//naïve to have booze accessible to kids...

when I was the parent of preteens/teens, I was much happier with my kids hanging at houses that displayed cookies rather than booze!! :)

grapefruit - You can come over any time you'd like, bring the Snickerdoodles and I'll supply a glass of cold milk. Although I'd rather eat them warm out of the oven.

Growing up I can't think of anyone who had bottles out for display unless they were entertaining and it was easier to set everything up on the counter. My parents kept the bottles in a base cabinet and so do we. But I do have a large upper cabinet with glass panels and that's where we keep the everyday bar glasses (the crystal is in the dining room).

dedtired: Welcome back - it that a souvenir of your trip?

We have this odd shaped room in our home. We had no idea what to do with it until I came up with the word "PUB!" It turned out amazing, and along with all the sports posters and trophies and the recliners, bar tables and countertop, Booze is the decor. Did I mention we live minutes from wine country and have a small vineyard?

First, does anyone have a good Snickerdoodle recipe? I think they are the best cookie in the world, but when I last made them they disappointed.

Lastly, I agree about the MadMen/MCM influence. Look at the resurgence of interest in bar carts?

We have a converted armoire that is a bar. I have nothing against drinking, but totally lost my ability to hold liquor with a rapid sucession of babies and breast-feeding. My DH and I were remarking the other day, that we have never seen each other drunk. I guess we left that behind in our teens. DH has a scotch with a meal out from time to time, and I will partake in a craft cocktail (eg last week we ate at Jean George's and I had Raspberry Lichee Bellini, yum). We are always amazed at how much people drink when we entertain.

The PO had three wet bars. One in his office, one in the indoor pool, and one between the kitchen and dining room. Two we removed, and the one by the pool we totally redid (it was very Hefner) and now has a fridge full of Hint and Fiji.

I think wine has really been embraced as a sign of sophistication and worldliness, by a much broader swathe of the population. That is why it's so much more popular. I'm all for acting fancy, but I really don't care for wine very much, though I have tried! And frankly, the more costly the wine, the less I liked it, so I am a total wine loser!

But, the bottles and their provenance and history are also interesting to people, and often people's wine cellars reflect their travels. Plus, it is a legitimate hobby with much to learn and appreciate.

Just wanted to comment on the wine tours and buses. It makes complete sense to me. You can't drink and drive, but you can eat baked goods and drive so people can do their own tour in their own car there, but if you go without a bus to a winery then you have to have a designated driver.

Like Suzi, we have a "pub" room. It has a pool table, dart board, pub table, and beer fridge. It's pretty much SO's room to decorate as he sees fit. The walls have sports memorabilia and neon beer signs, and there is a long shelf along one wall filled with souvenir shot glasses. If it were just me, I doubt I'd have such a room. Not because I find the alcohol decor in poor taste, but because I don't have a need for a game room.

And BTW, I do see cookies displayed in pretty cookie jars all the time. And don't get me started on decorative bowls filled with fruit!

I think booze as a decor is a trend/fad that has come and gone over the centuries. Even the Greeks and Romans decorated their walls with frescos depicting grape vines and wine amphoras. They even had temples and statues built to honor Dionysus/Bacchus, the god of wine.

In the 70's it was popular to use old wine bottles as candle sticks and to allow the wax to drip down. And people were collecting wine bottle corks.

I like to read Apartment Therapy for ideas and right now they are having their Small Cool home contest - it's funny to see how many teeny tiny apartments of 250 square feet where the occupants don't have room for a couch or a chair, but they proudly display their Mad Men trend du jour liquor cart well filled with fancy liquor and retro drinking glasses and accessories.

I don't have a problem with it when it makes sense to the home owners AND it's not blown overboard. I mean, if you entertain a lot and serving alcohol is part of what you offer, then it makes sense, if you have room, to have a place to store and serve the alcohol. To me it goes overboard when there are too many themed items, especially decorative items that are cheesy, poorly designed and executed. For some people it's a serious hobby that they enjoy and if so, then it should be incorporated in a sensible manner.

Dedtired, if you have that bottle of single malt, I'm bringing the glasses and a snack or two and will be right over. That is one glass of scotch I would enjoy trying.

Hope you had a great trip.

I did. I even tried some whisky but am sadly not a fan. Will post a couple pictures soon.

A bottle of wine can remind us of a place we have traveled to: Fond memories of Tuscany, Umbria, Venice, Napa, Sonoma, Long Island's North Fork... I could see keeping a few reminders around (wine bottle as candlestick revival?) just for the pleasant associations, especially if there are good graphics & fonts. I love some of the old liquor posters. Great graphics:

But booze as style statement ala the 60s? Like, having a drink (or cigarette) in your hand as a social affectation? There's a reason the ring-a-ding-ding, too-cool-for-school Rat Pack faded into the pecan paneling -- seems like posing now. I love this SCTV parody of the quintessence of Rat Pack studied cool, Ocean's Eleven

Am still not seeing a wine fridge as decor. It's an appliance. Calling it part of a decor theme is akin to calling the refrigerator part of a food theme, or the dishwasher a feature of the dishes theme. Or the toaster as bread theme, lol?

Loved that parody, awn!

I think a wine fridge can be a little ostentatious. Sort of like having the $5000 espresso machine out on display when one isn't a truly dedicated coffee snob. But I can see the use in hot climates where a few weeks of horrible summer weather can put a hit on your nice wine or if you wanted to cellar just a few really nice bottles. I could only wish my wine collection deserved a fridge/cellar. I love you so much, wine! Never leave me!

Previous owners of our beach house had a "wine fridge" in the kitchen (not technically a wine fridge with the fancy temp controls). We kept it even when we remodeled the kitchen because the regular fridge is on the small side. But it's full of beer and diet coke! Maybe one bottle of wine.

Not exactly KSWL, because you can see inside the wine fridge.

Robo, I don't drink coffee, and I don't even know how to make it. My kids all do (vestiges of dear Brazilian nannies). But I bought a cool espresso machine for the countertop years ago. DH knows how to use it, but pronounced it a PITA. He was allowed to hide a Keurig in the cabinet, but he usually goes out for coffee anyway. Good thing I never even saw a 5k espresso makerl sheesh!

Growing up in my area of the northeast in the 50's and 60's, basement's were commonly made over with wood paneling and bars, with stools in front of counters behind which the homeowner barkeep would serve up alcoholic drinks from well stocked shelves behind, often under a 'roof' decorated like a grass hut, etc.. There were often lit up beer signs, glasses on display, including pink elephant glasses and coasters (I didn't get the connection as a kid), sometimes risque glasses, naughty stirrers and coasters, (hopefully kept out of sight) cocktail shakers with lots of themes including cards or dice, ice crushers and ice buckets, martini sets, shot glass collections, tiki themes, drink up signs; the watering hole, the 19th hole, etc. Also on display: decanters, trays, towels, aprons and napkins extolling alcohol, sometimes depicting drunks, red noses, sayings including "make mine to go" or "one for the road" "here's lunch" and many other "humorous" sayings. It was after the war, and people apparently needed to cut loose.

What does that say about the glass door sub zero fridge, I wonder.....food as performance art?

In decor as in other areas there is always the possibility of overanalyzing and over interpreting, not that anyone on GW would ever be guilty of that :-)

I think so, KSWL. I think a lot of people who might otherwise get a glass door fridge (like moi) do not, because we are worried we would spend all day composing it, and not allow foods that or discordant are have bad packaging!

In a previous condo I had a glass door fridge and it was easy enough to keep tidy, I would do it again in a heartbeat. We were empty nesters at that point and ate out a lot, I made sure things were lined up although DH would not do that , I would....

speaking of well organized fridge, here is Yolanda Foster's glass door fridge on the beverley hills housewives, I assume she must have another fridge for leftovers and ugly stuff.....

She keeps her potatoes in the refrigerator? Perhaps they're merely props.

No one can eat that many artichokes. And there is no need to put a shim under the back edge of the basket to tilt it forward unless you want to display the contents. That is a sham refrigerator. Somewhere in her house is a dirty fingerprinted white fridge full of decaying takeout.

Yeah, see, that is a perfect example of fridge folly. In fact it is poorly done, because it has no credibility. There is no way that holds food for feeding a family. The proportions are all wrong, and a ton of things are missing. No dairy, no meat, no condiments?

That is absolutely a 'for show fridge'. Too many things are in there that don't belong, and as pointed out, they are sest up for display, and out of proportion to what is consumed on a daily basis. I have a rectangular basket and a couple of whole pineapples in the back of mine to be pretty in case someone besides me and DH open it, don't you?

Yep, there is NO WAY a housewife from anywhere is going to keep their fridge looking like that. The set designers probably cleared it all out and put in prop food instead.

I can't imagine anyone in Yolanda Foster's house eating potatoes!

Wait, you guys don't have artful produce displays in your fridge??

That picture is just ridiculous. "Reality" shows....sigh...

Where are their 10 different kinds of mustard? That's reality, lol.

Mtn, my favorite Snickerdoodle recipe is from my ancient Betty Crocker cookbook. I googled it and arghhhhh BC isn't your mama's BC anymore. There were all types of fancy recipes when the old fashioned ones are the best. Here is a link to the old fashioned, plain version. http://www.vintageamanda.com/2011/09/vintage-cookies-snickerdoodles/

I haven't thought about Snickerdoodles in ages. Yummy.

I have a dear friend with a glass fridge, but she barely eats at all, and when she does it is usually out. They are childless and now that NYC will allow dogs at sidewalk cafes, she may never eat home again. Her fridge, I swear it, is staged. The next time I visit I should take a surreptitious iphone photo.