2023’s Most Covetable Way to Entertain? A Backyard Bar

The finishing flourish of your outdoor setup, whether for entertaining guests or just yourselves, might be a counter (or even a little cottage) to serve up cocktails. It was for these homeowners.

STOOL SHED Behind a historic Nantucket home, designer Kristin Paton turned a ramshackle ironmonger’s shop into a cozy pub. Read McKendree / JBSA

THE BACKYARD PUB CRAWL started last summer right after Lauren Smith got her bar hut.

A couple of guys from Taverns-to-Go had arrived on a truck and within an hour assembled the prefab bar in her yard in Long Beach Island, N.J. To four pressure-treated lumber walls they added a corrugated metal roof, lots of shelves to hold bottles and glasses and the bar countertop itself. Her deluxe model, 5-feet-by-10-feet, even had enough wall space to mount a TV.

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