Post #152046 by Gigantalope on Sun, Apr 10, 2005 1:19 PM

Hey Fink, I had a little restaurant in the '80s and was on a very tight budget. (I also had health inspectors and fire marshalls to contend with which in a house you won't)

I made use of lots of used corregated steel attached to some walls like paneling. Nicly framed pictures looked really good on the rusty steel.
Also used the rusty steel with that fake roof kinda thing. (a lightly painted ceiling, and the fake eves give the feel of being ooutdoors)

I think the palm leaf palapas might look more Tiki, but in my case the fire issue, mold and insects made the used steel our only choice. (Get your tetnus shot updated)

The steel can be treated with a diluted zink compound to give it a streeky flat green effect that is a bit different.

We had high bar tables and some fake oil drums with tall stools around them. (the drums were painted like some i'd seen in photos from sumatra, but of course they were clean)

You can make some really cool back lighting with the steel too, as of course it's opaque and can hide ugly fixtures and wires.

We turned some walls into the "stacked wooden crates" thing with wierd labels and writing on them in Arabic, French and so on(one hid a large TV)

We went sort-of the safari direction, but with different palms, puffer and sail fish instead of stuffed animal heads, you could become the kahuna of the neighborhood.

If you've ever been to tropical places in (especially 3rd world ones) look thru some old photos for curious stuff you've seen and maybe include some of that to make the place more personal.

I've spent a bit of time in Timor, Fiji, Ecuador and places like that...and there are always stray dogs and chickens around.

Fake chicken (or real ones) seem like they belong in any truly tropical bar.

Another thing I've seen alot were large pieces of wood outside where people would put thier bush knife. ( typically a dirty log placed vertically with several machetes in it)

I hope this is helpfull.