Post #575400 by markmywords on Wed, Feb 9, 2011 4:16 PM

On to the walls...

I chose to go with fern fence, abaca matting and bamboo backing for the walls.

The biggest challenge here was getting the bamboo to go down as perfectly flat as possible. The first section I put up seemed to staple down just fine. However, a week later it started bowing out in the middle. I had to pull it and try again, this time with more staples and attention to stretching and flattening as I worked.

Cool switch plate I got from Crazy Al

Once that was done, I started working with the trim. I had several feet of nice molding I had purchased from Bosko and combined it with some smaller bamboo pieces.

My original idea for covering seams was to use stained wood trim strips. I decided instead to scorch and wirebrush the wood. It takes a really long time (especially using just a little plumber's butane torch), but the final look was totally worth it.

I took advantage of my youngest son's pyromaniac tendencies and had him do some of the work...

You can see here I finally covered up the yellow behind the fern with brown paint

I went ahead and bought an entertainment center to keep the wife happy (she was tired of our kids monopolizing our upstairs TV). I had tried for over a year to find something tiki-tastic, but the only pieces I found were way too expensive. I went ahead and purchased a pretty generic piece with the intention of tikifying it myself. I probably won't stick with the reed fencing treatment I used here. As for the TV, I will be camouflaging it later when I get to the finishing work on the room.

The corner where the wall joins the stairwell was a challenge. I couldn't continue the bamboo backing as it wouldn't trim out right. Instead, I've started fitting a 4" bamboo pole to lay flush as a faux support column and cover up that corner. Getting the notching to accommodate the existing trim is going to be tricky (with my limited woodworking skills that is...). It should finally be up this weekend.

So, what does the future hold? I know that I'm going to build hangers for some of the musical instruments on the bamboo pole wall. I need to figure out what I'm doing with the window. I'm thinking about copying the window coverings at Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room. Basically they're just a bamboo frame incorporating reed fencing. They seem fairly simple.

With major construction done, I get to move on to decorating! I've got a bunch of stuff I've been collecting as well as a whole box of stuff I purchased from oceanic arts on a collecting trip not too long ago. I want to add a bunch of foliage. I'm hoping to score a float lamp in the next few weeks to add to the lighting. I also need to figure out what to do about remaining furniture (the papasan chairs gotta go) and covering up the remaining white baseboards with something more attractive.

-mark