Post #735546 by mokan-tiki on Mon, Jan 19, 2015 4:50 PM

Greetings, my name is mokan-tiki...and I'm a tiki-aholic.

I have admired so many other home bars that others have poured their heart and soul into and figured I would finally work up the courage to create an account (after too many years lurking in the forums) and post my own. I know I enjoy pic heavy posts, but didn't want to bog you all down with too much, so I collaged a few of them.

I have had an ever growing collection of tiki ephemera and about ten years ago a buddy of mine helped me build a bar and thus the Flora Lounge was born.

The bar was stained, what little tiki schwag I had was hung.

...but then in March of 2013, I started getting water intrusion in my basement. A little at first, then a lot. Had to suck it up and tear down the walls to see what was going on, and sure enough...cracks in the wall indicated hydro-static pressure from the hillside we have out back. Water was coming through a crack that sat behind the cinder block wall that supports a full masonry fireplace on the floor above. That's where we call a structural engineer and have a foundation company take over.

My wife and I were feeling pressure to get things back up and running, because we had hoped to host a large party for the gender reveal of our first child and we wanted to have it be a tiki-themed reveal. With the foundation work done, and no leaks after several good months of heavy rain, I started rebuilding and improving the Flora Lounge. I demo'd water damaged studwall sections and rebuilt, rehung drywall, mudded and then decided to hang some seagrass matting on the wall and frame it out with stained 1x4, 1x3 and 1x2 just to add some dimension to the walls.

My wife wasn't as gung ho as I was about modifying our basement so I chose this since I can easily remove the trim and matting and the walls are back to normal easy enough. The drop ceiling doesn't really help set the mood, but that's a future struggle.

And here's the finished results...starting with the bar itself.

The backbar with faux floating shelves.

The majority of liquor that I use for cocktails is on the backbar shelves for display. I have two strips of led lighting that run the length of the shelves and I can change the colors manually with a remote or just have it cycle through its colors and control the speed it cycles with the remote. Picked up the strip lighting at Lowes for a reasonable cost, although you can find it cheaper on Amazon if you want to go that route. I myself like instant gratification.

I spray painted metal L brackets and screwed them into the studs. The brown matches the shelves stain well enough you cant see them in the low lighting and the matting covers the the portion screwed into the studs through drywall.

My most memorable mugs made it onto the backbar shelves. And yes, I am also a Lovecraftian, thus the Cthulhu mug and tiki and Innsmouth Fogcutter mug get prominent placement as the tiki bar supplanted my gaming area which was mostly Lovecraft artwork, etc.

And a close up of a chainsaw carving made by a good friend's 15 year old son that he did as a gift for my grand reopening. Alongside it are pics of the proud patriarchs of tiki.

The bar shelves hold more liquor that is either extra stock or just not used heavily, syrups/mixers, bitters, canned juices, the refrigerator for cold juices and garnishes as well as a smattering of glassware. Sorry, its all a bit disorganized at the moment.

The bar unfortunately doesn't have a sink built-in, which is its biggest failing. And I probably would have chosen to make some orginazational changes when building had I known what makes for useful work area when mixing and making more area/shelving for glass/mug storage. The rope lighting hung under the overhang helps to illuminate the bottles in the low light.

To the right of the back bar, I have some shadowboxes I put together representing tiki from my home town of St. Louis and my current home, KC.

On the upper left is a dinner menu/postcards/matchbooks/etc. from Trader Vic's-St. Louis. One the upper right is a luncheon menu/postcards/hotel brochure/matchbooks/photos/etc. from Trader Vic's-St. Louis. Lower middle is various matchbooks/newspaper ads/postcards/swizzle sticks from KC area tiki restaurants such as Kona Kai, Trader Vic's-Kansas City, The Tropics, The Castaway, Bali Hai @ Brettons, etc.

Then we have a panel with a few choice exotica LPs

Outside the bathroom is a large collage of the SHAG Enchanted Tiki Room 50th anniversary postcard set along with a pic of Walt in the Tiki Room.

For our parties, I have a clip of the full garden routine that plays out of an old smartphone that can be attached to the back of the frame so it sounds as if the pictures are talking to you.

Inside the bathroom is all Enchanted Tiki Room items (not out of disrespect, just an inside joke as in my old apartment I had the SHAG 40th anniversary prints hanging up and was told I should expand on that by the same friend who helped me build the bar).

Other items in the room are some mugs from Trader Sams and Kevin Kidney, some vintage photos of Adventureland/The Tiki Room, one of my two Tiki Room LPs, various early Tiki Room sketches from Marc Davis, some wonderground Tiki Room prints and various photos of Walt when the Tiki Room opened. And again, another hidden smartphone plays an audio loop of the full Enchanted Tiki Room show for your entertainment as you "take care of business".

The entryway into The Flora Lounge has on one side a large black velvet painting along with a mishmash of other items

On the other side, a smattering of pictures/items celebrating various Tiki meccas, including the Mai-Kai, as well as some matchbook covers, pics of mixologists Don Beach, Mariano Licudine and Ray Buhen and other items.

Another section of The Flora Lounge, with blacklit floral arrangements, more mugs, and some larger plants.

The glass coffee table underneath holds a Don the Beachcomber cocktail menu along with some pics, coasters, postcards and matchbooks.

The wall panel here contains a smattering of more tribal-esque items and another shadowbox I put together.

This one is of items from the Beverly Hills Luau. It doesn't quite fit in with the other items in this wall panel, but I wanted it to be lit prominently, so I stuck it in there.

Here's a shot alongside the rest of the room. My computer desks sit in the corner and we use the open area to set up a buffet table and punch table for our parties.

Another wall panel holds some monkeyman frames I got way back in the day. They hold albums from Baxter, Denny, Lyman and Edwards.

Then there are some handmade frames for some carvings picked up at the Hala Kaliki giftshop. I put some fabric on foamcore board then attached the lightweight carvings to that and framed it. Looks really good for under $50.

Next wall panel has some old Vargas pinups pulled from old calendars along with a mishmash of cheesecake photos, Alfred Newman's The Magic Islands LP and the cover from an old Trader Vics menu.

The other seating area (less tiki, but more comfy) is surrounded by another large black velvet painting and some mexican feathered bird paintings along with a shadowbox I made of a Kahiki dinner menu as well as one with various Chin Tiki items.

A shot of Pele's chair. I say that since Pele ominously stares down anyone who's looking at whoever is in the chair. A mishmash of Hawaiian items adorn the wall here.

You'll have to forgive the harshness of the pic...the lcd screen on my dslr died, so I was sort of winging these longer exposure shots and this one was overblown thanks to the lamp.

For our parties I have an hour of tropical storms/rainforest sounds looped that plays off an old smartphone and through an old set of speakers hidden behind the chair. I mixed in some volcanic eruption sounds into the clip to remind people in the chair that Pele is watching over them.

This panel has a few Matson menu covers stradling a carving a friend picked up from Maui as a wedding gift along with a smattering of Maori items and a small tribute to Heyerdahl and the Kon Tiki expedition.

Another shot of the bar towards the bathroom.

Some of the drinks served up in The Flora Lounge

and I did say I was a fan of Lovecraft, so from time to time, more horrific cocktail creations are summoned up

When you serve up tropical drinks, the tikiphiles seem to come out to play...

And finally...our gender reveal went smashingly well and the small hawaiian shirt might tip you off to the announcement. We are proud parents to a new little boy. He now just has to grow into the shirt.

Thanks for taking the time to look through the post. I know I definitely get a kick out of seeing the hardwork others put into their home bar creations and there are just a ton of inspirational and creative folks out there on the forums. I appreciate everyone's time, effort and passion and them taking the time to share. If there are any other tikiphiles in the Kansas City area who want to do an informal home bar crawl, I'd find that fascinating.

Mahalo
mokan-tiki

[ Edited by: mokan-tiki 2015-01-20 16:48 ]

[ Edited by: mokan-tiki 2015-01-24 16:31 ]