Post #748483 by KonaKaiBaby on Sun, Aug 2, 2015 10:00 PM

Well, I feel like we've come far enough in our tiki bar-building journey that I can post a few pics. We're definitely not totally finished yet (will we ever really be finished?), but we've made enough progress that I can share. Thanks to everyone for all of the great ideas! My main inspiration and tiki love is Kona Kai in Philly, where I practically grew up as a kid. I wanted to recreate in miniature a little of the magical feeling I always got when we went there.

Our challenges were that our budget was limited, the room is relatively small (about 17 X 11), the ceilings are quite low, and the wood stove takes up a good bit of space. But our assets were that the stone floors were already in there when we bought the house, and I'm pretty stubborn and persistent when I get going on a project! :)

The first step was to clean out the room, which was no small feat. We'd been using it as a music room/library, so there were literally thousands of books, LPs, and 45s. Thousands...sooooo many.... They were supposed to all be moved into the room across the hall (my new treatment space/office), but we found out my mom now has to move in with us for a year or so until my husband builds her a tiny house next spring/summer. But the tiki bar would not be stopped, so I've put most of the books and misc furniture in storage for now.

I stained the LP holders and my old IKEA corner plant shelf that now holds the scorpion bowls etc. I don't know how to work a router & he doesn't have time, so I made my first foray into woodburning.

We got a home bar in great shape from some sweet guys restoring a gorgeous old farmhouse inn...it used to be the registration desk back in the day! It kinda reminded me of all the nautical-themed cocktail lounges my parents took me to when I was a kid & I didn't want to cover it up. So I left it pretty much as is. Maybe I'll embellish it more later, but just added an LED light strip for now.

I originally wanted to do the ceiling and all the walls in matting & paneling, but as many wise folks here pointed out, giant wood stove+matting=tiki inferno. So I came up with some fun paint schemes for the areas closer to the stove. I did the ceiling in a starry night design and brought it down the walls adjacent to the stove with a gradient tropical twilight kind of effect.

The starryness is pretty subtle, so it doesn't show up too well in the photos, but I like the bit of twinkle.

Once that was up, we could erect the bar shelves/counter/cabinet my husband had built for me, and I stained and finished them. And get all of the lighting in place. I wanted to do a ton of swag lamps, but the ceilings are so low! We kept whacking our heads on them! So I did a few swag on the perimeter, and added in some 60s-esque wall lights and a few little table lamps.

Our puffer light (I named him Al) arrived with damaged wiring, so I can't get him to work yet. But he's still a cutie :wink:

The long sconces were removed from a guest room at the Poly in the 2003 renovation. My first husband (who passed away in 2004) and I were married at the Poly in 1992, when I was 19. So I tried to fit in some nostalgic touches here and there, like some authentic signs I got off of eBay. We had to make one of our Crazy Al's switchplates look a little drunken to get it to fit :)

I also have 2 of the pillow shams from this Poly pic, but haven't figured out how to work them in yet.

Then we moved in all of the mugs, mounted the tapa, put up bamboo blinds, added some other little touches we've collected along the way, and voila! The Hokulani Lounge is born! :)

My purple Bob from Wendy, nestled between my vintage Kona Kai mugs!

Had a house concert at our place on Friday, and gave a few friends a sneak preview. The puffer came as a surprise!

Stuff we still have to do in the coming weeks: add torched bamboo planks and half rounds for chair rail, trim, framing out sections; refurbish the bamboo armchair we trash-picked; add a bunch more foliage (probably silk, as it's awful dark for tropicals down there), add a bit more lighting (esp around bar area), a couple more bar stools, get some larger masks.

Thanks for looking! Stop by if you're ever in Vermont. And everyone here is invited to the grand opening Rockabilly Luau birthday bash on September 12!