Post #772579 by Ragbag Comics on Tue, Jan 31, 2017 3:41 PM

Hey all-

Thanks for the nice compliments! Glad you're enjoying the progress so far... we're certainly enjoying making that progress!

Tipsy - thanks for the tip! This one actually came from Hollywood Mirror, but probably 5 years ago. He'd been sitting on it for awhile and was ready to make a deal so we swooped in... it was in a window display there that summer. Maybe our timelines are crossed? We had it in Chicago for at least 2-3 years before schlepping him up here. Maybe he had another one at home, or a line to another? Regardless, it's a really cool piece!

We made a wee bit of progress over the weekend, nothing too dramatic. We were going to wait for the electrician and to put in a new ceiling but decided perhaps, with the proper plug-in and battery-powered lights, we can get the effect we want NOW and do the heavy stuff later on if we decide it's necessary. Once ya get on a roll, ya know...

So... I'm in the process of re-wiring some lamps, turning some other things into lamps that never WERE lamps, and some other fun stuff. But in the meantime, we opted to get some things up on the wall in the first corner you approach as you come down the stairs.

Some people are less likely to come down those stairs than others...

We started by putting up some burlap, matting, and bark cloth on the first two walls as you enter...

The gorgeously painted Abelam mask is from Dave Hansen at Lake Tiki. We had him make it for us a YEAR ago! Now it has a home.

We made these window screens out of a big pile jade green Chinese tiles we scored on Craigslist a year or so ago:

They're wired to the bamboo, with the rope tied over that. Turned out pretty good, I think. We'll be making two more of these screens for the other two windows. I also plan to buy window tint for the three windows, and may put some small, low-wattage lights in there. Contemplating the possibility of hanging some piranhas and other taxidermied tropical fish, but I fear that may be corny.

The war club I found online years ago... it's vintage Oceanic Arts. Based on the story I heard from the guy I bought it from, it MAY have come from the Cincinnati Kon Tiki Ports. He lived there, and got this from an auction from a "restaurant that closed in the 80's." We also spotted the SAME war club on a postcard from there. The staining and wear on ours is oddly identical to where the club is placed on the far back wall in this image:

A close-up:

Maybe just a coincidence, but it's fun to think about!

Here's a shot of this corner altogether... the mugs and stuff were just random ones we pulled out of the back room. They'll be in desperate need of reorganization soon.

Next step is to get the hanging lamps rewired for this corner, finish the window screens, add some more bamboo trim along the ceiling, and just generally get this area in order.

The lighting is the biggest issue right now, but I hope to rectify soon.

Lights on:

Lights off:

We'll get there...

Then there's a LOT of work to do behind the bar, we have to build mug shelves on the main wall, and we need to build some kind of wall bump-out to conceal our electrical boxes (nothing quite takes you out of your little slice o' tropical paradise like a big ol' circuit breaker.)

More soon!

--Pete