Post #775546 by RanchoMahalo on Tue, May 2, 2017 10:19 AM

Okay - now for the big reveal - here are some photos of the finished space.

The new home for the old bar - with seating area. The bar stools came from an old restaurant and came with the bar when I got it from Franco. I cleaned up and refinished the bar after it had been sitting outside in storage - and painted it with a sealer that deepened up the color of the bamboo. The chairs and couch were also the same one's from the old place - and I had them reupholstered. The entire space is built from cedar - from the floors to the roof and the big rough sawed beams that make up the structure and the huge beams in the ceiling. This is taken with a wide angle lens to get it all in, which makes it look massive - but it is a pretty big and airy space.

Here is a tighter shot of the bar area - the custom tiki mask carvings were done by Bill Collins on Kauai from palm trunks he harvested from the Coco Palms Resort. I'll post some some shots of the making of those a little further down. It was the first time he had done something like that. Then I had my friend here in Austin who is a neon sign artist make the brackets that hold them to the wall, that have gold neon tubes in them that shine through and backlight the masks, giving a really great ambient glow. The neon light is so warm and throws off a lot of the gold color out there on the wall. We framed out the area behind the bar with a darker bamboo, and covered the window to the kitchen in the big bamboo as well. I hid some purply-blue led light underneath the edge of the bar so it shoots some cool color down the bamboo of the bar

A view from the dining room table - another custom piece from a friend of ours who is a furniture designer out in Marfa in West Texas - a really big, modern design - also finished in cedar wood. You can see the underside of the swag lamp that Woody made for us hanging over the table with all the bits of shells, glass and bamboo suspended in the amber resin. We have dinner out here way more than we do inside - since the weather in Austin is so good for most of the year. Even in the hot months, it cools down in the evenings out there - between the big fan and the high ceiling. And since its all screened in, you can catch a breeze - and you don't have to worry about bugs biting you.

a higher view

From the bar looking back at the yard - those big geometric carved panels above the sliding barn doors are from Oceanic Arts - as is the Moai carving in the bottom right

Its a beautiful space to hang out in, and I love ending my day out there, watching the fireflies light up in the backyard and listening to some exotica or quiet slack key guitar... a Mai Tai or two helps too - since Austin still doesn't have a proper tiki bar, I had to build my own - but its open all hours and I always can find a good seat at the bar!