Post #792779 by Mariner Mike on Tue, Jan 29, 2019 10:08 AM

Ahoy from (almost) the other side of the world, fellow mustachioed tiki-ite!

First off, kudos on your amazing use of bamboo! I absolutely love the bar facade, it's got a perfect weathered look to it, like it's been in service for years. The cross hatching on the ceiling is a great touch too. I'd love to hear more about your process working with it, bamboo is one of the things I'd love to be able to make better use of.

Any plans to darken up the space during the daytime? Maybe hang some thick curtains behind the garage door (if you can without interfering)? In my first bar I had these heavy duty burlap-y curtains up because there was a lot of natural light, since I've moved to a basement it's an entirely different feel that's really let the lighting shine, if you'll pardon the pun. Of course, nothing wrong with taking advantage of the fact you live in the literal south pacific and just let the natural light dictate the brightness! The weathered bamboo look works great in the full sun so I think you're in a great spot either way.

It's clear how much work you've been putting in on this from the sequence of photos, and it really shows in the product. I often feel that the best tiki pieces are the ones we make by hand, both because then we've got a deeper connection to them and also because they have all the tiny details that make things interesting. The mural curtain is a great example of that. I don't know that I'm brave enough to have gone with the pink myself, but I certainly can't argue with the results. Fantastic job with everything you've done so far, it's already a great space and it still has tons of potential to be even better, depending on how far down the decoration rabbit hole you want to go.