Post #792785 by leevigraham on Tue, Jan 29, 2019 2:11 PM

On 2019-01-29 10:08, Mariner Mike wrote:
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.

Thanks! I actually kicked off the project by buying 140 bamboo halves for $50 from a local swap and sell site.

They were pretty banged up so I've spent a lot of time sanding them back to remove the varnish. I started hand sanding then after about 10 poles went out an purchased a belt sander which made life sooooo much easier.

• Sanding
• Half sanded poles. I knew I was going to trim the tops

On 2019-01-29 10:08, Mariner Mike wrote:
Any plans to darken up the space during the daytime?

Depending on the heat I plan to keep the tikibar roller door closed. People will enter through the other garage door, close the door and then walk through the curtains. That should keep most of the natural light out. I'm also thinking of adding a water tank outside and hooking up a sprinkler system on the roof. That should keep the heat down and make it sound like it's raining outside.

On 2019-01-29 10:08, Mariner Mike wrote:
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 arts and crafts part of tiki is a huge draw card for me personally… as well as the drinks.

On 2019-01-29 10:08, Mariner Mike wrote:
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.

It was / is an experiment. The curtains are recycled and the paint only cost about $70 all up. It was worth a shot. When I light the bar if it doesn't look good then I'll probably reconsider and maybe change to roll up matchstick blinds like the roof.

[ Edited by: leevigraham 2019-01-29 14:12 ]