The Rongorongo Room - home bar (water-damaged Dec 06)

Come downstairs into The Rongorongo Room ~ my seattle home tiki bar ~ a work in progress

The room is 13'x16' with a low (7') ceiling. its been painted in the color Bamboo
the closet

closet, painted with another shelf installed.

with the bar

back of the bar ~ hm. needs booze!

Windows to the Front Yard

odd interior windows (light fixture to be replaced with homemade tapa lighting, just as soon as i figure out the jigsaw!)

turned into faux fishtanks, with lights!

fireplace serves a new purpose, Glacier's hiding space.

Tiki from Fast Eddie in Seattle

chairs need new covers (on order from Kelly's Vintage)

Fishnet

mantle

your advice is welcome!
elicia

[ Edited by: dogbytes 2005-08-22 15:31 ]

[ Edited by: dogbytes 2006-12-21 21:41 ]

That window/fishtank idea was sheer genius!
Watch out for this tho'!

if it looks that good while it's in progress, then i can't wait to see it finished. i think it looks great so far. keep posting pics of the progress.

Good looking start to your tiki bar! Amazing how quickly a plain room can be changed into a hidden paradise.

Is that Al traped in a fish tank? :)
Elicia!
That looks like a very special "escape" you have there.
An excellent project of inspiration.
Submit it to Critiki. Humuhumu needs new ones.
Thanks for sharing

Shows Lots of promise. I LOVE the Fish tanks.(i used to have salt and fresh water tanks)Looks like a Large room big enough for Grand parties. Love it

I'm going to be repetitious and tell you how phenomenal those fish tanks look!!! What a perfect idea-can't wait to see it all tricked out-what a fantastic start,and thanks for sharing!

Glacier needs a tapa covered pillow in the fireplace. :)

One more thing. At the bottom of the stairs , covering the window, Or drawn on the wall behind the curtain Or??? What izzit

Elicia, it looks wonderful! What a change from when I last saw it. It looks quite cozy and comfortable, a great place to relax with a cocktail. Only advice I would give: more plants!

Maybe add bamboo, tapas or matting for the stairwell.

Otherwise, looks beautiful.

looks absolutely fabuloso. thank you so much for sharing your photos. we are about to embark on our journey to properly tikify a room. im sure you will enjoy countless hours in that new haven of yours.

:tiki:

thanks for the kind words, everyone!

Feelin' Zombified: tapa dog bed..i can do that!

Benzart: at the bottom of the stairs is a bamboo curtain (its an oddly placed, load bearing beam in front of the closet ~ but as soon as i saw it, i knew how to use it!

it's the entry for the bartender to step behind the bar

Humuhumu: live or faux plants? the windows face east. i'm not a green thumb, but the spider plants seem to be doing well. have any suggestions for low-light, easy care tropical-ish plants? i'm going to look at your instructions to build a coconut palm. i thought of you when i visited ArchieMcPhee's.. they RENT trees that look 1/16th as good as the ones YOU made.

Christiki: agreed! the stairwell is pretty plain, i'm filling up the main area first, and will move upwards. the ceiling of the stairwell is slope-y and im having a hard time envisioning how to affix things to it. we didnt want to paint the whole that wierd ceiling.. i 'won' an ebay auction from AnDru the long spears that might help liven up the area!

I like, I like.

Nice looking tiki bar room. Nice and cozy and lots of good ideas.

What a rockin' pad!
The bar itself looks great, and it really looks like the kind of place you could spend many an evening in. Looks like you just need a trip to the local rum dealer!

Trader Woody

Dogbytes, were you at the NW Tiki Crawl? Mr. TikiBar did a simply stunning job on the stairway leading down to his basement bar, and he might have some ideas for you.

Thanks dogbytes, I love it. where can I get one of those screens?

Re: plants, I'd make them fake, but that's because I can't be trusted to remember to water the poor things.

The low light is a concern, most plants you put down there will tend to be more pale & leggy than they would be in an ideal lighting situation--they'll look decidedly un-tropical. I know plenty of outdoors exceptions, but I know less about indoor low-light plants. There's a common plant used in offices that is a kind of corn, its common name is Janet Craig. They look passably tropical, and are hardy as all get-out. They'd probably do fine in the low light. (Note to non-Seattlites: the pictures dogbytes has posted may look bright & airy, but let me assure you: in Seattle, even a south-facing windowsill is pretty darned low light, and having been to her house, it's gonna be really low light for the plants in there.)

The great thing about poor lighting is it's that much harder to tell the plants are fake. If you want to shell out some big bucks, Ethan Allen sells some rather nice fake plants. I bought everything I needed to make my palm trees at Display & Costume Supply up by Northgate. (Except for the fake coconuts, those came from Hawai'i General Store on 45th. Oh yeah, and the pipe, flange & dowel, those came from Home Depot.) Here are the instructions:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7060&forum=7

Most of the fake flowers & whatnot I picked up at the Michael's up by Alderwood Mall, they've got a huge selection of crappy silk flowers, and a small selection of really nice ones.

About Corn Plant (a Draecena really)...it's poisonous to pets! Don't know if Cicely and Glacier are chewers.
Another vote for fake plants.

Benzart: here's a thread
bamboo curtains

another nice one
hula girl

and of course, there's always ebay.

humuhumu should chime in here, because the one she had was beautiful and well made!

very nice selection if you do a google froogle search

edited to spell humuhumu's name right so she didnt have to make the correction :)

[ Edited by: dogbytes on 2004-07-23 01:01 ]

Elicia,
Beautiful pad, you do great work. Fishtanks, closet bar, Tapa dogbeds, cool ideas. I love the furniture. It all came out real well.

Plain Stairwell?

I say go with stone for that grotto look.

I like the net on the stairway

Needs bamboo

I did this bamboo screen look on a short wall in my bar, it looks cool. I first saw it in the Bond movie "Dr No"


Your bar is rad.
Mahalo,
Al

its been a year since some of you have seen the Rongorongo Room. We've had a few Tiki Centralites visit us ~ here are pictures for you who can only visit us virtually!

taking in lots of advice and buying wonderful art from some of the folks here on Tiki Central. here's what we've done so far:

Stairwell~ using single ply woven bamboo plywood and a electric staple gun and Corobuff Tapa

Heather Watts print, framed by Taboo Dan & Tiki by Kirby

Seamus

Polypop made this plaque

Sign by Woofmutt~ who has no website so you have to bug him in person and ply him with drinks so he'll make you stuff. this is made of foam and it's reversable!

the backside

the fine print says "wasting away again in Margarita-ville" and "international buffett boosters"

Craigslist finds!

come in, sit down!

the haywood-wakefield chairs have been recovered. i put woven bamboo plywood over the glass door, the perfect place to hang my Chongolio! A tapa cloth covers the TV set.

Here are some additional pictures: Sabina's post and Sabina's Gallery

Nice getaway Dog. Sweetness

YAY!

New pix! Looks wonderful!

Keep 'em coming.

Dogbytes, it was nice meeting you back at Oasis 5. Your place really looks great. Excellent decorating!

A-A

DB, I love it! Isn't the Roll o' Tapa great?

Looks great Dogbytes! I love the faux fish tanks and that's one impressive art collection too!

WHat a place to relax! amazing bar, dogbytes. I too am impressed with your art collection...and that sign and entry way is an excellent way to welcome friends. thanks for sharing

We spent a very enchanted evening with dogbytes & her husband, along with puamana & Selector Lopaka, while we were in Seattle. The Rongorongo Rickey is a real treat -- tasty and refreshing! The tasty tarts were delish. The Rongorongo Room is even cozier and more welcoming than the pictures suggest. The plants added the perfect touch. The patio is coming along nicely, too!

Thanks so much for having us!

I'd just like to add that the RongoRongo Room kicks Okole! I had the pleasure of a visit in March, and can't wait to relax in tiki heaven again this June!
Thanks for the great step-by-step pics, your bar is perfect!

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine 2006-05-23 15:55 ]

Sweetness. See there is sunshine in Seattle!!!

On 2004-07-21 21:24, dogbytes wrote:
... live or faux plants? the windows face east. i'm not a green thumb, but the spider plants seem to be doing well. have any suggestions for low-light, easy care tropical-ish plants?

Love the bar!

East facing windows will offer enough light to grow orchids. Orchids are exotic enough to add beauty to the room and can be found cheap enough that if they die you can get more.

Seattle had a big windstorm on Dec 14th, and we've been without electricity for 7+ days. and we had flooding in the basement level so we've been staying at the Downtown Red Lion. (including Trader Pup, who enjoys being an Urban Canine)

the water damage specialists came and i left the house because it was warmer to sit in my jeep. and honestly i didnt want to know what they were doing.

they took out the carpet, linoleum, baseboards, they cut into the walls removing 12" of sheetrock along most of the walls. mygod, they moved an entire shelf of tiki mugs without taking anything off.. it was wobbly just sitting there in the middle of the room. so i packed up the mugs...and brought all the booze upstairs..everytime they dropped a crowbar, i winced. half the furniture from the Rongorongo Room is in my living room, there are giant fans blowing and dehumidifiers running for the next 72 hours.

so another home tiki bar has been taken down and wont be put back together for at least 7 weeks. drains must be installed along the back wall which will require jackhammers in my house. swell.

at least i'll be able to update my pictures, and hopefully the RongoRongo Room will rise to glory again. soon.

Wow i was wondering how ya'll were doing, sad news about the RongoRongo room, do you have power yet? Up here on the island we only lost power for 25 hours, guess we were damn lucky...
Have a Merry Christmas!~Stiki Tiki

That's terrible news!!! is the furniture and all the great art you have going to be able to be repaired?

I hope you have a dry spell for a long while

AAARGH! That sucks! I hope everything works out okay for you guys. Despite the setback please have a wonderful holiday season.

Not the RongoRongo Room! Say it ain't so!

If there's anything I can do to help, give me a call.

thanks all ~ our power was restored at 4:30 this afternoon. my "stuff" is all ok, its just the house that was water damaged.

the clean-up crew did an amazing amount of wall/flooring/baseboard removal especially with so much stuff to move out of the way. they worked for 10 hours ~ and hauled all the debris away. they worked in the cold, damp rooms ~ they used light fueled by a generator.

todd n i emptied the bar and packed up the mugs, and they asked 'are those steins or somthing?" so i got to explain tiki mugs, easter island and hawaiian things. heh, he thought we were afraid to let them move the booze.. but its the ceramics we were worried about!

we'll just celebrate christmas in February. so ya'll have time to wrap a gift for me.

OMG! that's horrible! Hope everything works out!

Hey Lady!
Let me know if there's anything I can do for you.
I didnt have any damage thank goodness, but I was out from Thurs-Mon. which sucked.
I will try my darned-est to get my dang house in shape so everyone can come over and be warm and dry and share some Burien Hooch outta the Ohana Hut.
Sweetpea

What a drag! I'm so sorry. Nobody ever sings "...I'm dreaming of a Wet Christmas..."

I'll keep my fingers crossed everything gets back to normal quickly. Please post a picture of Trader Pup in a Santa Hat so we know your holidays are still merry. You know, something like this...

a few pix of the room ~ it'll be a mess till feb, then the drains will be installed, then the flooring and walls will be restored. the worst damage is in my computer room. still feeling very lucky that none of the stuff was harmed.