My future home bar (Complete! 12.17.05)

I finally got up enough courage to start my home bar. After talking to a few contractors about building walls and such, I decided to do it myself and save the cash. I couldn't believe what they wanted to charge to put in a couple of walls and outlets!

Since I have not officially started yet I thought I'd show a before pic and see if any of you had any suggestions. I'm thinking of covering up the windows and using all artificial light.

If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. Keep in mind I'm on a pretty tight budget, and the room when complete will only be about 11'x15'.

My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth...

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-11-26 07:34 ]

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-11-26 08:02 ]

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-12-10 17:47 ]

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-12-14 20:21 ]

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-12-17 07:10 ]

I'm in the exact same boat as you. So I'm very curious to see how this project developes. Remember to post lots of photos as you go and to share any information you gather... :)

As far as my recommendations...I would do some sketches of what you hope to accomplish. It has really helped solidify in my own mind what kind of materials I'm gonna need for my project.

Good luck on this redevelopment. I'm sure you'll have a great time making your tropical paradise.

What is you didn't do the walls and just left it open. Save $$$ and give that open feeling. You could still break the room off from the rest by wall treatments stopping at beams and beaded curtains. The room would be used probably later in the day so natural light wouldn't play a part. Bamboo over the window. I don't know. Never did one but will watch you if you post updates.

Hey Finkdaddy,
Smart man saving your cash, You're gonna need it for the booze.
I bet it's going to turn out great!

Hey Fink, I had a little restaurant in the '80s and was on a very tight budget. (I also had health inspectors and fire marshalls to contend with which in a house you won't)

I made use of lots of used corregated steel attached to some walls like paneling. Nicly framed pictures looked really good on the rusty steel.
Also used the rusty steel with that fake roof kinda thing. (a lightly painted ceiling, and the fake eves give the feel of being ooutdoors)

I think the palm leaf palapas might look more Tiki, but in my case the fire issue, mold and insects made the used steel our only choice. (Get your tetnus shot updated)

The steel can be treated with a diluted zink compound to give it a streeky flat green effect that is a bit different.

We had high bar tables and some fake oil drums with tall stools around them. (the drums were painted like some i'd seen in photos from sumatra, but of course they were clean)

You can make some really cool back lighting with the steel too, as of course it's opaque and can hide ugly fixtures and wires.

We turned some walls into the "stacked wooden crates" thing with wierd labels and writing on them in Arabic, French and so on(one hid a large TV)

We went sort-of the safari direction, but with different palms, puffer and sail fish instead of stuffed animal heads, you could become the kahuna of the neighborhood.

If you've ever been to tropical places in (especially 3rd world ones) look thru some old photos for curious stuff you've seen and maybe include some of that to make the place more personal.

I've spent a bit of time in Timor, Fiji, Ecuador and places like that...and there are always stray dogs and chickens around.

Fake chicken (or real ones) seem like they belong in any truly tropical bar.

Another thing I've seen alot were large pieces of wood outside where people would put thier bush knife. ( typically a dirty log placed vertically with several machetes in it)

I hope this is helpfull.

Not to get off topic, but the first thing that came to mind was "you got something against comfortable furniture?" Yikes, you watch movies on that couch? Makes my back hurt just looking at it. You can get a cushioned office chair at K-mart for like $25. :wink:

My second thought: you guys up north got it made with your basements. They're perfect for tiki bars. I grew up in Missouri and everyone had a basement. All that extra room to work with. My Dad would always partition the basement into several rooms. All you need is 2x4s and chalkboard to get started. Unfortunately, we don't have basements down here.

I look forward to seeing how it turns out. :)

too bad monster house already did a house or you could have had them do yours. You know the results.

Good luck. Best thing I ever did was build my tiki bar...

Finkdaddy I love the space, I can't wait to see what you come up with. Will you be keeping your computer in there too?

Fink,

Are those window-wells? or do they lead straight out?

When ever I see windows in a tiki bar, I instantly think of installing some sort of image over the window with a strobe on the other side to create the Enchanted Tiki Room storm effect.

that said, are you gonna dry wall it? because you could just put up the frame with cheap 4x8 paneling. You'll be covering it with bamboo and lauhala anyway, right? That way, you could save some time & money.

I kinda like the bare white walls. Gives it a nice soviet bunker feel.

My idea for windows is get fish tanks made that are the same size as the window. Then you look through the fish tank outside - I reckon this would be cool.

I reckon that rendering that wall in a natural stone colour could work nicely.

Good luck - you're a talented bloke so it should come up tops

Just take your time Finky and read all the Tiki Bar posts here and I'm sure you will end up with a killer bar in the end. Just make sure to keep us posted along the way with many Pix..

Wow, thanks for all the response! To answer a few comments:

Slacks Ferret, I have been doing some sketches, but I have no skill at all with a pencil, so it does little good.

teaKEY, I would like to leave it open too, but I have 4 kids with the oldest being 13, and I'm afraid having an open bar in the basement is just asking for trouble. (Excuse me Josie, where did all my rum go?)

Unga Bunga, saving money is what it's all about. And you're right, the more I save on construction, the more I can spend on fun stuff!

Gigantalope, sounds like your restraunt was cool. Do you have any pics?

Kono, that's actually a futon frame that is folded up into a couch. There is normaly a futon matress that covers that, but it wasn't there in that picture. For some reason there is a Star Wars sleeping bag on it. I am dividing up the whole basement. There has to be a wash room, a storage room, and a bed room in addition to my bar, so space is precious.

Thanatos, thanks. I'm hoping to spend a lot of evenings in there with my wahine and friends so I hope it works out ok.

DawnTiki, no computer in the tiki bar. That, along with most everything else you see will go into the next room over. It will be a rec room/bedroom.

Feelin' Zombified, unfortunately, those windows go straight out. I really like the paneling idea, not only for money reasons, but for labor reasons too!

hewey, our basement gets pretty chilly in the cold months, and most of them are cold months. :wink: So I want to put some insulation between the wall and the rooms.

Benzart, you're right about that. There are a lot of others who have gone before me who all have great results! I'll give lots of pics, I promise.

I'm thinking instead of going with a bright, tropical luau theme, I'd like to go with a mysterious, dark jungle theme. Lot's of mood lighting and sound effects. Any thoughts on what to do with the ceiling?

Thanks again everyone, you're a huge help.

My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth...

[ Edited by: finkdaddy on 2005-04-11 05:05 ]

Don't think too hard on this Finkdaddy...
you are creative enough to just "let it
flow"...and get started already...I'll
drive to Milwaukee for a finkdaddy mai tai
when it's done. I might even bring Menster
Ves along so he can be the first one to
fall on your floor! Or wait...maybe
I'll be the first one!

On 2005-04-11 03:53, hewey wrote:
My idea for windows is get fish tanks made that are the same size as the window. Then you look through the fish tank outside - I reckon this would be cool.

That wouldn't work unless you want to kill your fish right away -- you'd get tons of algae in the tanks and the water temperature would vary too much. Aquariums need to be as far away from sunlight as possible and require a constant water temperature.

The windows don't bother me. They're still fairly small basement windows, so it's not like they're gonna let in tons of light (even if they face south). Like someone else said, you'll be using the bar at night mostly anyway. Right?

For the window in my bar I think I'm gonna add an indoor planter box and trick it out in bamboo. Then I should be able to add a few real tropical plants or flowers. You may want to do this too. Also, get some cheap bamboo blinds that can cover up the windows. I'd imagine they'd look fine in yr bar.

I don't have any new pics yet since there's no obvious changes to show. But I just had some minor plumbing issues taken care of and spent the whole weekend emptying the space. This weekend will be the first actual day of construction. Unfortunately I can't build the walls on the floor and then lift them up and nail them in because my floor is horribly uneven. So I'm going to put in the top plate and sole plates first then square up the 2x4s after that. I've never done this before so we'll see how it goes.

Boy, it took a long time to get started on this. I had to build a bedroom\rec room before I could start on this. Thankfully that turned out ok (I wont bore you with my plumbing nightmare).

Here is where I am as of today.

Not the hugest space, but it's all mine. :wink:

Looks like the future home of a great tiki bar.

Hey Finkdaddy - good to see you making some progress on this one! Can't wait to see it completed.

Glad to see you're making some headway...how exciting! Be sure to keep us posted on your progress.

JG

Glad to ssee you've broken ground on this project. Is it strange that I even love to see how people frame their basements?

good start Finkdaddy...don't cover the studs...just carve
them into a million tikis...

My neighbo somehow got the OK to take what he wanted out of Milwaukee's own Mai Kai which closed down several years ago.I guess this bamboo has been sitting in my neighbor's storage space for a few years and when he found out I was building the bar he donated it all to me with the understanding that he would be invited to all future parties! Lake Surfer posted a bit of info about it in this thread http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6606&forum=1&vpost=63698&hilite=A-frame
I'm going to use it to surface the out sides of the actual bar when it's built. I can't wait to get moving on this!

My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth...

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-09-14 16:28 ]

Sweet!

Nice score Finkdaddy. Already got good tiki karma in the materials. Cool. Even better, that bamboos gonna make a nice conversation piece when the bar is finished. I reckon you should hang a pic of the original bar behind your bar, so you can show folks where the bamboo came from. Keep workin at it buddy!

Very cool that your bar will have some history. Our former home bar (The Rincon Room) was only 9'6" X 11' so you should have plenty of room......unless you have a big party. Keep the pics coming.

When I said weeks ago to "take your time" I Really did not mean it!. Looking good so far. It is something that is "All Yours" and you will be Super Proud of for a long time. Just keep posting progres shots and we will be OK.

Thanks everybody! It's coming along nicely. Yesterday I got a huge shipment of stuff in from Oceanic Arts that will go up hopefully this weekend. I will post the new pics Sunday evening, after the next stage of construction is complete.

Gman, Mahalo!

Hewey, That sounds like a good idea! I wonder how hard it will be to find a photo?

Bongofury, It's small, but it's all mine. :) You're all invited too!

Benzart, I know it's been slow coming. My personal life was turned around for a little while. But all is back on track and I'm back in the saddle again. :D

On 2005-09-21 15:34, finkdaddy wrote:
Benzart, I know it's been slow coming. My personal life was turned around for a little while. But all is back on track and I'm back in the saddle again. :D

Well, hurry up already! :)

Good to know everything is on the straight and narrow again man.

Cant wait to see it done. You got the touch, so your bar should be something special. They say Rome wasnt built in a day. Well, you dont have to worry about any viaducts or such contraptions, so a day is feasible?

haha

That bamboo doesnt realy look like a tiki bar ...but Im sure with your skills It will be transformend into a great one...

Finkdaddy -- Great score, braddah! I can't wait to see more progress pics.

Josh
http://www.whollycatsband.com

Installed the wiring and put up a lot of the drywall. The empty spaces you see are pieces that are still in the garage because they are soon to receive a lauhala surface.

That's my daughter hamming it up in the doorway. :)

I worked all weekend and I didn't get half as far as I thought I would. Man, drywall is tedious. :roll:

I just started to drywall my garage, if your gonna do the ceiling rent a lift is all i can say. Its looking good so far.
In no time you will be intoxicated in your own sweet home bar.

Thanks everybody! I just wish there were more hours in the day so I could just finish the damn thing! :lol:

After work I installed the speakers because I hope to start painting this weekend. They sound sweet!

I'll give you all 3 guesses as to what the very first song was that I played in the tiki bar just moments ago...

My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth...

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-09-27 18:58 ]

quiet village?

On 2005-09-27 16:30, kirby wrote:
quiet village?

Good guess. I only played 3 songs, and that was number 2.

Cool man! Keep at it! It still needs a little more tiki-ness though :)

Im sure its gonna be another Fdaddy masterpiece

finky...you played your favorite tune by Don Tiki! Or
that should be with a ?

Tiki Bar Crawl

Hey!

I've been sleeping at the wheel because I missed the update on this thread... very happy to see things are moving along. I'm jealous :D can't wait to see more progress pics.

-Z

On 2005-09-27 17:54, congatiki wrote:
finky...you played your favorite tune by Don Tiki! Or
that should be with a ?

Nope, although they will be a regular sound here.

Here's a clue:

... :music: I'm such a happy boy in my tiki shirt :music: ...

Finished some painting. The ceiling is all going to be covered with the reed fencing you see. I painted it first because you see through the fencing pretty easily. The wall that is entirely green will be completely covered with bamboo, again I painted first because there is a lot of wall that shows through the bamboo. The unpainted sections will be covered with lauhala. You don't know what bad odor is until you've covered your walls and ceiling with contact cement! :roll:
Thanks for looking!

Wow, that is green!!!

It's looking good though. Keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming. It's fun to see the progress.

Thats a lot of green! Good to see some progress.

I know it looks like a lot of green right now, but the majority of it will be covered with light colored reed, bamboo, or lauhala. Only a small section on three of the walls between the ceiling and the matting will be all green, and even that will be covered with lots of art and tikis. Just picture the whole ceiling, back wall and the bottom half of the other three walls the color of that reed fencing. It will be very bright I believe. :D

How about you just hurry up and finish it so we dont have to use our brains?

:)

hey Finkdaddy! looking great! on my monitor, your room looks like it was painted in Tiki Central Green ~

looks a billion times different than your first post!