working on tiki bar ( lots of pics)

In between cooking, and eating turkey, My husband I worked on our yet to be name tiki bar/lounge.
I had started on transforming our game room a little more than a year ago. I had been collecting tiki items when I found them for some time, but just sort of mixed them in with the rest of the stuff in the house.
Moving furniture around in the game room revealed a shared wall with the bathroom had started to dissolve. The wall had to be removed, the bathroom remodeled, so why not make the switch over to a full room devoted to my consuming past time?
Seemed like it would be an easy thing to do at first. Shoot, all I needed to do was purchase some palm matting and wrap the walls, right?? Boy, was I ever naive! :)
First off I found that I couldn't handle the matting by myself. Natural products just do not conform all the easily to my square walls. Had to enlist the help of my hubby for that task.

I had
matting left over so with a little Hawaiian bark cloth and a staple gun I covered the bar.

Then since I couldn't find any glass float lights that I could afford I made my own out of glass blown gazing balls.
Then I had this left over cabinet with a mannequin in it from a different project as I turned him into a very pale pirate.(which I gave a tan too now, and lost the lame skull and crossed bones on the case)

From there I spent the rest of my time hunting for more and more items to fill the room. Not an easy task around here. Many trips into surrounding states, has yield a few nice things, which I then piled on my husbands pool table waiting for time and inspiration.


Then earlier this fall I got a burst of inspiration and started back in on decorating. I bought some lovely carved panels and refinished them.
Some of which I hung in the bathroom just off the tiki room
Then I decided to borrow my dads router and try to do some of my own trim work. Here is a peek of some of the trim now mounted on the walls.and the homemade float lights. (have to hide cords yet)

I had a water fountain in my tropical plant bed this summer that I moved inside, and here is a look at that.
I also re-did the shelves behind the bar to hold some of my mug collection, added bamboo trim.

I also decided that the palm matting looked too new, so I rubbed a golden brown stain over all the walls.
I still have 3 more 8 ft. sections of trim to route and stain tomorrow, and need to put my mugs on the shelves and a bout a million other things, but here is where I am as of today.
At some point in the future I need to do something with the lower half of my walls. This room is half in and half out of the ground, so the lower half is cement block. For the time being it is covered in Faux bamboo sheets that I picked up at a party goods store. Cheap and slightly cheesy, but I plan to eventually staple matting to plywood sheets and mount them over the block--unless someone has a better idea.
Hopefully I will have a good name for my bar after my Dec.3rd Holiday open house. We're having a contest to name the bar in conjunction with the tropical Christmas theme. Tomorrow I will try and add pictures of the tropical
Christmas tree in the front window that sits in a pool of sand....
Thanks for looking in and reading my late night ramblings,
Mel

Looks like fun, when will cocktails be served?

That's looking great! Call me wierd, but I love the green bar top. It reminds me of the kitchen table we had when we were growing up.

hey Mel...nice work so far....your carved panels look great...and it's a nice touch to have the
shower right in the tiki bar...let's see.....two mai tais....shower.....two more mai tais....shower...
and so on!

You crack me up conga!

Can't wait to see it in person next Saturday!

Your place is looking really great exotica!
Thanks for posting all the pictures.

I think I am finally done with the bar area of the room.



Ready to serve drinks at next weekends party. Hope to see you there!

Lets see... South Seas Christmas, sudden push to finish tiki bar. I get it. And, you've got it. That's a heck of a nice job you've done there. Great looking bar! Let us know what you name it.

YES, Really nice job with the bar. Makes me thirsty just lookin. I can smell the grass from here, Thanks.

Looks fantastic... thanks for sharing!

Wish I had the space o try sometn=hing like your project. Congrats on a supurb job. Look like it will be enjoyed for may years to come.

Your bar looks wonderfull! Nice job!

Hey Mel,
Wow the place looks great. Can barely wait to check it out in person. We are still planning on stopping out this Saturday, but won't be able to stay too long, because we working the mechandising table for our friends Los Straitjackets who are doing their Christmas Show with the Fabulous Pontani Sisters & Kaiser George at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn on Friday and Saturday nite.
See Ya,
The Vastas