From shipping crate to tiki bar (pic heavy)

What do you do with a huge old wooden shipping crate? You turn it into a tiki bar housewarming gift for your bro-in-law of course.

This is the crate on my back patio. It's 8.5ft long, 3ft deep and a perfect 42 inches high. It's 1 inch tongue-n-groove construction and its mounted on an extra wide beefy shipping pallet, so the bottom is lifted off the ground by 5 inches. The curious guy on top of the crate is my 17 yr old bar building helper "Fuzzbutt":

The crate in my garage. I've gone over it with a palm sander to smooth out any rough areas. I've taken off the backside panel and the sides are double thick:

This is the plywood that will be the tabletop. This was the biggest challenge of the project. The original tongue-n-groove top had warped boards and would be too hard to smooth out, and it would then have grooves that would need to be covered with a big piece of glass for a solid surface - not an option. I wanted a 3 inch overhang on the sides, and an 11 inch overhang along the bar front so people could eat there also. I had to go with a mammoth 4 x 10 sheet of 3/4 inch ACX plywood. The X means that the plywood glue is waterproof and will not delaminate in the weather. Here's the bottom side with a coat of tinted green primer:

These 2 pieces of plywood will make up the interior walls and will separate the box into 3 chambers and support the tabletop. All the wood inside and out will have a good coat of primer and semi-gloss latex paint to protect it from the weather:

The box and top with paint:

My first mistake. I had the 4 main bamboo poles cut 4 inches too small when I got them from Bensons Imports. I wanted 7 ft to the canopy base, so they were cut at 6ft 8inches to account for the bottom pallet. I forgot that the bartender will actually be stepping up into the middle of this bar, and you want plenty of head clearance. So I added these 4 inch wood blocks that I bracketed to the floor:

All the brackets will be double nutted to prevent loosening:

I recessed the outer bolt heads so that the future matting will lay flat:

I have to add this. Please use the proper safety stuff when cutting and drilling. I have safety glasses too. Be safe:

Heres the bartop installed with my cutouts for the bartender and main poles:

The backside view with inner walls:

I attached the bartop to the base with these smaller brackets. I used 22 on the inside and 10 on the outside. I also had to have good support for the 11 inch overhang. I was able to use these 2 large L brackets that will be covered with split bamboo later:

This is the canopy base bolted up. I used 1/4 inch hex bolts:

I used 2 inch L brackets to make the A frames:

The finished canopy:

The canopy with thatch on. I got a large bag of white zip ties and used a lot. I got the thatch from Oceanic Arts because on thier 4 x 3 ft pieces they give you an extra 6 inches on the bottom for free. It's nice to have extra and trim it, then the other way around:

This is the trim I found at Lowe's that will edge the bartop. It's called "Greek Alphabet" but it looks tiki to me:

I installed the trim with wood glue but added some trim nails for added security:

I feel a personal touch for the future bar owner makes it that much more special to them. For this bar, my bro-in-law has a boat and loves boating, so I decided to make him a ships wheel glass rack to go up in the canopy. I used an old table top that I cut in half. I downloaded a ships wheel pic off the internet and laid out the basic design, then cut out the wheel:

After sanding and staining golden oak:

I painted his families names on the wheel with red and metallic gold paint pens. I gave them all pirate/nautical rates. I had to cut one spoke off to offset the future glass rack to the bartenders right. Here's the wheel bolted up but not spar varnished yet:

This is my favorite:

The bar with lauhala matting and split bamboo trim added. The top has been stained golden oak and has 3 coats of marine spar varnish, lightly sanded with 220 grit between coats:

I added a shelf under the left side but forgot a pic, and I left the middle and right sides for my bro to add shelves or coolers or whatever he wants.

The finished bar delivered to my bro's house in Corona, Ca. just in time for his New Years Eve party:

You can see the glass rack here. We draped some fishnet and tiki lights above the wheel in the canopy:

Add some red rope light under the bartop and its party time:

Great Job!!! Love the extra special touches.
And FuzzButt looks pretty spry for his age.

Happy New Year!! How was the party??
:drink:

Very nice! Make me one now.

Nice work. I dig people putting out the effort to create. Very cool.

Excellent Bar!! Now WHO could look at thet bar and say" Aw, it ain't nuthin but an old shipping crate all dolled up to look like a bar." No one could do that. What a transformation. Thanks for all the step-by-step pictures, now if I can only find a shipping crate...

Aloha bruddah!
Looks great! Nice job brah...And, you know a packing crate is "Island" style!!! When my dad was growing up on Lana'i back in the 30's (a son of a pineapple farmer), they used to use da kine just like that every day! It was hard back then to get furniture & stuff from the mainland and a packing crate would have been perfect for all kine uses! Although my Dad built a new garage last year on the family home in Lana'i city, the old "garage", wash house and tool shed were made & filled with all kine stuff like your packing crate! So keep collecting & building da kine brah! Looks Pono and Id love to sit down and have you make me some ono kine drink!

Malama Pono!

Nice bar!

I like the way you attached the upright bamboo supports to the inside, very good idea.

I bet your brother-in-law was tickled pink when he saw that!

Thanks for the inspiration!

Your brother in law is a very lucky guy to get a gift such as that. You did a very nice job.
JP

Thank you so much everybody for the kind words. I enjoyed making it, but giving it to him was way better.

Moki - I also have Fuzzbutts 17 yr. old sister Cassie, my 16 yr old dog Molly, and would you believe a 5 yr old rabbit Pepper? I can only hope to be so lucky.
Oh yeah, I set up the bar the day before and couldn't make the party as I had to work. My wife took the last few pictures. She was invaluable in giving me an extra set of hands during the project and couldn't have done it without her. When the warm weather returns we are looking forward to going over to light the tiki torches and share some rum.

Great work!

Cool bar man! From such humble beginnings came such a cool bar. Very nice - ya bro musta been absolutely stoked - I would be

I agree with the other... Great bar! Great work! Great pictures! i guess the party went pretty well too...

great work!!!! most people would've busted it up and just thrown the crate away, but you turned it in to something awesome looking!! great work and great pics!! i hope your brother-in-law gets lots of use and enjoyment outta it!

That is a very cool looking bar!

sensational transformation!!! and an even better step-by-step photo collection and detailed description. it is fantastic to see not only the effort put into the bar but also in the post for everyone else to see and drool over. keep sharing these brilliant works!

That Tiki bar is absolutely brilliant and your bro-in-law is VERY, VERY lucky!

I made a Tiki bar just recently as well (no thatched roof like yours though)... I'll have to post pics once the whole set up is complete!

To make SOMETHING that incredible out of a crate??!.... Just proves how talented you are!!

That's one homemade tiki bar to be TRULY proud of!! Just amazing! Love the glass holder idea as well!

I used a packing crate and built the world's cheapest tiki bar this weekend...picked up the crate Friday night, trips to OA and Lowes on Sat and by Sunday afternoon it was ready to use.

Materials:
Bought

(3) 1 1/2" X 12' Split Bamboo from OA $4.25 ea ..............$12.75
(2) 1" X 6" #2 Pine Boards @ Lowes $3.75 ea $7.50
(2) 1" X 3" X 6' Clear Pine $3.50 ea $7.00
(1) 3/4"X21"X6' Pine top @ Lowes $10.80 $10.80
(1) 3'X 6' Lauhala Mat @ OA $12.00 $12.00

Had Already

Tiki Bar Sign (Christmas gift) $0
Screws (leftovers) $0
Mastic (glue) " $0
Stain " $0
Beach Mat ..freebie... $0

Total Spent $50.50

Most of the assembly/staining was done in about 4 hours on Sat afternoon...finish up a couple hours on Sunday...

Yes...in the back it is still pretty much a shipping crate...I added the shelf using leftover plywood from the crate.

Last coat of urethane on Sunday

Printed the tapa design out from the net...That's pretty much it
A shade over $50 bucks, a few hours labor and voila...

...

awsome thanks for posting...

Can I have the crate that you ship it out in?
Cool bar.