No-Name Bar finally up and running

Lava Lounge, Volcano Room, TAcky TiKi Shack, who knows, nothing has stuck so far other than the "lava lounge" for the closet with the lava wall. But the bar is finally up and running so thought I'd post some pictures.

In the beginning, there was nothing. A big ugly cold basement bar area. Void of warmth.

After seven months we created light, installed carpet, slapped up gallons of paint, had 1600 arguments with spouse and electrician, screwed, stapled, hammered, glued and taped up boxes of accumulated decor and twinkle lights....and voila.....tiki bar is open for business!

Our job here was to make this bar in a new house look like the bar has been here for 40 years. Hope we pulled it off. First, the entrance with the little lei rack right at the door for those that don't show up with their own:

Oh and the umbrella table we created because we had to have one of those dam basement support poles to "hide" in plain sight, we didn't even paint it, just left it in primer. I tore apart a beach umbrella and wrapped the ribs around the pole and held it with a hose clamp and brass wire. Tore the umbrella apart and used it for a pattern to make a clear vinyl umbrella and hot glued raffia skirting around it. Little table is a plastic $15 patio table that I jigged in half, cut out the circle in the middle for the post, then lag-bolted it back together with a 2x2 in the middle for support, used Krylon paint to paint the legs brown.

Peek behind the bar, please excuse mess, haven't cleaned it up since bummer tiki party Saturday night:

Glass racks and misc stuff under the soffet:

bartender's view:

The "food court" area (under stairway)...

Waterfall wall:

Doorway to my best work, the LAVA LOUNGE, (otherwise known as a tornado shelter/closet:

Just for fun, a "before" photo of the lava lounge, and yes, I hand painted all that siding to sort of resemble lava rocks...I really need my head examined:

DA LAVA LOUNGE!

Ok, probably too many photos, as you can imagine. I have a lot more, but I'll spare everyone and leave space on Tiki Central for others. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

LavaLounger - can finally REST and enjoy a tiki drink on the weekends!

Oh, duh, meant to ask if anyone had any suggestions for a bar name for my midwest bit of island serenity.

Danke,
LavaLounger

Keep the name simple....'The Lava Lounge' sounds great to me and you keep calling it that so......?

Looks fantastic. I'd be happy to drink from there any day...:drink:

leaping liquored lizards'- tiki lava love lounge! Maybe lose the lizards?

On 2006-02-10 10:43, scarysnarles wrote:
leaping liquored lizards'- tiki lava love lounge! Maybe lose the lizards?

Ohhh my GAWWWWWWWWWD, the Lava Love Lounge!!! I love it!

....I think that might be a keeper!

At our age however, it's more like the old people nap room. Z-z-z-z-z.

We do call the little closet/storm shelter the "lava lounge".....but we've only toyed with other names for the main bar area. Prairie Hut? Island Plains? (oh booo!) Concrete Cave? Crap Shack? I've seen some really clever names while rummaging around TC but don't want to steal someone else's name. Until something sticks, it'll be the generic "tiki bar". Bleh.

LavaLounger

Great job on your bar.
Mahalo for sharing the pics.

Maybe you can work up a sign with a volcano blowing up on an island with tiki standing (while drinking from tiki mugs!) on top of the oozing letters spelling it out. a Place like yours truly needs it's own sign!!How many years have you been working on that room! You've a wonderful collection

On 2006-02-10 11:57, scarysnarles wrote:
Maybe you can work up a sign with a volcano blowing up on an island with tiki standing (while drinking from tiki mugs!) on top of the oozing letters spelling it out. a Place like yours truly needs it's own sign!!How many years have you been working on that room! You've a wonderful collection

Thanks for the good ideas and encouragement! Boy, if I could figure out how to make a sign like that, I'd be giving it a shot!

I've been collecting stuff for about six years and started my first little island themed bar in our old house. It was so much fun that when we began building a new house, we set aside a place in the basement to make a new tiki bar.

We moved into this house in October and it was a full court press every evening and weekend to get the tiki bar done up and trying to make it look 'lived in'. So about 7 months from concrete and drywall to the semi-finish. It's a work in progress though and I still make little additions when I find something that I like, (like my little bar bell --groaaaaaaan). I'd still like to put matting up and some other stuff, but right now I need a break. It's fun to have the kids and my folks over and they hunt for what's new.

LavaLounger

Wow! Really, I do mean wow. It looks incredible.

Since it sort of originated as a tornado shelter why not spin off of that theme (pun intended). Something like the Cyclone Shack, or the Twister Lounge, or the Duck and Cover...

On 2006-02-10 15:06, Surf tiki wrote:
Since it sort of originated as a tornado shelter why not spin off of that theme (pun intended). Something like the Cyclone Shack, or the Twister Lounge, or the Duck and Cover...

LMAO!

For me, when those sirens go off, it's more like Sh*t a Brick!

LavaLounger-not a big fan of the twisters

Kansas???!! I wish we had a bar like that here! Nice.
I used to visit a place in Venice California in the 1980's called the No Name Bar. Met a great girl there. She was trying to cut down on her drinking. So instead of 5 beers a night, she started to limit herself to only one drink per night. A single bottle of nearly 180 proof whiskey, I believe.
But I had a great time with her. She was alot taller than I was, so it was easy to...uh..never mind.
Where's my drink?
And where should I sit?

[ Edited by: HelloTiki 2006-02-10 18:32 ]

Lava Lounger, I think you definitely made a beautiful bar that looks like it has been around a Long time. I Love the Umbrella table, Bithcin idea to hide a pole in plain sight. Nice ..

Great place! You did an excellent job on the faux rock paint job also. Looks like the best place to be during a tornado-a shelter with some bottled anxiety relief!!!! I'm with surftiki, the tornado/storm reference in the bar name is a hoot! I hope you guys can still fit in that little closet when or if a tornado comes around.

I've heard of your neighbors reffering to Omaha as "The Big Island of Oh Maha"...perhapes you could do a silly play on words with naitive place names for the area (like OgalalAloha) or...another Mid-Western favorite, spell something backwords as they did for the Askarben Festivals.

Find digs indeed

Good luck

Why not expand the volcano theme to the entire basement bar area?
You could call it:

Pele's Lava Lounge
Fire in the hole
The Cauldron
The Volcano Club

I'm sure there are many other great options. You could also combine some to get the final name. For example:
The Volcano Club featuring the Lava Lounge. (Erupting Nightly) Just go with the "flow". Ha Ha