Aloha John's Exotic Village - new pics added on pg 2 - 7/2/09

Well I have been holding out on you guys. June '07 I started a major backyard overhaul and it is now almost done. Prior to June my collection of car projects has gotten out of control and my yard had evolved into a gravel junkyard. I got sick of my yard looking like it did, so I came up with a plan, got rid of several cars, and went to work. I did all the work (design, electrical, landscaping, and construction) myself, with some design input and manual labor here and there from my girlfriend. I haven't really done too much on it since the first of the year. It was done enough in early Jan to put away the chop saw and shovel and make some drinks and work on my cars. But now that spring is here I will get back to it and wrap up the last of the projects.

E komo mai...

The "Kapu Cove"

The "Beachcomber Bar"

The view from behind the bar-

"Moai Beach"

"The Lagoon"

Some of the things I still need to finish are the barstools, the firepit, and the spa step. And I have some shell lamps I am going to make and more nautical decor to add to the Beachcomber Bar.

Here are some of the pre-village shots and some of the construction.

Back in that corner is where the spa is...rediculous isn't it?

I couldn't sell them all, so I decided to "hide" the ugliest one-

Another old shot from upstairs-

Bamboo to screen off the view of my neighbors monster rv.

The "Hana Hut" (the shed) and the layout starts...

Starting construction on the Kapu Cove and the Beachcomber Bar-

Gotta give credit to my dad (retired civil engineer) for helping me design the roof and he helped me install the rafters/center beam.

That was a lot of hard work, but loads of fun, and very rewarding! Now I can alternate between working on my cars and my hanging out with friends in my Exotic Village.

-Aloha John

[ Edited by: Aloha John 2008-07-14 19:05 ]

[ Edited by: Aloha John 2009-07-02 22:10 ]

Wow! That's an impressive transformation.

Hell yeah! Now you can suckem up in style.
Wanna sell the T-Bird?

Being a car and tiki guy I must say I am super jealous of your backyard! Your work and creativity is top notch, thanks for sharing.

Good to see you kept the Buick.

LED Tiki

That's inspirational. And to think you accomplished so much in a short time too. A standing ovation to you!

What a great yard!! It has all the elements, a water feature, great landscaping, & cool lighting. Being a Buick guy too I glad to see it in the new pictures. What happen to all the rides?

Wow - what an awesome piece of work there, well done :D Sweeeet rides too :wink:

Fantastic transformation. Love the whole open outdoor concept. The tub enclosure structure with the bar seemingly attached yet off at an angle. Love the "airquarium" behind the bar. Amazing job with the utility shed! That tall Moai looks real cool. The whole place must just be magical at night. You went from 'Sanford and Sons' to 'Gilligans Isl'e to 'Fantasy Island' with amazing style. Great job - I soooo want a space like that, that I can call my own someday!

Yep...what they all said...amazing job!!! I especially love Moai Beach...very kewl. Had a 62 T-bird in my younger day...great car. :)

JOhn - beautiful, absolutely beautiful. You've really carved your own slice of paradise back there with two of my favorite things too - tiki and old cars!!!!

I admire your attention to detail and I REALLY like how you "hid" that shed.

I remember you mentioning this project back at TO 6 and it's great to see the major components up and working! thanks for sharing!

That looks awesome. Great job. When can GROG come over for a drink and lounge in the hottub?

It looks like you put in a LOT of hard work. Now sit back in the spa with a Mai Tai and ENJOY it!

[ Edited by: TikiMike 2008-03-13 08:48 ]

Great work. The hard work shows. Thanks for taking the time to share.

John, excellent job with the amazing backyard transformation! Looks like it was a lot of labor... but a labor of love. Relaxing in this backyard paradise must have been a huge motivating factor. I love the little theme areas, you packed a lot into an average size backyard. The log edging looks great and I envy your new plants. I could plant those all in May and they would be dead by the first frost in October. :(

The Marq and Tang wall hangings look great here! A fine environment they ended up in! Thanks again for all your support!

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2008-03-13 09:28 ]

Now that was an awesome transformation.

Looks amazing now.

Beyond awesome. I want one.

Sweet!

( Now I know why you were asking so many questions. Looks
like you pulled it off without me answering even one!!!
Arrrr-some!)

Aloha and thanks for all the nice compliments. I have been reading them daily but only now had the chance to reply (I have been busy getting my Fairlane unburied and off to a shop for some metal/chassis work).

Quickly about the cars, T-bird and Econolines are sold, F100 and Fairlane are both off at different shops, Buick (girlfriends) and Willys are just hanging out.

I think I actually worked harder than I should have considering I started all this just when things started to heat up for summer. Many 100 degree plus days were spent digging...glad those days are gone. It was tough on the water bill getting those tropicals established in the heat of summer too. There was a period when I thought I was loosing the bamboo (they were quite expensive), but now they are doing great. Once established the new shoots were growing so fast I started measuring them. During Sept the stalk I was measuring was averaging OVER 2 inches PER DAY...no joke! They are the "Green Stripe" variety. I do have extremely sandy soil here I had it pretty easy when it comes to digging. So sandy in fact that a post hole digger is almost useless, did someone say "DIG?" :roll:

As for the details I hope to add lots more. I'd like to add some carved (routered) trim pieces and some rope wrappings to the structures. I also like to try my hand at making some signs. My idea for "Aloha John's" came from "Aloha Jhoe's" and I'd like to make a sign using the same font style. If my sign making skills suck I'll be talking to Danny. :wink:

I had considered using thatching for the roof above the spa, but once the framework was up and I realized how tall it was going to be, I decided for the sake of my neighbors I'd better go with something more "professional" and shingled it.

The reed fencing on the back wall of the Kapu Cove was intended to just be temporary. I have something in mind, that my girlfriend thinks we can handle, but I am considering enlisting a pro (Ben do you give free estimates?) :)

BambooBen, speaking of you, was I asking lots of questions, interesting you noticed you never answered any!? :P Well you may think you didn't help with this project but I can assure you you did with the photos of your work giving me inspiration and ideas.

Polynesiac- yeah I just had to build something cool to hang your float from. The sun has taken it's toll on the frosting, now it's quite patina'd. The shed was an cheap and easy fix to hide something that is critical to a guy like me, storage! One of these days I need to grind off the rest of the screw tips poking inside of it. Anyone know the Hawaiian translation for "Iron Maiden"? :D

Grog- our party hosting skills are pretty rusty, since not too many of our friends liked hanging out in a junkyard, but once we get a few more under our belt I think I will toss out an open invitation to TCers.

Lake Surfer- you are very welcome for the support! I have had some nasty frost damage out here at times, but I'd say we SoCal'rs are pretty spoiled in the weather department.

jp- "airquarium" I like that. The big Moai was made my Tiki Ray!

I noticed I didn't include a decent shop of the front of the bar. Taken 12/17.

Thanks again everyone for the compliments! I suppose I should go work on my bar stools now...

Really nice lighting! A great transformation!

Boy, I wish my brother would have had the creatic tiki genius to do something as fantastic to his back yard. All he's got is ceramic frogs and a koi pond that the local racoons eat out of.

Great work...! i have been pondering how to build an outdoor bar area and seems you have pulled it off just nicely.. some nice rides there too.. be sure to make the most of it... nothing more satisfying than sitting back for a few drinks once all the hard work is done...
Cheers

Very nice work. I did it once before and I am in the middle of doing it again.(slowly) I like your spa enclosure.

Aloha! I finished my barstools a while back and realized I never showed them off!

I also whipped up the little bench next to the fire pit. I think I'll be adding some 'boo/rope to the bench too. I am not thrilled with the look of the firepit, it's waaay too "normal", but for now it works....well now that's it's summer it's just a black widow pit. :wink:

One of these weekends I will take a drive out to the desert (Amboy-ish) and bring home some volvanic rocks and redo it.

Nice little additions to your slice of paradise, John!

Love the bar stools!

Wow I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted those last shots! Since then I have finished 95% of my sprinklers out back, and man what a difference regular watering makes, my plants (especially the bamboo) are doing great this spring!

I finally made a couple trips out to Pisgah Crater to gather some rock to redo the firepit and some planters. Eventually I want to install a propane ring in the firepit.

Next project - clamshell and lava rock waterfall on the back wall behind the spa !!

looking good aj! you are creating a beautiful oasis. i hope to see ya at oasis.

Classy job, enjoy some cold drinks for the rest of us.

The bench is very nice, just like the rest.

Looks great John!

Love all the lush green, and your Cannas look spectacular!

Mine are struggling this year with a cooler than normal summer, and the rabbits keep eating them.

The lava rock really sets it all off... that fire pit will look great!

John, great to see you at Oasis!

We made some room on the trip back East, and sweated it out to score some lava for ourselves!

110 degrees!

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2009-08-24 23:25 ]

John... thanks for the heads up! Made my own trip out there today...

Aloha to both Daves, yeah that looks like the spot! If you get pulled over by the BLM with a load like that, don't mention my name!! Lol :wink:

I decided that since my clamshell waterfall project is a ways off that I should rearrange and make room for most of my Lake Tiki carvings in one spot.

Quick update from the Village. After finishing my sprinklers earlier this summer things have really gone wild over here...

The 5' tiki in there was totally visible a few month ago-

And my Golden Goddess exploded with new stalks too, I had to trim it just to get the mower from "Hana Hut"

Once they started getting regularly scheduled watering my bamboo plants shot up stalks that were 5' taller than any previous growth. AMAZING!!

ALOHA!!

Whew!

That's a jungle you've got going there John!

Looks great though!

You've got all my favorite Lake Tiki pieces hanging there... love the arrangement!

Thanks again for all your support!