Hula Sue's South Seas Hideaway

Love those frames!

I collect paint by numbers and would never think of cutting them up but I love the effect of the end result.

sooooo niiiice! You big crazylongtime! will you be having an unveiling party anytime soon?
I'm still interested in doing an Eastside- Northside'o- Seattle Home Bar tour this year..Yours and "The poi Dog Paradise" would be a great start...Anyone else out there that wants to put their bar on the list?

those are awesome frames.... never EVER seen anything like them before... bring on the curves... curves and ellipses are where its at.

PuPu scores again! Very nice!

LOVE em all!!!! great frames art, mats...everything!

The room looks AMAZING. Just about the coolest entrance I've ever seen!

Wow am I glad I stumbled upon this spot! Your vision and craftsmanship are amazing. (Drool) I wish I had a basement. I must stop reading these threads I only have a backyard to work with. It is hard not to get discouraged when you see such brilliant work!! Great job. I especially love the entry way and the way you designed the columns. I am sure this space must bring you much satisfaction. Thanks so much for sharing. Please do post some pictures of the rest of your house, that is, in your spare time! :lol:

Any more progress, Pu?

It's not even done and it's already amazing... I love the idea of the broken roof... very cool!!!

Thanks guys! :)
Here are a few more random pics of recent progress.

Entrance:

Carving large styrofoam islands for the wall map behind the booth. When done, I'll coat them with fiberglass resin, sand, prime and paint.

You're MAD, completely MAD... but you sure get results!

Been watching your progress over time. The transformation is stunning. I honestly feel like you've allowed us this "backstage VIP pass". It's really so amazing, what you've done. Very beautiful. Makes me wish I were "Hula Sue". Mahalo for sharing.

Thank you kind sirs! Another update shortly.

I don't suppose you're interested in adopting a slightly middle-aged son?

Hey Kahuna, you can take one of the hammocks in the tiki bar. Just play nice with my (other) teenage sons. :)

well, I had to go back to see the whole transformation, and it's great!. I especially love the different things you did like the airplane sitting and the 3d map. Great job, can't wait to see it done!

Amy

Pupu, I only hope I can acheive the same level of decor when I can finally buy my own place and not have to worry about the landlords! I love the style! Layers of detail, its great!

Thanks Amy and Kris. Those nice comments mean alot.
Here is a side project I'm making to hang on the wall in Hula Sue's.
I've been collecting silk-screened reproductions of the old WPA parks posters (also available at this site: http://www.rangerdoug.com/store/posters/posters-hawaii.html ) on family vacations. One of my favorites is the Hawaii one. O
One day I happened to hold it up in front of a light. The illumination showed through only the lighter inks on the silkscreen print and it looked really cool so I picked up one of those vintage '50's lighted scenic picture frames and removed the plastic picture. I made a woven matte and sandwiched it with the Hawaiian print between two pieces of plexiglass amd mounted it in the frame.
I plan to put some amber varnish on the matting to give it a nice aged patina but here is how it looks right now.

Man you are full of great ideas and very resourceful. I'm just catching up on this thread after a short absence from TC and you've done a lot! Those rattan picture frames look awesome the way you cut the PB#'s and added the chalkware wahine. Can't wait to see how the carved styro relief map project tuns out. I'm blown away, please, get busy and show us more!!!!

This is one of the coolest threads on here.
What a transformation! Your attention to detail
is awe-inspiring. Great score with the restaurant
and craigslist. Also, the unique way you've
taken different elements and turned them into
framed pieces of art is killer.
Rock on!

Thanks very much Guys! Working on this room has sort of pulled together everything I love to do into one big project.

As far as pulling together odd items to make stuff--I guess we're all 'beachcombers' at heart. Just looking at the cool junk we've picked up and using it to make something else. :)
I've also certainly been inspired by all the beautiful work I see here on TC!!

...and yep, I was extremely fortunate to find that pile of bamboo from the old restaurant on Craigslist (and I especially felt that way after I had finished pulling all the many hundreds of nails and scraped all the old peeling varnish off of every linear foot and burnished/finished it all over many, many hours on my front porch. Even that part was fun most of the time. :wink:

Thanks again!!!

Mr. Pupu,
I've been following this post from the beginning and have not posted any comments because...well...I'm speechless. Incredible work, such creativity. Tiki Central has many very talented and creative artist but, you sir, have raised the bar pretty high. Great job

Hi Tai! Great name (kinda also sounds like a character in Star Wars) :)
Thank you very much for the nice words. My basement would not be the room it is without the inspiration and ideas I've also gotten from this terrific community.
I've been working hard and will have some new pics to post in the next couple of days.
Thanks again!!
Sir Pupu of Pants

I would LOVE updated pics of the airplane/deco seating nook if you have them!

Hi McSwanky! Nice to meet you (and welcome to TC) :)
I'm working on the bar right now and will post some new pics this weekend. My brother and I were recently brainstorming on the airplane fuselage corner and here's a rough sketch he did that illustrates what I've been planning.

Here is another rough sketch of an idea for an 'outrigger canoe' booth that my brother thought up (genius :) ). It is basically the bow of a canoe emanating from the wall (as the table) with two cushioned 'outriggers' (as the seats) on each side. Wouldn't it be cool to see a bunch of these on the wall around a tiki bar? Each with different mastheads?

More very soon.

[ Edited by: Mr. Pupu Pants 2009-06-08 22:27 ]

Great ideas! Hope you can pull it off.
Will the oval mock plane window be a place for
some art?

There is no hope....only do.

(wait, that didn't sound right).

Hi guys, here are some recent pics of the bar under construction. The front corner will be a lined and lit alcove for the hula girl masthead. The short pieces of board resting on top are there to show the 2 levels of the eventual bar top(s).

[ Edited by: Mr. Pupu Pants 2009-06-08 10:32 ]

Hey, Pu! Keep posting pics of the bar in progress please, so's I can steal your ideas. I mean, so I can offer my expert opinion.

Will do Kahuna. How's your place coming along? From the look of the stuff you've pulled together for yours, we have similar taste in 'cool junk'.
The theme of my room is a 1940's-50's bar on a Hawaiian island decorated with a bunch of Hawaiiana and vintage WWII stuff (as though it lived through the war) with more than a little of the Disneyland Enchanted Tiki Room thrown in too. I'm thinking of it as our imaginary Hawaii 'simulator'.
I want to be able to close the doors to the basement and have it look, feel, sound and smell like a tropical tiki paradise (we even found these little 'flower oil' atomizers that rest on the light bulb of a lamp and give off a scent that makes the air smell exactly like Hawaiiain air).

Wow, Pupu. This place is going to top most functioning tiki bars that are open to the public out there. I think the next venture should be a neighborhood bar in your area? When does it open? Ha!

Can't wait to see that bar finished.
Looking great so far! Love the hula girl in the corner.

Here's a little progress on the frame for the airplane wreckage seating in the corner.
(First the general rough sketch concept again):

Mr Pupu Pants

First I've really enjoyed this thread following your progress:

1. Assume you have a design background based upon your creativity?

2. Do you have an anticipated complete date when your finished and
   ready for whatever your ready for?

3. Like the airplane idea, are you planning animation thru the planes
   porthole window & what do you plan on using for the two seats?

Keep up the COOL work Thortiki

Mr PuPu Pants, please report to the psychiatric ward for evaluation

Great ideas! Could you put a small flatscreen TV in the porthole and show appropriate video footage? (You'd have to fly to Hawaii so you could film out the airplane window :) )

Thanks very much Thortiki. :)

1. My work history is in film and video production and I've built a fair number of sets along the way -- so I've just applied some of the construction techniques I picked up from doing that. Some of this has also been learning as I go.
   Growing up, my brother and I always had some art project under way--drawing, sculpting, painting, model building, fiddling wih electronics, etc. (he has gone on to being a director at Dreamworks). This project has been such a blast because it has combined all those things.

2. I'm hoping to be 'finished' with Hula Sue's by the end of the summer. The purpose of the room is just as a place to have family and friends over for alittle 'escape' and quality time together. Our house is slowly becoming our own personal theme park (themed rooms throughout) and once the basement is done, I'll be moving on to finish the space-themed theater room (with 'Mission to Mars' spacesuit, 'Sunshine' film-used spaceship setpieces and some Disneyland park-used Tommorrowland props), the vintage cowboy/cabin-themed den (with rounded pine walls, fake fireplace, etc.) and an outdoor deck, themed as an old dock on a tropical island (with building facades and a row boat docked alongside as a seating area). Lots of fun work to do :)

3. The airplane window will have a flat screen TV that will loop a DVD of footage I took of the view on our favorite beach (Tunnels) on Kauai.
   I was talking with my excellent friend, Dave Spafford, and he had the genius idea of cutting together a reel of movie scenes with a similar aerial window view -- (Superman saving Air Force One by lifting the wing in Superman the Movie, the Gremlin pulling wires out of the engine in the Twilight Zone and the homage shot in Madagascar 2 (directed by my brother), Wicked witch flying by the window in the Tornado from Wizard of Oz, etc.). Would be a fun alternate.

MadDogMike, you may be right about the need for a psychiatric evaluation :)
You guessed it on the plan for that porthole window (per above).

Here are the seats I plan to use on the airplane section (I'm also be adding seatbelts and making head-liners that will have the United Airlines logo on them.

[ Edited by: Mr. Pupu Pants 2009-06-21 03:11 ]

[ Edited by: Mr. Pupu Pants 2009-06-21 12:46 ]

wow, great imagination going here, love the details and sketches!

Amy

That's gonna look amazing! Can't wait to see
that too!

Wow, that is some great work. I can't wait to see how the whole thing turns out.
Also, a sign of watching too much Mythbusters, I thought you had some connections to the airplane scrap yard and was going to bring in an actual section of the airplane. I can't wait to see that portion develop though.

I love the idea of looping video so the "view" from the plane window is constantly changing. The whole creature ripping up the wing from Twilight Zone is an awesome idea!

I love your place so much and everytime you post an update I can't wait for the next one.

Wow Mr. Pupu Pants! I've completely missed this thread until now and it's blowin' me away!. The framed back-lit print is terrific. I've got one of those frames sitting around somewhere. We were going to put a mosaic in it but I think I like the print idea more. Stuff that lights up is one of our very favorite things.

Look forward to seeing more pics....

CH

One of my favorite things about TC is showing posts like this to my wife and saying "See Babe, there's people out there way crazier than me!" :D

The airline section is a nice touch, have you seen the book Lost America? There's a picture of the lounge section of a DC-8 in there similar to the setup you're working on. (Except his old airliner is in a boneyard)

[ Edited by: Wayfarer 2009-06-22 05:14 ]

Good efforts. But don't be afraid to use other artists work from this site.

Ah, Tikimyniki, I'm not even sure what that 'compliment' means and I don't care. You are the reason I stopped posting on Tiki Central for a little while.
Since no one has the courage to remove you, I'll make you a deal-- I'll ask that you don't leave any messages on this post and I won't acknowledge your existence here. Please don't even reply. I'll take your silence as the answer. Thank you.

Please don't leave PuPu! We love you! We need to see your progress so we can feel inferior! :lol:

P.S.: Don't feed the troll!

Actually you did continue to post but that doesn't matter.

Your bar is coming along well. I'm just saying why go at it all alone when you build? There are so many talented artists here on this very site that you can use. don't be so quick to pupu. :wink:

On 2009-07-03 18:40, Big Kahuna wrote:
Please don't leave PuPu! We love you! We need to see your progress so we can feel inferior! :lol:

P.S.: Don't feed the troll!

Damn...I was hoping you were updating Mr. PuPu!

I agree (and I am sure many, many others do also) with Big Kahuna. You can't leave us hanging!