The Kanaloa Lounge

So I'm gonna put a few older progress shots from my other thread (in Creating Tiki -Other) on here and add some new shots at the end. All updates to the lounge will be posted here from now on.

The Kanaloa Lounge as of last April 2009:

Half the floor has already been finished at this point, but I had to start over fresh for the other side. Such is the joy of completing a room that's not completely empty.

Putting down the tape.

Cutting the tape so it's more organic in appearance.

I only applied one coat of rolled-on cement floor paint. But then I added some "special treatments" to create a more realistic effect.

Here's the floor more or less finished.

In May 2009:

Was working on building the actual bar at this point.

Of course, I know this isn't very thrilling to look at, but believe me, it's thrilling for me to finally be starting this bar.

In July 2009:

More progress on the bar area:

Some lighting/other parts of the room before anything is finished:

Late November 2009:

But here's a progress shot of the mural I started behind the bar. This is only about one-fifth of the way done:

Just Before Xmas 2009:

The last few months I've been working (slowly) on making tapa patterned tiles for my bar top(s). These are the last of the bunch to come out of the kiln before I "lei" them this Xmas holiday.

Late Dec 2009:

The tiles are in place and grout has been added. Now I just need to add the "backsplash" tile:

I added some bamboo, some routered baseboards and I got most if the lauhala up on the walls:

Early January 2010:

Here's some more progress shots:

Mural is getting closer to about half-way done.

The bar sink in place (but not yet functional). Back-splash tiles are now lei'd.Bar top just needs edging now.

The soffit is now ready for it's "tapa cloth" covering.

Early February:

Here's a few other progress shots:

Routering a famous face.

Wood panel installed

With some of the routered mouldings around the door frame...

Which are similar to the routered mouldings around the windows...

Still very much a work in progress:

Above the bar, I'm still not sure what the hell I'm gonna do here. I expect some combination of thatch:

Wooden edge pieces of the bar are routered and about to be stained in this shot:

I had the most challenges with the curved sections:

Did a bit of work on the mural too:

Added some lauhala to the side of the bar:

Here's a shot of the mess (and the mural, bar edging and lauhala).

Later February:
ome more progress shots:

Added some "organically shaped" shelving (for mugs of course!) that trims the top of the walls. Then I added some bamboo behind it.

I added some tapa cloth and matting above the bar. Still needs thatch though...but I'm not gonna add that until I have my special lighting installed.

I added a strip of "specially treated" paper to the soffit. You can see it close to the wall. I'm gonna stamp it with tapa patterns to create my own tapa cloth.

Best update I have is that the mural is done! (Is a mural ever done?..the answer is...yes! Sometimes!...err...I might add a bit to it later...)

Later February 2010:

Here's the rock wall/bottle shelf in progress

With a bottle:

With a lighting test:

Fake home-made tapa cloth going up over the soffit:



Just needs to be stamped now...

Some more recent updates:

More progress shots of the rock wall:

Adding thatch and matting above the hut:

Hinged bamboo "post" reveals an electrical outlet:

Rock/shelf wall and mural with special lighting:

Wow!

Wow, indeed....Awesome !

I have seen this thread before... but I guess I didnt pay enough attention to the floor..

DAMN dude.. thats friggin awesome..

Outstanding!

The room has really come together!

I love your lighting effects and how they play on the features.

The lava wall and lighting are incredible! Nice work!

The painting is a work of art in itself, and your lighting gives it a great dimensional look!

What Murph said!

AAAAAAAAHHHHGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
sooooooooo swwweeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Incredible stuff! Love the details everywhere; the faux stone floor, the awesome mural, the hidden outlet... where do you find the time to do all this stuff?? Congrat's on what looks like will be an awesome party pad!

Your attention to detail is fantastic - I'm blown away.

Pretty damn cool, Slacks!!

Beautiful job - it all gels pretty good together. Thanks for the inspirational posts.

WoW! :)

Awesome Work!

Please post more pics.

It's Totally Tiki!

Top notch Slacks!! Your lava wall/lighting is the best I've seen.

Zulu

Killer.

Is that you with the muttonchops?

lava wall is friggin bad ass!!!! this place is friggin awsome!!! sweet wrk all round but that wall shell is da bomb!!!!! cheerz!!

Hey thanks everyone! It's so awesome to read the encouraging comments. Especially since some of you have such beautiful tiki spaces yrselves (I'm looking at you Lake Surfer and Zulu Magoo)...

I have a few photo updates. Last night I started stamping the tapa patterns on the soffit. I have to thank Howland and Tikiville for inspiring me to try it, but in all honesty, I've been dreading this step. I just wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it look authentic enough. Anyway, here are some snapshots:

Yes, that is me with the mutton chops SDT.

I DO like how the pattern melds with the pot lights.

But overall, I'm still not sure if I like it yet...and I'll prolly feel better about it when I'm done. I guess I can live with it for now.

A question: Does anyone have any ideas for the ceiling? I'm thinking burlap with bamboo accents at this time...Your thoughts?

Mahalo again everyone!

I saw this new forum and this was the first thread........INCREDIBLE! I was so enthralled that I didn't even notice that you made your own tiles for the bar untill I scrolled through it again. Fantastic work, I am jealous and inspired at the same time.

I dig your stamped tapa...alot more refined than then the sloppy one I'm still chipping away at .
I find real TAPA for reasonable prices (sometimes) on ebay,and Michaels usually has black fishing nets ( best thing to do is buy something cheap and get a 50% off cupon and then buy the net or wit till the weekend flyers in the paper for cupons)and fill the ceiling with nets!
Or yeah your burlap idea is another ,I've purchease burlap by the meter for less than 3 dollars...

Tapa stampage is looking real good. Are you using a Speedball type product for the stamps or woodcuts? Great designs. How much effort and $$ do you want to put into that ceiling? Seagrass looks great, but the idea about the netting is a good way to get effect at low cost and save your back.

Very Impressive!!! (understatement)

Yes, that rock wall is probably the coolest thing I've ever seen in a bar.
The rest of the place is first rate, too.
Nicely done.

Great work on the tapa and that rocl wall is truly awesome.

man- that is awesome. Nice work!

WOW! I am completely blown away!
Glad to see all of the progress shots, the mural with the lighting effects looks fantastic!

Absolutely stunning!

Thanks again folks! Here's a few recent shots:

The bar with the bottles (and mood-killing flash):

And again:

The soffit is done, the Witco is up:

This is a side I haven't really shown much. It's kind of been a dirty little secret so far...In the near future I will be putting wood planks on the walls. That wood will have a busted nautical wreck appearance. Through a hole in the wreckage you will be able to spy the fish tank that will sit on that shelf:

Shots of the bar with different light:

That is just crazy! Making your own tapa, tiles, lava....your place is a GESAMTKUNSTWERK!

It makes me wish I could come by with a lighting package and replicate the mood one will experience in person in photos.

And I wish I had the time to view every thread on this whole amazing, exploding home bar section on TC. Mindboggling work, y'all!

Great work! An inspiration indeed. Love the mural and the tapa cloth.

Thanks for the kind words folks! It's cool when you can get kudos from a guy like Sven.

Here's a few newer shots. I've been (very slowly) plugging away at getting the ceiling finished. I'm not near the end yet, but I thought I'd post a few progress shots anyway:

I've started adding a bit of the "shipwreck wood":

Here's just a few more random shots of the room:

Everything looks great! I think the important question is... when do we get to see it in person??

Awesome!

Geeeeeeesus!!! Now that is some insane work. The floor, the whole bar area...just breath-taking. Love your attention to detail with the hinged bamboo socket...LOL. The lighting is wicked. I look forward to seeing more of this...it is very inspiring.

amazing, you have a great eye for detail, especially hiding that outlet behind the bamboo. it can take a lot of time and planning to get details like that just right. Most visitors would never even know what they're seeing (or not seeing), but those details elevate the quality of the whole room.
love the rock shelf and the lighting, too.
great work! i mean, great play!!

On 2010-06-13 23:10, Brandomoai wrote:
Everything looks great! I think the important question is... when do we get to see it in person??

Soon! Essentially, it's ready now for entertaining...but I still have 6 major things to do:

1. Finish the ceiling (along with adding all the lamps, floats, nets and shells).
2. Finish the shipwreck wood on the walls
3. Get the aquarium up and started
4. Finish the A-frame at the entrance
5. Make/change the support post into a palm tree
6. Add speakers

Let's face it, I'll never be DONE, but I'm not comfortable calling it even "ready for serious entertaining" until those 6 things are completed.

Thanks for all the kind feedback folks!

Lookin' really good! You've taken some real risks with your ideas, but you've brought them through successfully! Congrats!

Anything I can do to help? I'm made of time these days. I'd feel better about drinking your hooch if I had some sweat equity.

Totally amazing!!

Mahalo for the compliments folks!

Here's a few more progress shots:

Port Hole mirror on the door:

Horrible flash photo (so you can see the detail) of the "nautical wall" aquarium area:

Ahh...that's better:

No fish yet (hell, there's no water either)...but there's some (slow) progress being made.

Lookin' sweet Slacks! The details are coming along quite nicely!

Amazing!!! Very inspirational!!!

Coming along very nicely

Very nice.
Now you need one of our custom Tiki Bar signs.
Check us out at Tiki Market place "Tiki Bar Signs" or through our web site http://www.madasigns.com

To suggest that someone who has built his own bar from scratch like this (with details like hand-painted Tapa and self-made tile) would need someone else's Tiki Bar sign -which would obviously be redundant!- goes beyond thoughtless spamming and borders on an insult!

Very very nice work. Enjoying watching the progress on this one. I really like the aquarium, even without fish and water. That looks like a shot from Smuggler's Cove!

EDIT... By the way, good move on installing a sink and fridge. I had to have plumbing installed for my bar sink (kaaa-ching!!), but I don't regret it a bit. It goes from a simple mixing bar to a full functioning, working bar where you can do just about anything.

[ Edited by: GatorRob 2010-07-29 14:54 ]

that some realy wonderful artwork! that mural is outstanding, I like the way it blends with the rock wall , so cool.

Holy Mother of TIKI GODS!!!! The ONLY thing i woulda done different is instead of a stainless bar sink I woulda gone with a brown porcelain with brass faucet/handles....but damn the volcanic lit up wall/shelves....my mouth is agape...i cant speak this is just too amazing....and me a self taught interiour designer and soon to be student...wow...you get #1 in my book of Tiki Bars...hands down!

Thanks for all the kind words folks!

Here's a few updates:

Phase 218: I started to convert the support beam into a "palm tree".
It's actually further along than this photo suggests, but not much...

Here's a few shots of the ceiling with the shells and netting up. I was gifted a huge net (like this is only about 30% of it) by my Maritimer father in law...but the net was white, so I dyed it dark-brownish. Then I hot-glued dozens of shells to the ceiling and I threw some shells directly onto the nets (but you can hardly tell from the photos):

That's all for now! Thanks for checking in!

[ Edited by: Slacks Ferret 2010-09-07 08:52 ]

Underachiever.

Man thats awesome,dig the lava shelving in the bar.Cheers Watango