The Lava Lounge

Greetings Everyone!

I recently moved into a new house in Chino, CA. The former owner had a bar and mirrored the wall in one of the rooms. I had no idea what I was going to use it for until I broke out the tiki stuff from storage. Its coming together but I think it has a long way to go. I have been checking out what others have done on the site and have never really tried to do anything with wood. But I am ready to give it a go. Here is the start of my Tiki Room I have loosely named The Lava Lounge until I figure out the right name for her. I want to try to line the doorway and panel the ceiling with some wire brushed wood. I have no idea how to do this so any pointers from you guys with the experience would be greatly appreciated. Or even just which post to read... its crazy how many tiki-philes are out there and all the things you can do to a room. Anyway here is my start... and Im open to any suggestions comments or whatever.

Wow! Pretty impressive collection for someone who only just joined TC!
The Enchanted Tiki Room drummer dudes are cool!

On 2010-11-09 00:07, Suicide Tiki wrote:
Greetings Everyone!

I recently moved into a new house in Chino, CA. The former owner had a bar and mirrored the wall in one of the rooms. Anyway here is my start... and Im open to any suggestions comments or whatever.

Hello and welcome, First recommendation is color or cover the walls. Polished reed fencing, lauhala matting, tapa cloth etc are some of the good choices. Some people paint the walls a darker color. Whites walls SUCK in a tiki room. If you decide to put in a bar, I think it might look good in front of the bar, but I would try to make a bamboo (or wood) framed false Pony Wall in front of the mirror so people don;t see the back of the bar. Assuming the mirror is large pieces (and not 12 inch stick on squares), you could probably use silicone sealant to glue the false wall to the fron of the mirror.
Another suggestion would be to FEED YOUR CAT! Poor little kitty is so hungry it has resorted to eating its paw!

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been collecting tiki stuff since the mid 90s. It was scattered all around the last house and the wifey was none to happy about that. So when we moved she made me promise to try and keep it to one room. As for the collection, those Tiki Room drummers were probably my most expensive pieces. I am always on the hunt for a good tiki bargain but sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and pay what the seller is asking. In that case it was from Disney. There were only 500 of those made and the drums light up. I have to re-wire a switch on one of them and will post pix soon. I have a small fortune tied up in colored bulbs from Home Depot! I really appreciate the suggestions. Now to the drawing board. I spent several hours into the morning reading what others have done to their bars. I am planning to start to practice with a router soon so I can start some trim in the archway. I'll keep you posted. In the mean time, I rewired an old lamp I picked up from a swap meet over the weekend. I think it adds to the feel of the room. Not being able to find parts for these old lamps I had to do some surgery with a hanging light fixture and mate the two together. Its not all that pretty on the inside but unless you are right up under it you would never know. I just pray it does not burn the Lounge down!

Ha! I wish my wife would give me a room to tikify. On rainy evenings, I got nowhere to spin my Martin Denny vinyl!

Love the drummers, I could see how you could justify dropping a few bills on those.

But, first things first!! Get busy with a paint can, man!

Well, let me tell you... getting my "own" room was a bit of a chore. But tonight I took the little lady out to dinner and told her all about this site and how everyone was telling me to paint. She decided it was okay to do the room in a burnt orange or red since I am leaning towards calling it The Lava Lounge. Im a photo whore so I am sure I will get a few pics of the room in process. Anyone know where to get some bamboo cheep in So Cal?

Can't you just get bamboo at the corner store in So Cal?

Try this one:

http://www.oceanicarts.net/

You would think so wouldn't ya Slacks? But since I have spent most of my time scouring over swap meets and what not for tiki trinkets I really had no idea where everyone was getting their bamboo from. Some of the posters here make it seem like they ran to Home Depot... where I actually have seen some garden border style stuff, but I have seen pix of trucks full of bamboo. Anyway thanks for the heads up on Oceanic Arts. Looks like a little road trip to Whittier is in my future.

I'm also planning on working on the archway. I like the look of Hula Sue's entry and want to do some kind of treatment on the bull-nose walls at my place. I have seen people mention wire brushing their wood to raise the grain... but have no idea how to do that. Does anyone have any tips for a first timer? Is it as simple as taking a wire brush and brushing the bejesus out of the wood? Gonna have to search some more on this site and perhaps google that method.

Aloha!

[ Edited by: Suicide Tiki 2010-11-09 22:22 ]

What a terrific project! So creating a place to display your cool collection is great, but how do you want to use this room? What will be its function? I guess we all just assume you are creating a room to party with 20 friends? The layout of the room, how much seating, the size and location of the bar, the lighting, the equipment you add are all dependent on how you will actually use the room. I'd give it some thought.

Hey Bongo,

Thanks for the input. The room itself is weird and was a set up as a bar by the former owner. Meaning they basically bought a bar and set it in there. It was a former bedroom but they sealed the door up and cut out a wall. There is not a ton of seating so perhaps I will build a bar. You are right though as it stands it basically a room where I can put all my tiki stuff and not have my lady yelling that I have it scattered all over the house like a kid with a million legos! :) I am going paint it and add some matting on the walls and/or ceiling. But I am no where as experienced as some of these guys on here and I don't want it to end up looking like it was a do-it yourself job. But I guess part of it is to make it look that way to an extent. Anyway I appreciate the comments and the suggestions. For two nights now I have been dreaming about building this stuff. I think its a sign from the Gods!

Pals,
Suicide Tiki

[ Edited by: Suicide Tiki 2010-11-10 15:06 ]

On 2010-11-09 22:21, Suicide Tiki wrote:
I have seen people mention wire brushing their wood to raise the grain... but have no idea how to do that. Does anyone have any tips for a first timer? Is it as simple as taking a wire brush and brushing the bejesus out of the wood?
[ Edited by: Suicide Tiki 2010-11-09 22:22 ]

Welcome to the home bars section Suicide. As you've probably seen, there are tons of people here with millions of great ideas to "borrow". As for the wire brushing... What you need to do is get a small propane torch from Lowes/Home Depot (they're $10-15) and torch the hell out of the wood. Once the outer layer starts looking like charcoal (a few seconds honestly), take a wire brush (I use the barbecue grill cleaning brushes because of how wide they are) and brush it off. It's really as simple as that. The ash from the wood gives it a nice rich brown color, and the winter grains will rise up pretty dramatically. Just start with a small section at a time to gauge what you're going to be working with. Standard pine lumber works amazingly well for the effect. You can put a wax/stain/varnish over the wood, but it really isn't imperative. Probably the cheapest, easiest effect you can do in a home bar. Hope that helped.

Do it outside! makes a hell of a mess, I like to add a lite stain then seal it after the burn & brush
you will need to repeat the procedure a few times to get the grain to really show, BTW.

If you're calling it the Lava Lounge, then you want a deep, lava red colour on the walls, possibly even stained with magma yellow.

You've already got a post-mid-century modern feel going there. Forget about the faux Polynesian restaurant bamboo trim - it's all been done before. Think "lava" + "lounge" instead. And you've already got that fantastic red lamp - now you need a room coloured to match it.

My 10 cents' worth (the smallest coin in NZ).

CN

On 2010-11-11 02:26, Club Nouméa wrote:
If you're calling it the Lava Lounge, then you want a deep, lava red colour on the walls, possibly even stained with magma yellow.

You've already got a post-mid-century modern feel going there. Forget about the faux Polynesian restaurant bamboo trim - it's all been done before. Think "lava" + "lounge" instead. And you've already got that fantastic red lamp - now you need a room coloured to match it.

My 10 cents' worth (the smallest coin in NZ).

CN

The lounge look can be a completely different way to go than the little grass shack look. And it can be way hip, sorta Shag, sorta mid-century swank. Kinda hard to give up the idea of creating your own tropical island though.

Wow..that is an impressive space...love the leopard, the shelves and the big Ku....FUN!!!

Thanks for the tips and ideas everyone. I have a few projects in line in front of this one but I have been thinking about the paint and what not now for days. I probably wont get started on this until after the holidays but I am going to get some practice wood and try this wire brushing stuff. Anyways its always fun to stop in and see who is doing what. Thanks again for all your ideas, tips and suggestions!

Aloha!

Thanks VampiressRN! Its a work in progress but what tiki bar isn't right? I mean aren't we all ALWAYS on the look out for the next cool thing to add to our collections?

Well I have been thinking about this wire brush technique all day and craving a little project to try it out. I finally made it to Home Depot and picked up a wire brush and a small torch and a scrap piece of 2x4. I found the closest saw I could find which happened to be a scroll saw and quickly cut a small 15 inch section of the 2x4 of and a rough silhouette of a tiki. As I have stated I have relatively no skills with the power tools but I want to change that. So a quick read though of the directions on how to get the torch lit without blowing my hand off or burning down the house and I was off. kahalakruzer was right... this is a messy job but it was fun. I started around 9 tonight and decided I had better stop or I will be torchin' wood out in my driveway all damn night! Anyway I recently got a copy of Tiki Modern and have been in love with the Witco stuff. So I am going to mount my silhouette on a shield or something and cover that in some faux fur as sort of an homage to the Witco products. Here is how it turned out. All in all it was not all that hard and gives me a little confidence that I can pull off a bigger job. Im not sure if I did it right but I like how it looks. Thanks to everyone else for the comments about the room. I am going to take your advice and paint it. But there are a few other projects in front of that one. Anyway here is how my wire brush test went. Let me know your thoughts.

Aloha!

Awesome,I like how the grain looks like exaggerated ears. cool!

Cool room. The mirror wall has to go

Here is a photo from my archives showing the sort of lava paint effect you could get on the walls:

CN

Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2010-11-14 19:29 ]

On 2010-11-14 19:22, Club Nouméa wrote:
Here is a photo from my archives showing the sort of lava paint effect you could get on the walls:

CN

---

Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2010-11-14 19:29 ]

Thats amazing... is there a special technique you used or did you just free hand that? It almost looks like airbrushing. I picked up some sweet seating for the room today. I will post pix soon

Pals,
Suicide Tiki

Hello Suicide Tiki,

I wish I could say that's my work, but it is a photo I took of the wall of a seedy nightspot in Montreal. It looks to me like it is airbrushed, with the red and white over-sprayed with two different shades of yellow, and the artist has done various parts of the over-spraying with the layer(s) underneath still partially wet. Where the yellow splashes out into the red near the top right-hand corner it looks like some brushwork has been applied too.

You can also see a bit where the paint appears to be chipped or scraped off (elongated reddish-yellow mark above the yellow strip). Probably not intentional, but still an interesting effect.

You could probably play around a bit on some scrap wood first to come up with some patterns.

CN

I know this thread is about building bars... but I had to share the seating that I am going to have in the corner of my lounge... I'm in love with this thing and I don't even know what you call it. A couch? A love seat? Art? :) Its definitely from the 60s and is covered in aqua vinyl.

Wow, that piece is way cool. Can't wait to see how it fits into the room. Keep us posted!

Ok, have to ask because I didn't see it posted anywhere.. Where did you get the ku figure? It's what 5' tall?

Great look on the room so far! Like a few others I to wish I had one room to use but the dinning table keeps getting in the way :D

Being a tiki-phile AND a lava lamp collector, I gotta say you need a vintage red lava lamp in there. If you like the idea, I can point you to some good ones on eBay - a new one is often of poor quality and an old one needs to be in good working order (and not overpriced - yes, some models sell for over $300, but they're not ALL "rare" and "very valuable!) I love your room so far, and I agree that a cross between tiki and mid-mod would be great, especially with that stunning couch thing. That just needs the lava lamp and an amoeba-shaped ashtray sittin' on the divider shelf!

There's a shop in Burbank you might like to check out, called Lady Peter's Whimsy. It's mid-mod with a few tiki items. Prices are on the high side, but it's fun to look around in and the owner is delightfully nutsy.

Seattle, Washington, where I live, has a bar called the Lava Loounge that dates to the 80s. Despite a Chinese red exterior with moai and porthole windows, the interior is neither mid-century nor tiki, and they have one junky lava lamp stuffed up in the highest shelves over the bar, not plugged in. This one has no "lava" and only fits "lounge" if you expect a lounge to be very dark and very dirty. I'm sure you can and will do much better. Oh, and your wire-brushed moai head looks great, as does that spiffy 60s swag lamp (which is really rockin' the red light inside!)

If any of your fixtures take (clear or colored) candelabra-base lamps, you can sometimes save a lot by hitting hardware stores right after Christmas. Some of 'em get in big stocks of multicolored Christmas lights (avoid the bigger-based outdoor kind, few indoor sockets take those intermediate base bulbs) and sell them individually in bins or in boxes of 25 for about $5 per box, but then sell them off dirt cheap after Christmas since they don't normally carry them. You may also be able to get the strings of sockets for them on sale, too. Again, you want candelabra aka C6 size bases/strings, generally. If you DO find 'em, buy lots of different colors; a ceramic (translucent) bulb has a very different effect from the same color in clear (transparent), especially when inside an object or backlighting it. They MIGHT put standard medium base colored or "party" bulbs on sale then, too, if they stocked up for Christmas. For special spots like narrow fixtures or over-picture/painting lights, try pet stores; they often have tube-shaped medium base lamps in red and dark blue for use in reptile terrariums - most hardware stores don't carry any colored lamps in this shape!

On 2010-11-23 14:33, TorchGuy wrote:
There's a shop in Burbank you might like to check out, called Lady Peter's Whimsy. It's mid-mod with a few tiki items. Prices are on the high side, but it's fun to look around in and the owner is delightfully nutsy.

Nutsy and Pricey is on the mild side. They have had the same stuff in that place for years. I don't think they have ever sold anything. Fun to look at though.

Thanks for the comments and recommendations! With the holidays here I have had to put the Lava Lounge on the back burner and put up christmas lights for the wife. I have some ashtrays around and will try some different ones out to see how I feel about them. I agree with you a lava lamp would look extra cool in there. I am always at the local swap meets so I am going to keep my eye out for one. I've actually seen a few I like but they want 300-500 clams for them. And I can justify paying that for a lamp. As for the giant ku, I got that at a place in Newport Beach called the house of tiki. They went out of business and were selling it off cheep because the eyes on that one don't light up. Only one of them does. To fix it I would have to cut into the base and go up the inside from the bottom. They were cheep lights powered by 2 AA batteries. So I didn't even bother. The sheer size of that thing is impressive enough. Everyone that see's it either loves it or asks why I would have something like that in my house. Thats when I kick their a$$ out of the Lava Lounge! Anyway thanks again for the comments. I'll get back to work on that in a couple weeks and start posting more pix of my progress. It took me years to find this site and now that I know I am not the only one obsessive about this stuff its like finding a home on the island of misfit toys! LOL

Aloha,
Suicide Tiki

[ Edited by: Suicide Tiki 2010-12-07 21:23 ]

Your bar is looking sweet. If you're still looking for bamboo, check out Frank's Cane & Rush in Huntington Beach. Along with stuff for chairs, they carry 8' poles and slats. While you're there, go to Benson's (a couple of miles apart) and check out the decour bits. Both have on-line catalogs.

Thanks Tikituba! I will check that out. I am thinking of toning down the original plan of doing a chair rail all the way around the room and just doing one wall. But like the others have said... I really need to paint this room before I get on to other stuff. All in due time though right?

Mahalo!

Suicide Tiki

[ Edited by: Suicide Tiki 2010-12-09 00:47 ]

I'm not 100% sure but I think I acquired a Witco over the weekend for next to nothing. It looks alot like the one on page 215 of Tiki Modern. Can anyone confirm it is indeed a witco?

Cool bar with unique style!
Is that a white carpet?
Cool!
I would name your bar... "The Luna Lava Lounge"

Hey Zeta,

Thanks for the comments... Yeah the LAVA LOUNGE is just the working title til I find something that really fits. I like your suggestion though. I wanted to call it THE SEA HAG but I'm not up for going in the nautical direction. Anyway for now its the Lave Lounge. Now that the holidays are over I'm hoping to find some more time to work on her. I'll keep the pix coming as I make progress.

Pals,
Suicide Tiki

I like the name! Just needs more "lava" :)

I decided to take the advice of everyone and throw up some new paint on the walls. I hate painting but decided to paint the room red with a black glaze. Here are the pix I have thus far.... let me know what you think.

First I had to take out all the tiki stuff... that was a bitch but gives me a reason to dust it when I put it back...

Here is the room emputy and taped off...

Then 2 coats of red paint were put up....

Then went on the glaze. I had never done this before but the end result looks pretty cool I think. I had to put 2 coats on of the glaze to get the effect I wanted.

The photos do not do the paint job justice but you get the idea of what I am doing here. It looks like flames in some spots but it does not read that well with my camera. Next up is to tackle some kind of entry treatment and to something on the cieling. I also plan to build a chair rain across the mirror with a shelf for added display space. All in due time but I will put up pix as I get these jobs done. Chime in with any ideas cause I am always up for suggestions and now is the time to try em out!

Regards,

Suicide Tiki

Great walls!

CN

Thanks my friend. Anyone have any suggestions on how to router the trim? I have never worked with a router before and am worried its going to end up looking like a do-it-ypurself job.

Pals,
Suicide Tiki

Made a run down to Oceanic Arts today and picked up some bamboo... started to burn it but the wind kicked up and I decided I had better wait for a calm day. I can't wait though and part of me wants to pull it inside the house and burn it! Hope to get it up this weekend on the ceiling. I'll post pix when I get em. Thanks for looking and as always let me know your thoughts, feelings and suggestions.

Pals,
Suicide Tiki

Hey! Let's see that Ford in the garage! :D

Wow that looks cool! What type of glaze did you use?

I used Valspar paint and glaze from Lowes. The reason I am telling you the exact name is that the Valspar glaze is tint-able and they can mix it right there for you. Other wise you will have to mix your own glaze in a 3 paint to 2 glaze ratio. The tint isn't cheep either. Its like 40 bucks a pint! But you can easily do a room with it. Thanks for checking out my pix.

Mahalo,
Suicide Tiki

Made another trip down to Oceanic Arts and picked up some grass matting. I know there is a name for this stuff but I don't know what to call it.

There was some slight damage to the smaller roll and I talked with the manager about a better price. We got to chatting and he pulled out some giant photos printed on cardboard, of various restaurants he had worked on in the 50, 60, 70s. That's when we were trading ideas on how to put the grass matting on the ceiling. Apparently there are various techniques and each one poses its own challenge. Excited to get started I came home and finished burning the rest of the bamboo I picked up earlier this week.

After that little task was completed I got started with the grass matting. With just the few pieces up I can already feel the change the in the room. I am going to try and finish the rest of the ceiling this weekend.

Stay tuned... more pix to come.

Suicide Tiki

Nice job, keep us posted as you progress. :)

Thanks Hiltiki!

Made some more progress today on the ceiling... here are some pix of the end result. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to hid the cord from the hang lamp that will hang over my bar. I stoked with the end result. After lurking on this site for years I am finally having a dream come true of having something like this room. I have zero skills with power tools but I'm happy with how it all came out. Its not perfect but it what I could do! As always comments, suggestions and any advice is always appreciated!

Finally got all the matting up...

Then came the task of figuring out how to get the mask up and then how to hide the cord. In the end I decided to run it down the bamboo.

Then I spent the day sizing & cutting bamboo... here are a few pix of the end result. I am going to put some silk vines around the lights. and glue some rope to some of the joints to hide the joints and a few screws that are visible. But after spending over 8 hours on a ladder I think I need to take a break as my nubs are killing me! :)

Thats awesome, great idea on that light.I think you open the door for new ways to hang lights.Thank you.

Hey Mudbone! Thanks for the complement! It was a little rough getting the hole big enough for the plug to go through but that's just cause I didn't want to buy a bit for just one job. How often does someone need to drill a huge hole like that in something? :)

Pals,
Suicide Tiki

Spent another day up on the ladder... I'm probably going be feeling this through next week. Today I went back over the screws with rope to make it look as if the ceiling is tied together rather than screwed up there. I also added a some ivy around the lights just to give it a splash of greenery. The room is coming together quite nicely I do believe!

Stayed tuned... more to come!

Regards,

Suicide Tiki