The Rock-A-Hula Hut

Aloha! We recently purchased a 1950's ranch home that included a funky little shed in the backyard. That funky little shed is slowly becoming the Rock-A-Hula Hut. Here are some pics of the build so far...

I have big plans for the exterior, but that will come after the inside.

I'm covering the walls in burnt wood.

The wall behind the bar is getting a multi-layered diorama. It's going to look like a window to the outside.

The wall will get a coat of paint (blue sky or orange sky?), then this piece of glass will sit in front of that...

This will go a few inches in front of the glass (still more painting to be done), and then some palms and such in front of this...

My mugs will be housed in a "lava wall" that has red LED lights hidden throughout.

Cheers!

Great stuff already. I love the fake lava rock. Go man Go!

Awesome start! And so much potential on the outside.

I agree, excellent start. I like the name as well.

Holy cow!! That shelf/hole in the wall mug area is killin'. Please keep us updated...Awesome work!!

Paul

Lovin' it! Keep the progress pics coming.

Thanks guys!

If anybody has any experience with creating a multi-layered diorama, I would love to pick your brain...

This looks like it's gonna be good! Thanks for sharing.

i love the lava wall. very excited to see the finished product.

ZAZZ! An awesome start and plan!

If you don't mind my asking, how did you create the faux lava rock?

Soon I'll be working on a small mug display and would like to use your lava rock idea to showcase certain mugs at varying heights so they aren't just all lined up on a shelf. I originally thought I wanted to use standard retail clear acrylic risers but then my mugs would look like they were for sale in a store, not nestled in an exotic locale. Would you mind breaking the illusion for me (us) and sharing some of your process here?

Thanks!

It was pretty easy. I learned a lot as I got farther along in the process.

My biggest tips would be to...

1. Do as much of the spray foam on the ground as possible. It can be a pain to get it to cling on the underside/face of the shelves.

2. If you are adding red lights, don't fully cover the spray foam in black paint. The white areas really enhance the lava effect, and show detail. This will only work in a low light setting (it looks half finished in full light).

3. WEAR GLOVES!

I started by covering a basic shelf with foam panels...

Then I strung red LED Christmas lights on the shelf, and spray foamed the foam panels...

Painted the spray foam...

It's almost finished!

It's looking super awesome Lucky!

Do you think you might be part of the Tiki-Kon home bar tour this year?

I wish! If you guys make it down for the Kon, you guys will get a private tour for sure!

That is going to look great...keep up the good work...love the progress pictures. :)

Today I played with lighting on the diorama. I'm diggin' the way it's turning out!

On 2011-02-28 15:58, Lucky Jackson wrote:
I wish! If you guys make it down for the Kon, you guys will get a private tour for sure!

I truly hope to make it down! If not for Tiki-Kon, possibly sometime in the next few preceding months.

The diorama is coming along. I still need to carve some trim for the "window"... and tweak the lighting a bit.

Here it is in the light...

...and in the dark.

Very cool. What other items will you be adding?

Thanks!

It's a small space (about 12x12), so I won't be adding too much more... the bar/seating, maybe a corner booth/the rum shelf.

Aside from those three things, it's all bamboo/thatch/trim/my decor, mugs, lamps, etc.

The bar

Seating area

Back (side) bar

We are having some friends over tonight, so I staged a few mugs in the lava wall. I couldn't help but take some pics!

The coolness of how it turned out doesn't come through in these pics, but the bright lighting makes it easier to see how the building process played out. I wish I could get good pics when the lights are low... That's when that red lava glow pops!

What an awesome lava wall/cabinet!!!

A few years back I had an idea to create a bar with random cut-out shapes on the front, with little fish tanks behind them, so it sort of looks like one giant fish tank. This totally reminds me of that, but with mugs! And lava!

Love the diorama, it's looking sweet!

Diorama is aces. Can you describe how you lit it? From being and inside with LEDs?

GK

Thanks for the kind words!

The layers from the front going backwards are...

1. Foliage
2. A wood divider board that works as a light shield (it blocks the lights from shining forward)
3. Soft White LED lights
4. Diamond Head/Ocean painting
5. Frosted glass w/clouds painted on back side
6. Currently I have a C9 type of light bulb casting the orange glow here... I'm not sure that this will be the final light here. I want to get a little more "sunset" out of the light in this layer.
7. Wall painted light blue

The result looks good in person, but I need to figure out a couple tweaks to contain the LED lights in certain areas without blocking them in other areas.

The problem areas are...

1. The glass on the right/middle area. In the pic you can see it messing up the sunset with a blue glow.
2. The ceiling above the diorama. The LEDs cast a bright glow up at the top of the wall. It tends to fade when I have my lamps on, but you can still see it.