Aloha Theater and Tiki Bar!

I heartily approve of your aggressive use of brown. All hail brown! Brown all the things!

Great and inspiring job on the ceiling. I have a low, flat ceiling to work with, and it's been hard to get excited about my options. You've got my wheels turning!

The reed fence worked really well the ceiling. From carpet to ceiling its only 88 inches.

I thought BROWN was the UNIVERSAL color for TIKI.

Love your attention to detail and the spot light affects on your art.

This is the other ceiling that is in the room with the tiki bar. I can't believe what a difference it makes to paint the ceiling a color that is close to the bamboo reed. It really hides the gaps and makes it look fuller than it is.

Here is what it looks like close up and in bright light but from a distance and in lower light you can't see the gaps.

This room was more of a challenge since the width of the room is more than 12 feet. I couldn't use two 6ft sections so I had to do it in three sections.

Here I'm matching the color to the Nipa thatch

This area I need to tackle next.

That really is looking sweet!

• Dale

I should probably put a lauhala matt behind this and frame it in bamboo. Any other suggestions?

Great looking room, amazing and the lighting looks perfect. Very nice

Looking great!

For the longest time I've been trying to decide what to put on the dry wall that covers the air ducts. I'm putting thatch on the sides but the underside has been a challenge.

I thought about painting it with a stencil to look like tapa cloth or just covering it with burlap.

Then I ran across these three pieces of tapa cloth.

For now they are temporarily nailed but I think I'll glue them to foam board as well as surround them with small lauhala matting. I'll glue the matting to separate foam boards and then use screws to attach the boards to the ceiling. I'm always thinking about what I'll need to do if I ever move. I think this will make it easy to remove the tapa and matting. I'll post some pictures when I figure this out. Any other ideas on how to hang these?

I really like the look of those up there. I like the idea of attaching them to board first and then screwing them up there. would be easy to relocate if you ever moved or decided to use them differently.

• Dale

Thanks Dale,

I had some black bamboo left over from the wall installation so I thought I would put it to use.

I have spotlights in front of the two tall tikis, to focus the light upward I placed poster board shields around the lights.

I ran the bamboo fence through the table saw and cut it to the same height.

I left the poster board on the inside to block out the light from going through the cracks.

Aloha, Maukahale! You do good work! It looks terrific! Hope to see it some day. Your friend,

MoaiMike

what type of up lights spot lights do you use and where do you find em? Ive been trying to do the same thing for years and presto there you are with your superb lights!!! awesome job, now Ive got another project, the GF s gonna kill me!!! thanks
paul

Hi Mike, thanks for the compliment. I hope I get a chance to see your tiki room someday. I may go to the Sacramento crawl in October. Maybe we can meet up there. I never thought I could grow Hibiscus flowers at high altitude but I'm giving it a shot.

Pele Paul, the single spot lights I use come from "Lamps Plus." I looked at a lot of places and they had the right light for my needs. Its a low voltage light and costs between $50 and $60 depending on if you hit them when they are having a sale. For the white lights I use 50 watt halogen bulbs with a 10 degree angle. I then have it connected to a dimmer switch to control the brightness. The blue bulbs I use on the large tikis came from a source I found on the Internet. The red and yellow you see comes from the edge of the bulb. Where the bulb is pointed shines blue.

The lights have there own base so you can set them on a surface or hang them on the wall or the ceiling.

"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

[ Edited by: MaukaHale 2014-07-28 07:10 ]

I have several projects going on. This one I finished up over the weekend. I took down the lighted blow fish and put up bamboo reed and thatch.

Another project I'm working on is to make a frame for a piece of tapa cloth that will go on the ceiling, above the stairs, that goes to the lower level where the Aloha Theater and Tiki Bar is Located. The frame will extend past the tapa and go to the wall.

I was trying different patterns to carve into the frame. They all made everything look too busy.

I got the idea to mirror the pattern in the tapa that was next to the wood frame.

When I get it done I'll let you know how it came out.

"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

[ Edited by: MaukaHale 2014-08-19 21:20 ]

wow! thanks for the intel o the lights and bulbs my friend!!! that helps a lot, now to go to Lamps plus+ and pick me up some soon! and the space is looking awesome too!!!

On 2014-07-12 19:33, MaukaHale wrote:

I had some black bamboo left over from the wall installation so I thought I would put it to use.

I have spotlights in front of the two tall tikis, to focus the light upward I placed poster board shields around the lights.

I ran the bamboo fence through the table saw and cut it to the same height.

I left the poster board on the inside to block out the light from going through the cracks.

Aha, I will be stealing this idea from you shortly, thanks!!

Fantastic detail. I am gettinf so many great ideas here!

MaukaHale, those frames look fabulous! Really cool idea to carry the tapa pattern onto the woodwork.

Your whole place is typical of why I love this area of Tiki Central, like watching a tiny green bud open out into a magnificent flower.

btw. Speaking of flowers, your hibiscus looks very familiar.

Could it possibly be an Australian native commonly known as a Sturt Dessert Rose?

Frost resistant and thrives on neglect.

p.s. commonly called Sturt Dessert here because, you know.... it rhymes. :)

[ Edited by: komohana 2015-01-28 19:35 ]

On 2014-08-29 23:07, komohana wrote:

Could it possibly be an Australian native commonly known as a Sturt Dessert Rose?

Frost resistant and thrives on neglect.

Yes they are Sturt Desert Rose. I hope they do well because it gets below freezing in the winter.

I have the carving done on the frame, now I have to figure out the stain.

Love your turtle project...the frame is fabulous.

That blended Tapa and carved wood frame is one of the coolest tikified 'solutions' I've ever seen. Absolutely beeeeeautiful!
Fantastic job all around.
John
(Mr. Pupu Pants)

John, Thank you for the compliment. That means a lot to me. Your room (Hula Sue's South Sea Hideaway) is one of the most creative ones I have ever seen. I hope we get to see more of it in the future and your arm has gotten stronger since your accident.

I finished the frame for the turtle. I used a red chestnut stain. Its photographed against a piece of black foam board that I'm using for another project.

Wow
That came out great....

Jon

Nothing says Christmas like lights and ornaments with tikis under the palm tree.

Here are some progress pictures showing how I attached the tapa to the ceiling

I used spray adhesive to attach the tapa to black foam core board. I then surrounded the tapa with fine weave lauhala matting.

The panels are held to the ceiling using wood oak corner molding.

The two panels are pushed together with nothing at the seams. I used the natural back bow of the foam board to hold it against the ceiling.

There still is one section left to do and I'll use this piece for the remaing section.

I had one section of the ceiling to finish. Its a small strip that hangs down about an inch that has been framed around a few pipes.

Instead of covering it with a small piece of bamboo fence, I decided to use Neou Palm panels.

Here is a section of a wall with some new bamboo trim.

"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

[ Edited by: MaukaHale 2015-01-06 21:28 ]

Looks great! Mahalo for posting!

Liking the clean, streamlined look.

Wow...that looks great. You did a wonderful job. My ceiling is thirsting for the tapa I have, but it sure helps to see how people install theirs, before I make the big move. Your place is indeed classy!!!

Wow, I just discovered your Tiki masterpiece, you do amazing work. Thanks especially for posting the progress pics of the projects! I may be stealing your ceiling ideas as that is the next project on my list. I am renting so I need to do things in a way that they can be removed and moved easily. Please keep up the good work and keep the pics coming! I hope we can visit one anothers' tiki creations soon!

Slacks Ferret, Atomic Tiki Punk and VampiressRN thank you for the kind words. Its always very motivating when people like what you're doing.

Aloha Daddy - everything I'm doing is to preserve the existing walls and ceilings. I use very small nails for the tapa and matting. If I was to remove everything I would only need to repair small nail holes and touch up with paint. The screws in the ceiling are a little larger but they can be patched as well. I remember when I was trying to figure out how to attach the matting I asked Oceanic Arts how they do it. They told me they use contact cement. That would definitely destroy the finish on the wall.

I'm currently putting up bamboo board on one wall. If you're interested I could take more detail pictures to show how I install it.

Here is a new piece of trim I'm working on.

I've painted half of it white and the other half will be the same black stain that's on the trim piece under it.

After I fill this small area I can finish the last area of ceiling with bamboo.

"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

[ Edited by: MaukaHale 2015-01-21 19:45 ]

This came out different than I expected. Even though I wiped the stain off the white paint, it came out a silver gray. Its not what I envisioned but this turned out better than I thought. I like this color.

Your latest work looks great! With inspiration from you, I think I am going to construct (2) ceiling panels built on a 1x2 frame, that way I can not only work on it on the ground and then hoist it up and attach to the ceiling, but I can use only 4 or 6 screws so I don't have so many holes in the ceiling. Please do put up any and all photos of the work you're doing, they are an inspiration and a help to those of us who are working on our own Tiki bars.

Aloha and Cheers!!!

Here are some more progress pictures.

This is the wall I'm working on.

I'm putting up bamboo board and I thought the best way to cut the material would be to use a utility knife.

It turns out that a sharp pair of scissors works best.

I'm glad I decided to figure out what went where on the walls before I put up the wall treatments. Normally it would make sense to put the seam where a stud is so you can attach the bamboo over something solid. I had to put the seams between the large items so the center of the bamboo will be attached with toggle bolts to the drywall.

Before I do this section I need to move the pinball and put up the tapa cloth.

I used a 3M adhesive to attach the tapa to foam core board.

Aloha Daddy,

I'll post some more pictures tomorrow and show you how I attached everything to the wall.

"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

[ Edited by: MaukaHale 2015-02-10 22:12 ]

Outstanding
Your Tiki Bar makes me thirsty!!!

:)

Keep it up

Looks great, everything fits seamlessly even though you are doing it in stages. First class job! Thanks for posting the progress photos. I need to purchase some tapa cloth for my ceiling panels, did you get yours at Oceanic Arts? Ebay doesn't have much to offer. Aloha!

All the tapa pieces in the home theater were purchased at Oceanic Arts except the two pieces hanging behind the large tikis. The big wall piece, that is behind the canoe came off of a large roll that Oceanic Arts had. I think it was 180 feet long and 10 feet wide. You had to purchase a minimum of 10 feet.

I only found one piece of tapa on Ebay worth buying and its behind the lower large tiki. The three pieces that I used for ceiling panels came from a web site that's either in New Zealand or Australia. Here is the website.

http://www.tapapacifica.com/

Its all coming together!

Aloha Daddy I'm like you. Someday this will have to come down so my install is made to create minimum damage and an easy way to take this all apart. I don't plan on doing this soon but someday it will happen.

I use small brad nails along the edge were the bamboo will cover the seam.

I don't put the nail all the way in so someday I can get a hammer under the head. The Bamboo will cover the nails so they won't show.

I drill a hole in the bamboo the size of a finishing nail.

When its possible I try to put the nail next to a node on the bamboo.

I then leave enough of the nail head exposed so I can get a small hammer head under the nail head.

Here's how this room has evolved since I started:

"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

[ Edited by: MaukaHale 2015-02-16 21:13 ]

Looks like one of those high end Trader Vic's
right in your own home, well done, sir.

I like how you have kept plugging away at this. Learning from others but doing the work yourself. Lots of different projects and great solutions to specific areas. This is a really nice transformation. Keep it up!

ATP, thank you for the high compliment. 8' TIKI, yes I have benefited from everyone on TC and grateful for what they have shared. Still more to come, its been a fun journey.

Here are some picture of the new custom tables in the Aloha Theater and Tiki Bar. They were built by Monkeyman.

Originally I thought natural light would shine through the resin and cut bamboo but it didn't. Monkeyman suggested using a string of LED lights to light underneath. I bought LED puck lights and suspended them from nets underneath. That way the light would only shine up.

I measured the net size on top.

Using a stable gun, the net was attached to the inside walls. I also attached the on/off switch on the inside wall.

There are two tables and the switch controls both.

I really like my new table lights.

To see pictures of tables in the daylight go to:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=48742&forum=12&start=15

You could start charging admission to see this! I agree that your place looks like a Trader Vic's or Don the Beachcomber! You continue to inspire me to do more and reach higher, thanks for the inspiring photos. I am building ceiling panels with your help, your workmanship is amazing. Keep up the great work! Aloha!

Mahalo - Aloha Daddy,

I have found the journey is just as much fun as arriving at the destination! There are a lot of talented people on TC and I'm very thankful for all the ideas and knowledge they share.

If you are ever on my side of the island you're welcome to see my bar for no charge.

On 2015-04-03 17:40, MaukaHale wrote:
Here are some picture of the new custom tables in the Aloha Theater and Tiki Bar. They were built by Monkeyman.

Originally I thought natural light would shine through the resin and cut bamboo but it didn't. Monkeyman suggested using a string of LED lights to light underneath. I bought LED puck lights and suspended them from nets underneath. That way the light would only shine up.

I measured the net size on top.

Using a stable gun, the net was attached to the inside walls. I also attached the on/off switch on the inside wall.

There are two tables and the switch controls both.

I really like my new table lights.

To see pictures of tables in the daylight go to:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=48742&forum=12&start=15

Fantastic, clever... gorgeous.