The TomAndrea Lounge Deux

Aloha!
Its been a long haul, but my wife and I have finally semi-completed The New TomAndrea Lounge...now located in Annandale VA!

Taking pictures has been a bear, since, A. Well...frankly...I stink at photography and B. The Light effects have been difficult to capture...but anyways, here are my initial images (I hope to get better ones up soon)

[ Edited by: Hearn 2013-09-02 09:06 ]

NICE to see a local Washington DC area Tiki room, GOOD job! Thortiki

Awesome looking place! I love that swinging loveseat!

Great use of bamboo! I also live the contrast between the dark and the light areas of the bar.

You no got da problem wid the photo skills-you got da problem wid da quantity! post mo!
Mahalo!

It looks like a great place to escape to.

Looks great Hearn! Kudos to you and your wife.

So, the ceiling is supposed to be a starry sky effect? I bet that looks much better in person. Neat idea.
I'm really digging the gathering of tiki around the flames. Nice touch. I also love the round, rattan wall shelf. I'm still looking for one of those!

Well done (even though it's never really done).

Cheers and aloha!

On 2013-09-03 06:12, Q-tiki wrote:
Looks great Hearn! Kudos to you and your wife.

So, the ceiling is supposed to be a starry sky effect? I bet that looks much better in person. Neat idea.
I'm really digging the gathering of tiki around the flames. Nice touch. I also love the round, rattan wall shelf. I'm still looking for one of those!

Well done (even though it's never really done).

Cheers and aloha!

Thanks! Yeah...the inspiration for the sky was The Blue Bayou at Pirates in Disneyland. We had the challenge of a 1961 House with the old asbestos ceiling tiles. I painted it blue and was very happy with the projector effect. In person it looks like the Bamboo Ceiling ends and a starry night begins!

The bamboo grid had to be suspended from the wall on both sides since I couldn't drill or bolt anything into the ceiling. I'll post more pics soon!

These were my Inspiration Images for Lighting Effects (I know they're not Tiki per se, but they evoke great memories for me)

These were my Inspiration Images for Lighting Effects (I know they're not Tiki per se, but they evoke great memories for me)

Looks great
That big chair looks sweet
Any step by step / build it pics?

Jon

On 2013-09-03 07:49, hang10tiki wrote:
Looks great
That big chair looks sweet
Any step by step / build it pics?

Jon

I have a few. I'll post later tonight. Its in the basement of our Mid Century home we just bought last year. It was built in 1961 and we bought it from the ORIGINAL owner (he was 92). He did not touch ANYTHING in the house since 1961. All original, well-kept materials and appliances etc. (which was the good news)...all original asbestos ceiling and VCT in the basement (which was the bad news...though the tile is in excellent shape)

nice job on the window covers.

-Longboard

Okay Guys, so here are some progress photos as promised:

Up Goes the Bac Bac with a framed out bamboo slice for Monkeyman's Album Frames

Window Coverings I Bought from a Garden Store for $20 Bucks (they were meant to be gates for a fence)

We had a drop in the existing ceiling that houses a mechanical duct, so I figured we set up a series of split bamboo "beams" that would then hold up MDF Panels with grass or tapa paneling. Here are a few progress shots of that construction (before and after we painted)

I was originally going to go with a series of mini-travel posters along the drop ceiling bulkhead, but ending up making that into an illuminated mug shelf. Here are some test shots

...and a shot of the final mug shelf

Because of the asbestos ceiling, we had to build an entire structure spanning the walls to support the bamboo love seat (which we bought for $30 on craigslist!) The travel poster trim ended up moving to the wall beyond the love seat support

Some lighting test shots

Finally, my daughter admiring the Witco Stools

[ Edited by: Hearn 2013-09-03 11:49 ]

sweet! nice place

Mahalo Fellow TC'rs!

Inspired by the recent discussion regarding the "State of The TC Union", I decided to post some pics of the latest goings ons in The TomAndrea Lounge.

(I apologize in advance for the lengthy post).

Even though no tiki room is every really "done"...I found myself mostly complete with all of my walls, flooring, ceiling etc and decided to start construction on the one last major piece: A Mai-Kai Molokai inspired bar and an accompanying back-wall shelf for liquor and mug storage with a built in center old-fashioned tiki diorama.

"Classic Book of Tiki Diorama"

By that very nature...its a piratey theme. I know that this is not PURE tiki...but believe me...there's enough tikis in the room to offset this slight offense to purism.

Here is a "very rough" sketchup model showing the basic conceptual layout

Ok....Phase One: The Back-Bar Shelf. Frankly, I just needed room for more rum and tiki mugs. With the help of my step-dad, we knocked out this shelf in 4-days. Here are some shots:

"Detail Shot of Lighting"

"Homemade Shroud Line Detail"

Once the back-bar shelf was mostly complete, we were able to celebrate New Years Eve with some zombies and suffering bastards...now onto Phase Two.

Phase Two: The Diorama
I've never built a model railroad or any type of realistic diorama before..so armed with lots of youtube videos by Woodland Scenics I decided to tackle this somewhat scary task.

I thought long and hard about what the "theme" of the diorama should be. Should it be a deserted island with a volcano? (ala Trader Sam's) Should it be just a beachfront sunset? In the end I decided I wanted a backdrop that was somewhat different/unique to what I have seen built/posted before. Since it was a pirate theme (by way of Molokai Bar) I decided to dig deeper into the lexicon and recreate the opening relaxing moments of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLZAejMTZVo
"Watch from 0:30 to 1:30"

"Overall Image Inspiration...a big shout out to Daveland Blog for images!"

"Bayou Hut"

""Fishing Boat"

Now that I had my inspiration...the hard work started. Step one: an illuminated backdrop. I cottaged together an image in photoshop and had it reverse printed on vinyl. I then applied the image to (3) pieces of plexiglass...to achieve a 270 degree backdrop.

"Illuminated Backdrop Collage"

I ran some cheap colored LED strip behind the plexiglass and PRESTO...a spooky bayou at night!

"Light Test 1"

Next step: Building the Bayou Hut and Boat. A little flashback to my architectural school model-making days. Took the better part of a weekend, but its mostly done.

"View from ashore"

"Front porch"

"house and boat spacing test...boat is temporary"

Next step: Lighting tests. The mood in the ride is a combination of blue and red/orange/purple lighting...so its a good thing I got color changing led strips!

Well folks...that where I'm at!
Next steps:

A. Build Boat
B. Distress Paint House and Boat
C. Landscape Trees and Swampy Ground
D. Landscape Water

I hope you guys like/are interested in this project...if so, I'll post more...

Aloha!
Hearn

[ Edited by: Hearn 2016-02-08 11:50 ]

[ Edited by: Hearn 2016-02-08 12:00 ]

Thanks for the updates. Love your place and the gusto you have found to work the details and dioramas. WOW. keep it up!

Why are the coolest home tiki bars so far from me? Or why am I so far from them??

That is one of the coolest things I have seen here yet.

That diorama is very cool. What material/s did you make the boat out of?

Double post.

[ Edited by: swizzle 2016-02-09 16:33 ]

Boat was an eBay purchase ($10) it's made of wood.

I'm planning on salvaging the hull and building and adding on the "shack" portion.

Heran,

Nice work. Can you elaborate a little more on the background? Was it printed on clear vinyl? Attached on the front or back? I'm guessing back since it was reverse printed. Thanks.

Image was reverse printed on semi-translucent (not clear) vinyl. You want it to be opaque enough to conceal the lights (especially if there isn't a large gap between plexi and lights).

It was then CAREFULLY applied to the back of 1/4" thick acrylic. The application was tricky since you only have one shot. I used a window vinyl applicator kit purchased at Home Depot. You spray an alcohol based solution onto the back of the acrylic and film itself...this allows some "play" with the film once you apply it to plexi. You can move it around and align image etc. you then, working from center out, use a credit card to "squeegee" the excess liquid from the plexi-vinyl sandwich.

Cutting plexi is a bear so I shopped around and found a company that cuts to your specs. It was like $50.
In retrospect 1/8" thick might have been ok (and cheaper)...but 1/4" works great with little deflection.

Love it!

Fantastic work/play!
that was my favorite part of building a bar, getting to learn new techniques and trying new things, knowing how I wanted it to look when finished but no idea how to get there..
love the starry sky! love the diorama. both give great contrast to the lighting and i'll bet they make the room feel bigger. nothing like a view to the big outside world from the comfort of a bar stool!

VERY inventive! (-:

Hey Hearn!! Its been a while since I've posted on here but I had to say what a great job on your lounge! It's a true classic! And what an awesome addition with you deciding on a diorama. Great idea. I think the big man Sven will be impressed with that one. We're interested so keep posting!
Mahalo, TabooDan

Love what you have done with your tiki room, keep posting.

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!

Really great work, on the background, boat, everything thus far. Thanks for sharing.

Paul

I'm late to the show but just wanted to say incredible work on all aspects of your bar. Really inspirational.

One of the best postings in a long time!

I understand that you painted the sky blue but what type of project or did you use to get the stars and the soft lighting on the ceiling

I use this for projector: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009S3IBI8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1455516938&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=lazer+twilight+projector

The "nebula" really makes the effect...

Quick Update: I'm working on the landscape portion (its trickier than I thought)

BASE CARVED OUT OF PINK INSULATION AND GLUED TO 3?4" PLYWOOD

ROUGH PLASTER ROCK FORMATIONS

SANDED ROCKS

PAINTING!

PAINTING CLOSEUP

I'm in love with this! The diorama and the starry night effects are fantastic. I've been playing around with fishbowl dioramas, but your Blue Bayou is shaping up wonderfully!

LANDSCAPING UPDATE!

BOGGY CREEK (PRE-WATER)

PREPPING THE REEDS AND BRUSH

Quick Visual Update....

Basically I completed Landscape, Distress Painting House and conducted some basic Lighting Tests. Still need to build/paint boat top and...gulp...pour the epoxy for the water effect.

That diorama is just the coolest. Masterful work!

Love it looks great.

I dig your swing and that model looks pretty legit to.

Mad props on your diorama! I've already lost count how many times I've gone through the progress pics :o

Update Time!

Finished the Basic Boat Structure

Boat Sitting on The Boat Base

Prepping the Base for 2-Part Epoxy Pour (Yellow Tape is The Dam)

Damming the Wire Hole Below The House (For Lighting)

First Pour of the 2-Part Epoxy
I swirled in some green paint for algae/pond scum effect

Just seeing your thread now and all I can say is WOW! Add me to the list of people who love the swing seat and the diorama is just so special. VERY well done!

This is incredible work Hearn!
great job!

Lets see more.

Thanks everyone!

I did the 2nd epoxy pour and I'm very happy with results. Just need to paint boat, add trees and incorporate lighting. Next post will be the (mostly) finished product!

Nearly complete with the Blue Bayou Diorama...without further adieu

Rusticated Painted Boat

Boat At Night

Boat View 2

Marie Lauveau The Voodoo Queen watches from the Shore

Hut - Details 1

Hut - Details 2

Overall - A

Overall - B

That is awful NICE!