A Tiki Outpost in New Hampshire

Greetings All,

I've been a lurker for a very long time, but it's time to reveal my home tiki bar. A bit of background on me - I've loved tiki since I was a kid as we stayed at The Polynesian Village at Walt Disney World. It's still my favorite hotel anywhere. I have always wanted to have a tiki room and have finally created the space after years of collecting. I hope you enjoy seeing the construction pics and transformation of a boring basement into a tropical hideaway heavily based on Trader Sam's. Thank you to everyone on here for your inspiration and passion in your projects.

Okay so here are the beginnings of what I had to work with. A basement with some of my tikis hanging on the wall awaiting a home. I forgot how bright it was down there with the fluorescent lighting.

Now my basement is large, but I wanted a cozy tiki bar. Plus, filling the basement with more tiki finds would cost a fortune. My first step was to put up matting on a half wall which didn't turn out as I liked so I changed it later. The second step was to put up a divider wall. I chose to leave an open entry way at the edge of the wall to allow heat from the furnace to fill the room during the winter. In the middle of the wall is the space for a window I ended up creating. The painting used in the window is from the Polynesian.

The window construction was actually easier than I thought. The bamboo came out great and I was happy with the results.

Next up shelves full of items mostly found in Trader Sam's. I also added flooring which came out nice and never had any problems with the winter.

Now it was time to begin with the wallpaper. The installation of the first tiki light was also a nice change. One other addition was beginning construction of the ceiling beams.

[ Edited by: KonaBrad 2018-07-19 21:35 ]

Next up more lighting, ceiling details, and decorations. I also corrected the wall which would be behind the bar.

The changes continue and the bar begins to take shape.

Welcome back, Brad! Thanks for sharing your space; it looks great!

Looking good Brad. Really good! How did you hide the pvc drainpipe in the corner behind the bar?
That window in the new wall is awesome. Anxious to see mo pix. Have you thought about a name-Tiki Bar has been taken and your place deserves a great name
Good luck and Mahalo for sharing.

Nice work! Loving the "window" and all the little details. Great job!

Hey, fellow Polynesian Resort kid turned Tikiphile! Your place looks fantastic! Like everyone else, I'm enamored by that window you built in the wall. The bamboo framing around it really makes it pop. I also dig that pattern on the front of your bar.

Keep it going!

Jeff

Love it, Looks inviting.

Aloha,

Thanks for the compliments everyone, it means a lot! I've been away for a few days in order to finally make the trek out to Oceanic Arts. Leroy and Bob could not have been nicer. I bought more items from them that will be appearing in the bar shortly. Met some great tiki fans as well. Also, I visited Disneyland again with stops at The Enchanted Tiki Room and Trader Sam's. One thing I noticed is the improved audio quality at the attraction, loved it.

On 2018-07-19 23:07, nui 'umi 'umi wrote:
How did you hide the pvc drainpipe in the corner behind the bar?
Have you thought about a name-Tiki Bar has been taken and your place deserves a great name

The PVC pipe is a radon reduction system that is part of living in the Granite State. It has to be accessible, so what I did was make a 3 sided column that can easily be removed. I used lightweight barn wood for that one.

I'm thinking of naming the bar Trader Mercury's Secret Outpost, but I"m still debating that. She's the evil cat that runs by household but loves hanging out in the bar.

Thanks again for your comments everyone, but now it's time for more pics...

Since it's a basement bar, the lights hang low. A problem was how to deal with one of the large lights. I stuck the fake palm tree underneath it knowing it was temporary until I got the furniture.

Once I bought the tables and chairs, the low lighting issue was solved. I moved the tree to the side. It finally felt more like a finished bar.

I installed a black light behind the bar to light up the leis. Looks much better in person.

And the window with the new seating area.

Looks great! That window is FABULOUS!

Aloha Brad, great job man!!
Looks real good. Lots of layers and nice decor. Keep the pics coming.
Thanks for sharing.

TabooDan

A goal of mine is to make the bar as immersive as possible and hide the fact that it's located in the basement. As this picture shows, we have a plain metal door to the garage. The plan is to cover parts of it with tapa cloth.

After being painted and awaiting a new look.

I like what you've done and I'm really impressed with your fake window.

Thanks MaukaHale! Glad you like the window.

Here's where I hung some cloth behind a beaded curtain to hide the back of the basement. I'm going to place a light in that corner soon.

And here's more pics from around my secret outpost:

I love it! Great work!

From a fellow Polynesian hotel and tiki fan, and New Englander (Maine)...GREAT JOB! Like everyone else, I love that window! But so many nice features...

Thanks guys and nice to see more fellow New Englanders on here. I don't enjoy the winters anymore and there's nothing like a tiki escape when a blizzard is going on just outside. Hopefully someday I'll live in a warmer climate for the winter, but the bar helps out a lot.

The Polynesian is such a great place with many great memories. I'm happy with all of the recent renovations too. I'll miss the old waterfall, but I do find myself hanging out in the lobby more late night while enjoying some drinks.

A few more pics enjoy

Outstanding
Great job
Love the bamboo window

Cheers

Thanks so much!

Here's a few more recent updates from this week. Got a new light and a moai.

Made some more progress on the entrance. I might make more improvements to the door in the future, but this will do for now. The most recent project is the creation of a bamboo shade for the light bulb above the door.

Very nice.

Greetings everyone,

Well more progress has been made as I created my very first light shade that hangs at the entrance to the bar. I decided to add bamboo to the ceiling surrounding the light so that's the latest project. I'll post more updates soon!

Enlightening

wow love it!! love your 3d window and bamboo window treatment!!!

What a great project, of course the bamboo window is a favorite. How you doing for sound?

Thanks for the compliments, really appreciate it! As for sound, I use two portable Bose speakers operating in stereo mode. They sound great since it's a small space.

I've made a few improvements lately including new led lights for the curtain, more wall art, and I just received more bamboo to be put up. One big improvement was finally painting over the white walls leading to the basement. I'll post pictures of that project soon.

Last time we were at Trader Sams, I told my wife I wanted a false window, similar to the 2 Krakatoa pieces, I absolutely love your false window.

On 2018-11-02 09:32, honuboy311 wrote:
Last time we were at Trader Sams, I told my wife I wanted a false window, similar to the 2 Krakatoa pieces, I absolutely love your false window.

Thanks so much! Definitely create that false window you won't regret it!

Christmas is coming so I had to decorate the bar before the house of course.

Perfect. Very inviting.

From one New Hampshirite to another....WOW! I'm loving all the references to the Polynesian Village! Haven't been since last March but the Poly stays with you for a life time! Your space looks great! Just say the word and I'll be over with some mugs!

You East Coast guys got it goin on!! Love the space and the escapism. Well done.

Thanks so much for the compliments! When you're stuck with cold winters, it's nice to have an escape. I'm glad my love for the Polynesian shows. I worked hard on putting in references big and small to my favorite hotel. Actually, I'll be there in two weeks and can't wait to enjoy a drink on the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon.

I took a short break from buying new artwork and tikis, but more additions will be coming soon. The bar is stocked with plenty of liquor now so I'm always up for a gathering.

Amazing!

Nice and cozy.

Great to have the forum back! It's been awhile but we sold the house and the tiki bar has been taken apart...only to be brought back to life in our new home.

The new basement was quite a challenge. It's shaped like an L, has duct work everywhere, sprinkler system, septic pipes, gas lines, electricity, a vacuum system, etc. Picked the best location I could build in. The new bar is almost the same size as the old one, just shaped differently.

[ Edited by KonaBrad on 2024-04-09 12:15:20 ]

First, I started brining in the old furniture to choose the final layout and of course lights had to go in.

Then the walls and the flooring came which make the space look much smaller than it is in reality.

Props and my window come out of storage and back to life. It was an exciting time. I went 5 months without the bar because we could not move into our house for 5 months. That was a tough stretch.

Once the ceiling started going in, it felt like the old space again. Covering up all the piping, etc. was challenging as all the new materials had to be removable in case work had to be done.