O'Ghoulihan's Fugu Lounge, Northern VA

Very high praise. Thank you! Myself and my girlfriend work on these projects together. She does all the painting, and does a fantastic job- as you’ve noticed.

You keep posting better and better stuff. That new lamp is great, and the angler is epic. Thanks for all the inspiration.

The lounge is going through some changes. We decided to move a few walls around. Recently we saw a photo from the interior of Maxs Southseas Hideaway of an interesting tile wall. I still had some old foam mats and decided we’d try and make our own version. Dremel router attachment, wood burner, lots of gloss finish. I took a trip to the garden center around the corner and bought some 2” diameter bamboo. Torched it a bit, cut it and wired together a frame. Goes without saying, but this is the new center piece of the lounge. More videos on our IG @ fugulounge if you’re interested.

Boy that looks great! You know if that was made out of real tiles it would be kinda costly and way heavy. Used to have people get all worked up and bit@h about the plastic globes I would use to make float lights.

Then I reminded them that most if not ALL of the old tiki joints way back when used plastic glass whatever they could find.

Wait, it was when Sven too reminded them that they got it.

I do the same thing glass plastic whatever looks good.

In fact I think even though I do float lights in glass mostly it is the plastic globes that I like best as they are much lighter, and I think don't break as easy as glass in day-to-day use.

Thank you Skip. We love the way this looks in the space. I did one float from a plastic globe and it looks pretty darn good. I have 2 bought glass floats from a shop in Delaware. Recently I attempted to cut a hole in the top with not great results. The glass is incredibly thin… a few cracks that I don’t want to make worse. I went slow, had water consistently lubricating. Figured I’d leave well enough alone- sprayed the outside with sea glass and it’s a big improvement over what they were. The plastic had some odd smudges that didn’t show up until painted. I actually don’t mind this look- for the time being anyway.

Man smudges are great!

That is the main problem with new made fish in the middle of the fish float lights the globe does NOT have any smudges or marks of old age that takes time, OR glass frost and some paint etc.

For me I want it look old like it came from the OA sale.

Look if you crack or break a glass or plastic globe a bit put it outside in your garden bed with the break side down and maybe even burry it a bit and hide the boo boo.

You could even put a light in it for nighttime.

Instant flotsam or is it jetsam?

I'm speechless at the transformation. So freaking cool. I am just starting to build a tiki bar in a small apartment and will be definitely stealing some ideas. The helmet and fish are just the coolest. What you've done with fabrics is inspiring.

Thanks! We’ve been undergoing some relatively major changes. Finally decided the white ceiling had to go. I wall papered the entire ceiling with temp peel and stick wall paper. I’ll post more soon once we have it closer to completion.

You have some very creative and resourceful ideas.

Busy couple of weeks at the lounge preparing for a visitor or 2. We first wall papered the ceiling, then hung 8’ halved bamboo, making a sort of netted drop ceiling. LEDs placed in the bamboo for an indirect lighting effect along with lots of foliage. Also fashioned a faux crate to conceal the projector when not used. Needless to say this made a drastic change to how the space feels and really added to the escapism vibe. In addition the back wall was made into a jungle scene- the idea is have the impression you’re looking into the jungle. We still need to add more 3D elements to complete this- not sure what though.

One of our friends that stopped by took some really great photos as well:

AMAZING!!! I like how the layers add depth it sort of conceals where the walls or ceiling actually is, especially when you add those blue lights!

Thank you Captain Cook. The change to the ceiling was definitely a game changer.

Great shots!

Man, too bad this is an apartment you could really go to town on yer own house.

And thank you for taking the time to post your efforts on TC giving people a great bar and some ideas on how to make yer own I know that all takes time..

Sometimes it feels like the same three people that do all the posting on TC.

I did wonder when TC was down how that would affect the creating side of tiki as it is fun to make some cool tiki item and then post it here on TC, not as great when you can't share it as you can here.

Yeah, I know there is other social media too.

Thanks skip! Yep, you’re right. It can be a little slow here at times. We put most of our effort into the IG account. However I do value the opinions and comments I get here though, which is why I take the time.

One day we may have a house. Maybe not out here, but when we do we will certainly be taking the lounge to the next level!

The mix of actual and created is truly amazing. And encouraging! If you cannot afford it, or just can't find something, have a go at creating it! Your "faux" effects are worthy of any film set!

Thanks for the kind words. A lot of the fun with this hobby for us has come from creating our items. Believe me, we’ve been antique hunting in this area and there isn’t shit! If we could find something worth while we would definitely grab it.

So, wait you don't have any nautical shops around even.

Those can be very costly these days

The place to find that stuff is tag sales, garage sales, and heck every now and then you can find parts to make tiki stuff with that is not too high online, it's that damn shipping that gets ya. Anytime the Govt does something they mess it up then it gets really expensive.

Also wait till places go under, that will be happening more I think and go to the sales for those places not just tiki places but places that might have a few things and not bring out every tiki nut within ten miles.

Good luck!

If there is, I haven’t found it. Best thing we found were decent looking fish floats 3 hours away. We keep trying though.

Don't know if it's the same in your country, but here there are just too many people looking now, .....or "speculators" buying anything up cheaply with a view to selling online and making a profit.

We’re right outside of DC. From all of our fishing around, this place appears to be lacking in anything nautical. There’s a couple of home bars around here that I’m aware of, but I don’t believe there’s a large tiki culture. Again, I could be wrong!

Hi all. We just completed a new lamp for the lounge- cuboctahedron. Fiddled around trying to incorporate a fugu into a classic breezeway tile design. Even though we weren’t head over heels about it, we landed on this design. EVA foam if you haven’t guessed. The structure is using Knex. The overall end result turned out nice I think. Fairly large- each square tile is 8x8inches. The IG in my profile link has some short reels of the construction .

I think it's beautiful! Very nice work!

Thank you!

Another shot of the lamp. I went to Home Depot to pick up more Plasti-dip spray to prime the foam. Works great and we’ve used it for a majority of our projects that use eva. Unfortunately they were out of stock. In my haste I grab the Gorilla rubber spray. Seemed like it would have a similar effect. Which it does. However, the fumes are very strong and still have completely disappeared several weeks later. Lesson learned. The faint odor of the lamp now competes with a musty fishing net we have under the helmet.

That thing is total madness!

The Asian elements you added are nice too, the five-coin thing.

But you can also burn the rope a bit too, I do it before I use the rope most times, but it can be done after as well.

It gets rid of the fuzziness of the rope when you flame the rope, plus if you look at the rope after flaming it adds different colors and interest to the rope.

Same with that Bac Bac weave stuff you can flame it too Just gives it a bit of age look.

Try it on scraps you have lying around to see what you think.

Lamp looks great, I want to make one next year.

But then I have a huge list of lamps I have been wanting to make.

Skip, I appreciate the tips. Needless to say, I have plenty of scraps right now and will be trying this soon.

This is freaking amazing!

Thanks!

So, is that it?

Nothing new to show.

Starting to build some lights now myself.

Hi Skip. I appreciate the interest! We have a few smaller projects that we completed over the last month.

Just today we added this ‘sky light’. Pretty simple- took a rectangle box and lined it with tape light. Covered it with a vinyl night sky print. Bamboo and fake plants. It reads pretty well in person.

We also had some empty bottles we saved. Bought some cork online- wanted to make some from eva foam like we did for a previous project, but it’s a big mess. Originally we got this idea from Spikes Breezeway, but I later saw it in the Oceanic arts book. Filled in some corner space nicely.

This one is really basic. We rarely see this hall light since it’s hidden behind the trap. Let alone have it on. Decided to remove the glass and make it fit in a little more. Sewing hoop rings, rope, burlap, and still cutting off that 70 foot of bacbac ribbon. Lots of hot glue. This is attached to the wood original light fixture ceiling mount with magnets glued to the top. Does a fine job for what it is.

We’ll have some more things coming up in the future. Looking forward to seeing your new lamps too!

Fantastic stuff

Hearn! When are you coming over?

Ha! As soon as I can!

P.S. Sometimes I feel like were the only ones on this forum. I guess Reddit/Facebook/Intstagram takeover is complete.

That"skylight" box on the ceiling is such a great idea I'm ripping it off immediately!

Hearn, you’re not alone with that thought. Skip actually had a similar feeling a few posts up. Let me know when you’re up for a visit. We’ll be sure to stock up on limes!

TikiGiki- it was surprisingly easy to get a nice effect with this. The cloth was a cheap aquarium background from Amazon. Not quite as realistic as the black 3.0 paint with fiber, but I think this could be nice in a larger scale. Perhaps in our next space…!

[ Edited by maulrat on 2023-02-13 10:37:08 ]

The girlfriend has been sitting in a junk office chair for the better part of 2 years- not sure how she endured. Went all out and purchased a fancy gaming chair. Well, that thing came with a big cardboard box and lots of black foam. We’ve been wanting to a type of skull feature for a while. Similar to some bars we’ve been to- Three Dots and Tiki Tatsuya. The foam doomed for the trash room came in handy. Didn’t paint it at all. Under the right light it works pretty darn good. Skulls are from Amazon. We did repaint those and added some greenery.

I like those skulls, very tribal !!! Good work, man! Did you buy these separately and put them one by one into this or you bought it as a single stuff?

Thanks! Yes, 3 different variety of skulls. This link shows a little bit of the process- not sure if this works. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Covc03VgCsd/?igshid=OTA3YzJiYTA=

Couple more photos of the skulls being place

[ Edited by maulrat on 2023-02-17 10:47:55 ]

WOW! That is very nice, I see that you painted it to shine a bit. Oh, I see that it is on the ground, is that during creating to stand on the floor temporarily? I thought that this is supposed to be some sort of wall, it should stand upright. EDIT: Fantastic colors and shade. You should post video here as well.

[ Edited by Davor Todorovic on 2023-02-17 12:04:02 ]

Believe it or not, the only paint used was on the skulls to get them to be a consistent color with one another. The foam has a natural shine to it that just seem to work out perfectly. No paint on that at all. The floor photos were during the process of putting it together, this does hang in the corner of our lounge. Thanks again!

You welcome man, I am impressed with how you did it. I will show this to my friends. You just gave me some ideas. So, since it is foam, I suppose it is not heavy.

Great idea with the chair packaging foam! I really like your skylight feature, too.

Started working with some denser foam product from the hardware store. This is an attempt to recreate the wrought iron tiles that most Trader Vic’s locations have mingled in with their jade tiles ( last photo below). We had to redesign ours a bit from the original since our tile frame is such that the tiles sit on their end- or in a diamond configuration. Only one for now, it’s a bit tedious with the carving and sanding.

First attempt at carving a tiki. Cheap foam from Amazon isn’t the best- or I’m not that skilled using it yet. A bit porous and sad more stone look than wood. This guy isn’t the best, but I think he turned out ok.

[ Edited by maulrat on 2023-02-26 02:50:45 ]

WHoa, that is a nice job! I like it how you started with a ruler and paper and finished with professional work. I could never tell that this is home made and done with foam, I would think that you bought it in the store!

I've been checking IG even less than I have TC recently, but when I saw your post over there with the lava rocks, I was blown away. I think your tiki is pretty good, too.

Thank you!

A lucky find for us on marketplace. We rented a uhaul and picked this up within a couple hours of seeing it. One of the only things we didn’t actually make. Though the amount of cleaning this sucker took feels like we did- dead mouse and all. Still need to treat the wood. Consensus seems to be that Howard feed and wax is the way to go.