need help with tiki bar!

hey all

i need a bit of help!! i am moving in a few weeks and the new house has a pool (yes, very exciting)! well i thought it would be a lot of fun to turn the grungy, moldly old pool house into a tiki bar!

the problem is there is no forward facing bar (if that makes sense). its a small kitchenette that is lined against the far wall so there is open space in the middle

if anyone has any suggestions on how to decorate it and make it authentic (while on a bit of a budget) id really appreciate it!!

Cheers!

Hi Nellie!
Welcome to TC.
Could you possibly post some pictures?
That would really help.
Unga

sure! ill try and get some up tomorrow

What part of the country are you in? This could help us offer advice on where you might procure some of the requisite materials for building/decorating a home tiki environment.

i live in the tri-state area (new york, new jersey and conneticut), but specifically right outside NYC

Please post some pics........I'd like to help

ahh ok now i have the pics but how do i post them?

go here - it's a step by step.

http://www.tikicentral.com/faq.php#embed

thanks!! ok lets see if i did this right...i have a mac so it might not have worked!

on shutterfly, click on the pic in your album, them hold Control and click and hold, (open in new window is what you want) copy the url and add the "BB code" and your set.

Andy

Mac also!

[ Edited by: tikimecula on 2004-06-05 09:43 ]

[ Edited by: tikimecula on 2004-06-05 09:44 ]

ahh thanks i get it now!! cheers :)

ok heres the pic finally!!

[ Edited by: nellie326 on 2004-06-07 13:31 ]

[ Edited by Humuhumu to fix img tags ]

[ Edited by: Humuhumu on 2004-06-09 13:54 ]

Hmm, on a budget eh? Well I'll throw out a few ideas and people can correct me if I say something dumb.

I think that I'd lose some of the cabinet doors in favor for a more open look. This will let you display mugs and barware as well as keep you from smashing your head into the doors when they are open (yes this does hurt quite a bit).

Next if I had the cash I would do bamboo trim all around the cabinets. On strip of wall you could use one of those mats (I can't remember what they are called), wallpaper or wallpaper it in pages out of a book like Tiki Quest or The Book of Tiki. I'd use photocopies because I wouldn't want to ruin my book. I think a photocopy for personal use is OK right? You might need to get permission to do that.

If you are talented in painting things you could always paint a scene on that white background. That could be anything, a window looking out to the beach to a view of the short order cook that is working in the "kitchen".

You could cut pages out of the Grog Log and paste them to the bar and lacquer over that. I don't know how that would work on your masonite (?) though.

Oh yeah I think some rum and a blender would help the bar quite a bit. I don't know too much about being authentic, if it's fun and you enjoy it that should probably be good enough.

thanks! we were also thinking of painting it sort of deep rain forest green and then adding bamboo accents...the whole place really needs to be redone!

wow, nice space to work with!! how big is it?
super nice that its got power and water..and are those two electric burners i see? and oooh all that counter space.. just right for a big luau...

is there room for an island in the middle of the room, and a couple bar stools? or is the space better suited as a lounge with sofas and chairs?

be sure to take pics before and after!! looks like a great project!

[ Edited by: dogbytes on 2004-06-09 17:18 ]

What would be really cool in the cabinets are those strip lights-they adhere with that sticky strip-would really set off anything you would display.

hey docwoods ~ those strip lights... IKEA has inexpensive ones (Liesta) that need AC power (up to 10 can be connected together). i'm using those for my faux fish tanks...

but ~ do you know of any that are battery operated? i'd love to light up my cabinets, but dont want to use up outlets or have wires all over..

thanks!

thanks for all the advice! im really excited!! keep those ideas coming :)

the space is actually really really narrow sadly! not really a whole lot of space...maybe some bar stools up against the counter but most of the drinking and "luauing" will hafta take place outside by the pool...ill try to get some exterior shots too!

as for the burners i dont know if those can stay! the pool house was built a while ago and i dunno if they meet fire code... but regardless im definately gettin excited bout the project!

Dogbytes,you can battery power packs at some craft stores-maybe that would be a solution for you?

Hi, great space to work with! The mats are called lauhala. They're pretty cheap here in the islands, but don't know about elsewhere. There's also a woven bamboo laminate on plywood that's really good for wall paneling. Here, it runs about $50 a 4x8'. Again, don't know about elsewhere. Certainly, try the tropical decor places on line. You can get thatch and all kines other stuff on line. I recently got some bamboo poles at Pier 1 pretty cheap...always check there. And get creative! If you can't buy it, fake it! Paint lauhala on the walls! Buy some cheap wooden bar stools, paint (or have someone else if you can't) tikis or hula girls on the seats, make tropical print skirts or use cheap grass skirts and glue on, and viola! Also, it's all about accessories...pictures, knick-knacks, etc. You gotta have blowfish, strings of lights, tiki mugs, etc. Good luck and have a great amount of fun with it!

I had a thought on the wireless lighting. I am reminded of packs of christmas lights that run on a battery. You could in theory take a strand of christmas lights (clear) and cut say a section of 5 or so off, connect two wires on one end and a battery to the other. If you wanted to get fancy and safer you sould use a 9 volt plug thing (radio shack) and work in a switch. Soldering it together would be the best thing to do.