Balis' Hai'deaway

After 6 months of hard labor, and thousands of hard-earned shekels, my home bar is finally open, and I'm ready to start drinking!

I'm particularly happy with the bar top, a decoupage of vintage alcoholic and island ephemera that my wife and I harvested from various antique malls, glued to the bar top, then covered with a thick layer of clear epoxy:

Finally, if you're a pinball nut like I am, you may be interested in my ultra-rare, 1973 Bally Bali Hai EM machine which sits in a special alcove of the bar:

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2013-11-20 16:57 ]

Great work. Very inspirational. I love the OA totems. Clearly, their prices are worth it. You really went the extra mile with the floor. It's awesome too.

I didn't even know they had pinball in 1937!

I didn't even know they had pinball in 1937!

They did, but mine is from seventy-three, not thirty-seven...:) Pinball in the thirties was primarily used for gambling purposes.

The OA stuff was worth every penny. I also got my bamboo fencing and mattings from them. The shippings costs were painfully high, since I ordered right in the middle of last summer's gasoline price-gouging.

The floor was a real challenge. It took us a long time to find that cobblestone tile, and it required about 4 times as much grout as regular tile, but we're really happy with the way it turned out.

The bar top is great, a true one of a kind. Things like that are really special as you already have good memories about them. Killer bar stools too...When is the party? :drink:

When is the party? :drink:

How soon can you get over here?...:wink:

On 2005-12-11 02:16, pappythesailor wrote:
Great work. Very inspirational. I love the OA totems. Clearly, their prices are worth it. You really went the extra mile with the floor. It's awesome too.

I didn't even know they had pinball in 1937!

Whoops! No wonder I have such a hard time with math....

Very Cool Bar!!! Great work!!!Where do you live??

I live in Wisconsin, about 100 miles east of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Looks great. I can't get enough pics of peoples home bars. Wonderfull job!

Nice.
Makes me thristy.

Those bamboo stools are darker and rougher hewn versions of the one I have at the Lagoon. They look great. I'm curious to know where you scored them. I know they were expensive... yikes - I got a great deal on mine and they were still a stretch.

The place looks great. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

Those bamboo stools are darker and rougher hewn versions of the one I have at the Lagoon. They look great. I'm curious to know where you scored them. I know they were expensive... yikes - I got a great deal on mine and they were still a stretch.

I actually found them advertised on a couple of different websites that apparently all deal with the same importer, so I bought them from the site with the lowest price: http://bar-stools-barstools.com/

Yes, painfully expensive, but I knew that I wasn't going to stumble across a set of vintage Witco stools at a garage sale, at least not where I live, so I just bit the bullet.

And thanks for all the positive comments, everyone! It's hard for me to be objective when I've been so close to the project for so long, so I tend to focus on the things that didn't turn out the quite the way I wanted. But overall, I have to say that it turned out much better than I expected. I give a lot of credit to my handyman, who offered a lot of good suggestions for overcoming various obstacles, and did a great job working with unfamiliar materials.

Very nice. The poles on the door look just the Bali Hai.
JP

Mahalo to Mrs. Bali Hai (AKA BEST.WIFE.EVAR!), the Hai'deaway is now sporting a fabulous carved tiki post from Tiki Master (www.tikimaster.com)! I'll be dancing around it later in my grass skirt as part of my traditional Goofmas celebrations.

Unfortunately, as you can see in the photograph, the post has a large crack in the base. Normally, I'd just leave it there, as it adds character, but the base appears to be glued to the rest of the post, so I'm afraid that bad things will happen if the crack gets any bigger.

I know that a lot of fine woodworkers are lurking around here, so tell me, what would be the best way to go about sealing this crack, wood putty, silicone caulk, glue, or none of the above?

Mele Goofmas!

Weblog: Eye of the Goof

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2013-11-20 16:58 ]

I've been doing a bit of work on the Hai'deaway this week. As you can see from the photograph, I installed rope lights underneath the bar, and since no one offered up any suggestions for filling the crack in the base of the tiki totem pole, I went ahead and tried a couple of things on my own.

I can tell you right off that glue is a very bad choice for crack filling; it leaks out of the tiniest gaps in the wood, even if you try taping them shut, and it gets all over everything. I had more success with latex wood filler, but I had to overfill the crack by quite a bit because it shrunk so much when it dried. Filler also doesn't take stain very well, so I had to use a solid color which didn't really match the rest of the post, but looks okay as long as it's dark. I'll find a closer match eventually.

Happy New Year! You know where I'll be tomorrow night...:D

Weblog: Eye of the Goof

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2013-11-20 17:00 ]

Excellent work on the bar Mr BaliHai, I Especially love the lighting, Really Sweet. I Love the Bartop also. there are so many different parts about it thai aretop notch it's hard to say what is best. The over all look is the best. Well done.
As far as filling the crack, you are better off leaving it. If you do Anything, just give it a few good coats of varnish, including the ends to seal the pores which may slow the cracking. As you have found, anything you put in the crack will not match the surrounding wood and will look worse then the split. Just realize that checking(cracking) adds character and makes it look older and more authentic. When you bring raw wood indoors, into a heated or airconditioned room, there is minimum humidity meaning those air conditioning/heating units suck the moisture out of the air and anything else. That is what causes the checking.
Again, Beautiful bar..

The glue i use the most is Gorilla Glue. It is really a great product. You wet the surface your going to glue and once applies it expands slightly. Almost like the foam "Stuff". The residual can be trimed with a knife or sanded. It's not cheap but well worth the price for most house projects.

I really like the effect of the rope light on the bamboo.

As far as filling the crack, you are better off leaving it.

That was definitely my first choice, but since it went all the way around the circumference of the post, I was concerned that the entire base might fall off over time if I didn't do something to at least stabilize it and keep it from widening any further. Good idea about coating the crack with varnish, but what's done is done, so I guess I have to live with the filler. The wood glue I used seeped into the crack around the base, so I'm hoping that will prevent the base from detaching from the rest of the post, or at least slow the process down somewhat.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the post was covered with icky white mold when I took it out of the packing material. The crack was filled with it. I removed as much as I could with a bleach dilution, but I won't be surprised if it comes back.

I'm glad to hear so many people liking the overall look. When I started this project, I only drew up dimensional plans for the bar, the walls, and the general layout, so I really didn't know if it was all going to pull together into a coherent whole until I was almost finished. The art, lighting, and color scheme were critical elements that I gave a lot of thought to as well. Building in the basement of an older home is always an adventure, and plans change as you encounter unexpected things.

I really like the effect of the rope light on the bamboo.

Yeah, the rope lights are great; plus they're very cheap and easy to install. Actually, that's a tropical reed matting I bought from Oceanic Arts specifically because it looks like bamboo. I already had so much light-colored bamboo on the walls, I figured I needed something darker on the bar for contrast.

I've used Gorilla Glue before with good results, but for some reason, it didn't occur to me to apply it here.

Fantastic new bar, I really like it! I, too, also like looking at pics of other people's bars as it gives me so many good ideas. The amount of creativity that exists on TC is unbelievable.

Oh, and I really dig the OA door frame posts. That looks SO great and really preps the visitor for the goodies that await inside.

Oh, and I really dig the OA door frame posts.

Thanks, they presented us with some unique challenges. First, we built special jigs so we could saw them in half, then we lag-bolted them to the doorframe studs. The carved lintel piece that I got from OA was so badly warped that we wound up having to screw it down onto a stud before we could install it. The framing around the door opening was done with a biscuit joiner, so it came out looking very professionally done.

I have had success spray painting the inside of the cracks with flat black.

Impressive. I have no idea how to do what you just described. If I had to do that doorframe, it would be stuck up there with hot glue and duct tape.

I have no idea how to do what you just described.

Neither did I, that's why I hired a good handyman specifically to bail me out when I got stumped!...:D

Hey MrBaliHai,

The Mr and I were very glad to make your acquaintance at the Tiki Ti. You were right about the Jimmy's Special! I was just reading your blog (thanks for the mention) and I am in awe of how many places you were able to visit, people met and drinks drunk during your trip to L.A. You get around man. Sorry you won't be able to make the Kon Tiki party in April.

Great bar too! Love the tropical reed matting and the decoupaged bar top.

cheeky half

Hey, it was a pleasure meeting the two of youse as well! If you ever wind up in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, give me a shout and I'll give you my special 10-cent tour of the Hai'deaway. One free drink per customer.

It just sounds like I did a lot last week. Actually, I probably spent a good 3/4 of my time driving around aimlessly on the vast L.A. freeway system, looking for swap meets and antique malls.

My best bud from Spain has been visiting me this week, and brought his new 10.5 Megapixel SLR camera with him, so we've been spending a lot of time down in the Hai'deaway, suckin' 'em up, and taking low-light photos. Thought I'd share them with all of youse, so you can see how it's been evolving over the past 18 months or so.

Here's the view from the front entrance:

Here's how it looks from the rear:

My Bali Hi pinball and a mug shelf:

The coconut-lamp shrine of Mr. Bali Hai:

The Wall 'o Masks and fishing-float lamps:

Oceanic Arts mask and Bali Hi pinball:

Lighted Mr. Atomic sign and mug shelf:

Shell lamp, Mookulele, and tiki carvings:

Okole Maluna, and Happy 4th of July!

It looks fabulous. No wonder you are always making those great drinks.

Yeah if I had that bar in my house I would be drinking all the time!

Looks awesome! I love the lights under the bar area.

I don't suppose you live anywhere near Boston, do ya?

ooooh! Love it. Love the lighting!

Thanks for the positive feedback, folks.

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2013-11-20 17:01 ]

NICE!

Great looking room. It all goes together very well.

I'm impressed with the pinball idea too. It personalizes it, yet continues the theme with a bit of whimsy and as you know from this site, stuff like that can be frowned upon. You've got moxie and a great pad!

[ Edited by: tikimyniki 2009-07-09 21:00 ]

On 2009-07-09 20:52, tikimyniki wrote:
I'm impressed with the pinball idea too. It personalizes it, yet continues the theme with a bit of whimsy and as you know from this site, stuff like that can be frowned upon. You've got moxie and a great pad!

Thanks. When I set out to build this bar, I was determined to fit a pinball in it somewhere, and when the opportunity came up to buy the Bali Hi machine, it was just too perfectly serendipitous to pass up.

I've really never gotten any flack from the folks at TC for mixing themes, and quite frankly, it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to me if I did. It's my space, and I love it.

Well played. You deserve the respect of the title, "Mr."

[ Edited by: tikimyniki 2009-07-13 21:40 ]

great looking room! love the lighting!

Amy

PS is that a real pinball machine "mr.. BaliHi"?

Your place turned out great!!!

Have fun, kick back, and relax....you deserve it!!

On 2009-07-20 16:11, Queen Kamehameha wrote:
PS is that a real pinball machine "mr.. BaliHi"?

It certainly is. Bally only produced about 70 of them, and only 4 or 5 are known to still exist, so it's very rare and collectible.

very cool!!!!

Amy

Been a while since I've posted here, so I thought I'd stop by to clean up the dead links. Not much happening in the Hai'deway over the past year or so, but I did find a nice round bamboo shelf on a recent visit to Duluth, MN, which I've repurposed for my mugs:

The Hai'deaway is a big hit with my cow-orkers, but I still haven't managed to train them to show up in Aloha wear...although one wiseass (on the right) keeps showing up in an NSA t-shirt:

Nice shelf Mr B H! I hear them referred to as “rounders” I’ve seen em with wood shelves and with glass shelves.
Haven’t found one in my price range yet but I’m looking.
Mahalo for sharing.

Your bar looks amazing! Thank you for posting again, I don't think I had seen it before. Hope that pin is still working! I love all the OA art you have incorporated.

@nui 'umi 'umi: I think the "rounder" set me back about $40. Not exactly a bargain, but not a budget-buster either...which is the way most of my finds go these days.

@lunavideogames: yep, the pin still works, although the contacts and playfield are way overdue for a cleaning.

I just love your bar! I'm glad you revived this thread so I could check it out.

:)

Another thanks for the bump, really nice looking room (& pinball machine!!)
And I love the name!

New addition to the Hai'deaway: found this crafty styrofoam ball glued over with seashells at a local flea, drilled it out with a 1" hole saw, and added a green LED night light.

Before:

After:

In context:

Love it.