Nearly 2 Years in the Making - Tiki Bar is Finished!! (tons of pics)

When I first bought my home 5 years ago I started to clear the area to the right of my house. It was basically an overgrown concrete slab that was used for RV parking. Since I did not have an RV, and the new backyard fence would prevent it from ever being used for that purpose, I decided to do something different with the space.

I cleared out all the vegetation and painted the slab gray.

And that is how it sat for 2 years. I was not sure what I wanted to do with the space.
In March of 2003 I went to a party at a friends house and saw the most amazing charcoal grill ever.

I just had to have one. The 2 guys that built it only made 2 of them, I had to convince them ($$) to build me a third.

The grill sat out alone for about a year. I decided to build an arbour over the space to offer some shade.

The patio furniture was also purchased about this time.
It was also about this time we decided to go with a tropical/tiki theme for the space.

I work with a lady who's husband is a mural painter. We gave him a picture we took in Costa Rica on our honeymoon. He are the the results:

Time to build a bar:

The cherry veneer bartop looked really good but it would not stand up to the weather, so we bought 2000 pieces of stained glass off ebay and re-did the bar top:

Some random pictures of the bar:

This is an old freezer converted in to a huge cooler:

Water feature:

We found this ceramic head buried in the flower bed:

The Tikis:

I have a 4th tiki but he appears to have avoided the camera.

Pics of the entire area and some random accessories:

I have some night shots I will post in a few.
I need to go in to photoshop and do some resizing.

suhweeeet! inspiring. i see a remodel in my future.

There is a lot of lighting effects. I am a former touring lighting tech, my best friend does the lights for 3 doors down, and my roommate does the lights for Staind, Kirk Franklin, among others. They were able to offer some ideas and insperation.

Here are the night shots:

If I bring a case of Rum can we come over and play?

Love the bar top, love the lighting!

On 2006-07-05 07:58, Chip and Andy wrote:
If I bring a case of Rum can we come over and play?

We plan on having a 'soft opening' party for just board members (to get some expert advice)
before we have the official 'grand opening'.

I will post the information soon.

Greg & Teresa

Nice night shots, but the flames look like they're aboot to set your thatch on fire!
I hope you have good clearance I can't see in the photos!

I'd say it's time to work on your booze collection. Maybe pick up some Myers, Cruzan & Appleton Estate rums, some limes, maybe start growing a little mint in the backyard? You're off to a good start!

On 2006-07-05 09:59, Tikiwahine wrote:
Nice night shots, but the flames look like they're aboot to set your thatch on fire!
I hope you have good clearance I can't see in the photos!

The thatch was all soaked in fire retardant for 24 hours before installation. I put a torch to it during testing and it was impossible to ignite.

Very nice! The night shots are especially captivating. Makes me want to leave work right now and go someplace for a rum drink...

Lighting is out-standing !!!! Did the guy who painted the mural painted the rocks on the bottom {ground} ????
Nice Work Greg !!!! Worth a trip up die-4 oops I-4

Oh man!

Teh Drooooll!

Me likey!

Lots of work there in O town brah. How are the neighbors holding up?

Hope we get an invite

Mahalo

greg, Teresa, That is a terrific place! You did a great job!! Its Tropical, cozy and you hit all the areas... very nice

Amy

That looks great in those night pics! Sweet

Love the night shots, the lighting looks great.