the Kava Lava Lounge... home bar pics lots of 'em

It took me a long time to actually take pictures and post my home bar here but I think it's worth the wait. I bought a house almost 3 years ago and it had a full unfinished basement. I have never finished a basement so it was an interesting journey. I ended up building a tiki bar and also a recording/jam studio room for music. The bar took me almost 1 full year to build and like most of your bars, its still not quite done. I have over 100 pics of it from start to finish but I am only posting the finished ones as of now. The hardest part with the pics is the lighting down there. Its so dark and most of the lighting changes colors. The dig. camera I have just wasn't capturing the true atmosphere of it but I guess that's ok. It makes the bar that much cooler when people see it for the first time. drum roll.......

Here is the top of the stairs entering the Kava Lava Lounge. On the left side is my collection of tiki fork and spoons in a design pattern. The right side is my interpretation of tiki torches. I got the flickering flame bulbs that light up the stairs.

On the left wall at the bottom is a mural of the Hawaiian islands. I have a buddy who paints murals. The pic cut some of the whole thing but you get the idea.

Like I said, the lighting doesn't seem to transfer the best with the camera. Here again the mural with a little more of the room.

This is where the big Kahuna sits.

My chair again

When you reach the bottom of the stairs and turn right, this is the wall to your left. The room isn't huge and in hindsight I would have built the room bigger. I think the room is 13 feet by 18 feet or something like that. I built shelves around three sides of the entire room where I display all my mugs and whatnot. I embedded red rope light behind the shelving to light up the collectibles and the room.

Ok now...the bar. It is huge. I really didn't plan it out as much, just started throwing wood together. For the bar top I covered it with burlap and then laid shells, critters, and coral pieces and poured clear epoxy. It turned out really cool. The burlap kind of reminds me of sand with the shells. I made a cushion around the front of the bar with real soft fake animal print fabric... for the nights you need to lean. I also built a huge working waterfall in the other corner. This was a project. I went for a black lava rock idea. I have fake birds and plants all around it. I found really cool waterproof halogen color changing lights that are placed all around it. These are the hardest to capture on film.

Here is a close up the fountain, though maybe kind of hard to see. The water starts at the top, runs down the face, and then hits the shelf with the shells that creates the final waterfall. This is definitely the highlight of the bar and also where I got the name.

Around the fountain, i have murals of leaves and things. This is the left side.

The fountain in its glory.

The bar top

Pic of fountain across to the next wall. Some of the plants.

The bar

Continuing around the fountain, here is the right side. Some witco.

From the stairs looking down

Here is a great table bamboo set I found at a thrift shop in Chicago. They told me it was from an auction that didn't sell and that it was used in a movie set. Don't know if its true.

The ceiling... a pain in the ass to hang with no one else.

This is the longest post I have ever written.

Now all I need is a liquor license

aloha
tiki junkman

Beautiful. Lovely work truly. These are my favourite types of posts! I really wish they were all together in one forum (but I digress).

Love the fountain, love the bar, love the Hawaiian map mural. Reminded me of the staircase at the Waldorf Hotel in Vancouver.

I would love to see those progress shots when you get a chance.

Mahalo Slacks

It was a fun project. I also think there should be a separate area here for just home bars. When I get some time, I will hopefully get those "in progress" pics posted. Its amazing to see some of the early pictures.

thanks again

tj

hey tiki junkman.. wondered whatever happened to you!?! saw you all agog at Oceanic Arts a couple years ago ~ nice to see you've put your purchases up... amazing waterfall.. how big is that room overall?

thanks for sharing your pictures..

Absolutely stunning.

waaayyy cooooollll!!!

talk us thru some of the challenges / difficulties / surprises - and show us some before or progress pics please!

congratulations on such a great job.

Hey! good to see you posting! I wondered what you were doing with all the cool stuff you have bought. Your bar looks great. The waterfall is my favorite thing! excellent job. Our town is becoming quite the tiki place.Pretty son we can have our own tiki crawl.

Excellent! I agree.. that waterfall is amazing! The entire room is amazing! Wish we had basements here in California!

• Myke

Love it!

Thanks everyone! I haven't been posting forever, I know, but I have been lurking around once in a while. I have just been too busy down in my bar. I learned so much with the project and have lots to share to anyone who will listen. I will be posting more on it. Here are a few more pics I took and added a sepia filter to give it a "vintage" look. I like them. They remind me of old tiki bar postcards.

This lamp was from the Rock a tiki bar in Chicago that closed down. I got some of its artifacts in my bar.

It's absolutely mesmerizing...in a Tiki kind of way. Great job !!

Awesome room - now, when are you inviting all of your Chicago TC Ohana to visit?

I'm especially impressed that it started as an unfinished basement. Our unfinished basement would need a miracle to look that good!

Beautiful. Simply Beautiful.

I start on mine hopefully in November. Picking up supplies at Safari Thatch in Fort Lauderdale after Hukilau... using funds made from tiki sales to fund the new bar in our new house that we move into at the end of this month. Driving tikis down to Florida... driving thatch and bamboo home. :)

Your collection and "Tipsy" factor are wonderful!

I see a Lake Tiki!

I would love advice/tips on the ceiling... I have to figure out how much stuff to buy. The basement in our future 1960's ranch already has a walled/wired basement with a bar... I'll just be adding on and converting to tiki.

Next time I deliver tikis to Tiki Terrace this fall I would love to see your bar... let me know if this is a possibility.

Have fun adding to it... you have so much great stuff going on already... bartop, waterfall, padded bar edge.

Let me know if you need anything carved in the future... I've got a ton of wood in stock! :wink:

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2006-09-07 22:45 ]

Amazing - thanks for sharing and offering inspiration to those of us in the Chicago area!

what a beautiful room! mahaloz for sharing the pics.

Man, I dig it. That waterfall's gotta be a show stopper in person, cuz it shore looks mighty fine from here. Mighty fine indeed!

On 2006-09-07 22:25, Lake Surfer wrote:
I see a Lake Tiki!

I would love advice/tips on the ceiling... I have to figure out how much stuff to buy. The basement in our future 1960's ranch already has a walled/wired basement with a bar... I'll just be adding on and converting to tiki.

Next time I deliver tikis to Tiki Terrace this fall I would love to see your bar... let me know if this is a possibility.

Have fun adding to it... you have so much great stuff going on already... bartop, waterfall, padded bar edge.

Let me know if you need anything carved in the future... I've got a ton of wood in stock! :wink:

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2006-09-07 22:45 ]

There is another Lake Tiki in the bar... a smaller one in the fountain pic hidden in the foliage near the parrots. The big tiki that you spotted was won back during a raffle at Tabu Tiki nights at Trader Vics. I posted it in the forums a while back. My brother from Montana was in town and he actually won it. He left it for me to take care of.

I learned a ton during the project. I have notebooks filled with sketches, ideas, thoughts, room designs, etc. of what I wanted to have as a tiki bar.

I just want to start out by saying tthat this website was a major factor in my bar design. I wrote so many people and gathered so much info from this site. Mahalo! Mahalo!

The fountain:
My original construction plan for the fountain was going to be concrete. My plan was to have a whole wall painted with a huge mural. I wanted the scene to be looking outside at a night scene in Hawaii where there was an erupting volcano in the distance. The lava flow would be making its way down to that corner where the fountain is. The fountain then was that lava that has now solidifed so the bar was at the base. I don't know, I could see it in my head and then tried to draw it out. By the time the fountain was done and some of the murals were painted, I thought that any more murals would just be brain overload. I then backed off that idea. If I ever move, how was I going to sell a house with a gigantic concrete fountain in the basement? How would I take it down?? I needed to construct a fountain that was easier to take down and lighter in material. I ended up using Great Stuff. I built a frame out of 2x4's and then covered it with screen, shaping the screen to shape the fountain. I used sheets of rubber where there would be water in case of leaks which would flash into the bottom basin. I started applying the Great Stuff. I would spray an area and as it was wet, I would lightly spray black spray paint. This would eat away the Great Stuff a little and create great pock marks like lava. After many many many cans of it, it was done. I would search all the craft stores for sales on silk flowers and plastic leaves. I just stuck their bases in the dried Great Stuff. I used a garden hose to test the water flow and bought a outside pond water pump to pump the water to the top to create the flow. A lot of tests and trials until I found the right combination. I searched the internet for lighting and found a company in California that specialized in outdoor ponds. I bought a lot of these small halogen waterproof lights that have three different colors. They each have settings like xmas lights that allow you to keep just one color lit or have then slowly fade through all the colors. I usually use the different glow setting. When the whole thing is on, it is truely relaxing and puts the mind at tiki ease.

The ceiling:
The ceiling is just rolls of lauhala matting and bamboo. I got some of the matting when Rock A Tiki closed. I bought as much as I could. I still needed a lot so I made a few trips to Hala Kahiki in River Grove, IL. They have such a great gift shop. I just used a staple gun to attach the rolls to the ceiling. To plan out the bamboo design, I measured and then just used masking tape on the ceiling as a template to where the bamboo was to be hung. I bought most of my bamboo from Hobby Lobby. The bigger pieces were from Rock A Tiki. To split it was a chore. I used a table saw. This was definitely a two person job. I just hung the bamboo with deck screws that were pre colored tan, perfect to match the bamboo color. I just found where joists were in the ceiling and then screwed the bamboo into them. Bamboo is light so only a few screws were needed.

Music:
I hate having speakers displayed in a bar. I think they take up precious space and the music seems very directional. I wanted music be part of the atmosphere so I bought in-wall speakers and built them in the ceiling during my drywall stage. I ran the wires behind the bar where I have a cd player. I can control the music when I am mixing drinks. I also have a microphone wired in so I can make "announcements" during the night. The mic is very cheap so it sounds like the sound from the Mai Kai. I love it

Atmosphere:
I have a lot of up-lights in the corners and behind things in the bar with colored bulbs. I have a lot of coconut scented candles lit for light and smell. Usually I have Martin Denny playing or maybe a mix cd of exotica. Its fun to have dinner down there!

Tipsy factor:
I have been collecting tiki for close to 15 years now. I have a ton of mugs. To display them, the only option was a ton of shelving. I just ran one shelf around three sides of the room. It is completely filled already but at least most of my collection is displayed. I ran red rope light behind the mugs to light them all up. They were really dark before. I couldn't really see the mugs. I have a few different carved tikis from Mai Tiki and Lake Surfer. They Rock!!!!

Well I got to stop. I will add more if anyone as more questions, keep them coming. I love to talk to about it. The bar is open to anyone who wants to stop in.

Just PM me and we can set up sumthin. I will post some more later and will get some in progress pics.

Thanks for all the kind words

Aloha
tiki junkman

Thats a nice bar :)

Those sepia shots are super sweet - vintage goodness :)

I really like the atmosphere.
You have nice basements in the states. It´s not the first tiki-room with a nice stairwell entrance I´ve seen on TC.

I was screwin around with some ideas for possible postcards for my bar. Here is one I have been workin on using my computer:

I'm not really into the font I'm using yet.

tj

Tiki bar looks great Junkman!