VampTiki Lounge

I'll snap some pictures next weekend. :)

The shelves seriously do rock.

Could you do us a pic with the ambient lights and no flash so's we can see the mood the way you see it???

I have been out of town on family matters but thinking about all the work I need to do in the lounge and pictures I need to take. I think a list of to-do's is in store and please anyone chime in if you have suggestions. The first item I am listing really needs some ingenuity by those of you who work in small spaces.

1. ORGANIZE THE BAR WORK AREA. My space is limited, but I would like to make the area work well for friends that bartend. First, I need to clear off the top of the bar area, think I could leave the Margaritamaker on the corner next to the wall and it would not be in the way. The booze is stored in a cabinet behind the bar so no changes there except maybe some lighting options. When you are bartending behind the bar and looking forward, there is also a small space to the left by the wall where I have a small butcher block table...maybe this should be a more functional shelf unit or with the Margaritamaker off of there, I could keep the blender there and the ice-bucket. Maybe I could put some pull out shelves inside the back of my bar. I will try to get pictures but my goal is to make this a user-friendly area.

2. IMPROVE MUG DISPLAY. I have those wonderful wavy shelves, but my mugs are kind of thrown on there willy nilly and need to be set up better. I was thinking about doing about 3 deep so would need some type of risers on each shelf to have graduated heights from front to back. Need to remove books from the shelves.

3. NEED A BOOK SHELF. I would like one to match the wood on my shelves and run the length of them. I would like to include some type of a label system on the shelves so you could look through the books in a reasonable order "cocktail""decor" etc. Not sure what the best way to display books is.

4. CEILING. What can I say...it is white...well really "off-white" so not stark but not good. So far, planning on getting some tapa up there and since it is at 14 feet, I would like a bamboo grid hanging down about a foot. I have the controversial Tiki Bike hanging over the fridge...I love it there so it stays. I am collecting other things to hang off the ceiling (including my big swizzle stick-on order). I have a feeeling the ceiling might not get done for another year or two, but I can live with that....sigh.

5. FRIDGE. It is what it is...a big white box, but I need to paint it. Could go with the gold color that is on my walls and that would help it blend in. Then maybe it would need to be covered with matting...just not sure. I know there are great ideas I have seen on TC but wonder how hard they are to do and how well they hold up. Wish I had the money for an Elmira fridge...that would be my dream...LOL.

6. LIGHTING. As time moves forward, I will continue to fill my wall with various art so don't have any concerns about reaching ultimate clutter...it will happen. I know (somewhere in my house) I have several boxes of new mini Xmas lights in blue. I was thinking about doing a line of those around the edge of the ceiling and then covering with a half bamboo wide style with opening face up so you couldn't see the lights, just the blue glow. Then place a row of the same lights under the bar. I have an aqua glass float light on the way so think I might put that over the top of my liquor cabinet. I have a light hanging over my card table that has about 5 arms on it with moderate lights that I need for playing cards so don't want to change that out, however I did replace the glass lampshades with wicker so for now it sort of blends into the background. I have a celing fan with light colored wooden banana leaf blades and a muted globe so very happy with that, it stays. What do you think of the blue light ideas?

7. TIKIS. I do not have a lot of room for big Tikis so the main stars are the beautiful Vamptiki that Bill carved for me and she is against one pillar in my entry way on the lounge side. I am purchasing a Trader Vic's Marquesean from my friend Mike and it will be against the other pillar in the entry way on the dining room side. Those will be my babies. I tend to keep one theme to each room so Tiki is just in the lounge area (which is essentially the living room of my home).

OK>>>I think that is it for the to-do's. I am very slow with all of this...so sorry. I am jealous of all of you who have building skills and mula...LOL. Thanks for listening, feedback and ideas welcome.

I know this guy in San Jose that might be able to provide you with some lighting that you might be looking for. Cough, cough. Ha.

LOL...fabulous...will hook up with you in the future...your lamps are beautiful and I do need a proper Tiki lamp. Thanks for posting.

pics? pics? pics?

My "to-do" list is still in limbo. Haven't got much done this year. One big accomplishment though was getting some beautiful shelves from Bamboo Ben. They are hung and now are home to a school of glass fish. I have also had some artwork framed and hung, which is a challenge as the ceiling is 14 feet, so lots of climbing for my handyman. I just got an aqua glass float lamp that will go over the liquor cabinet in the future. Only 4 pictures and please excuse the quality, did it on a cell phone and I am not a good photographer.

edit...added the bar sign

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2011-11-27 13:54 ]

Back on your feet again, Vamp!

Yes indeed...so trying to conquer some of those insane decorating plans I had for the humble abode. Not Tiki, but this weekend I tacked the Butler's Pantry...got the Starbucks Coffee Maker and the Espresso machines set up. Got the wine glasses hanging on their holders, trays set up with stirrers, creamer, sugar, grinder in place. Electric wine opener and wine fridge (thanks Sean) set up. Just need to do the initial run-through on the Tassimo, get the handyman to put a support under the fridge (so it isn't sitting on carpet), stock the wines, place planters on top of my cabinet and secure my wires for me and that room is good to go. Yeah...it feels good to finally accomplish something after 3 months of no activity in the house.

I said I would only keep my Tiki in the lounge, however with my recent purchase of Mr Marquesan, it has traveled over into the "Bali Hai Dining Room" area. That Tiki is going in the corner. I have plenty of space to place framed Tiki Menus on the walls...so have a question...I may be able to pull some menus apart to layer them. I want the cover to be the star and then the insides to be layered underneath offset to the right. I hope that makes sense. How do you have your menus laid out in the frames?

Vamp I just have them in floating glass frames, trying to keep a balance of Mid Century Modern and Tiki
I would not want to damage mine so I just display the covers.

[ Edited by: Chuck Tatum is Tiki 2011-11-27 17:04 ]

save some room for your giant swizzle stick sign !! ....it's getting close to being done !! hope to update some pics by the end of this week.

You got it Tips...that baby is going to hang off the ceiling in the lounge. :wink:

Thanks for posting those pix Chuck. I also thought of having the insides copied in high quality on an appropriate color/texture paper to use so I don't pull the menu apart...might be the best thing.

Here is Mr. Marquesan...not great pictures but when I get better ones I will replace these. He is huge and too ominous to be in my entry way so that is why he is going in the corner of my dining room. He used to live in the SF Trader Vics (defunct) on the backbar and is now temporarily tied to the pillar in my entry way. He leans forward quite a bit so my handyman is working on the hardware to secure him in the corner.

EDIT HERE-this is a picture of my guy when he was on the backbar at the SF Trader Vics...yeah...I would love to have that backbar. :)

Here he is temporarily tied to a pillar in my entry way.

[ Edited by: vampiressrn 2011-11-28 21:04 ]

Awesome

you scared me for a minute !! I saw that picture of all the booze before I read your post and i thought that all that alcohol was in your home bar !!! I thought, jesus christ, vampiress is really taking this tiki thing to the limit.....

then i realized the pic was from trader vics..... whew !!

That would be a damned nice back bar to have though...LOL

Haha Dave, I thought the same thing at first and then realized that picture wasn't Vamp's place. Vamp, you place is looking real good post more pictures for us when you can. :)

..... just about there !!

just a few details to work out on the stick and it's ready to set sail to it's new home !! The lettering turned out fantastic !! the red glitter really makes them pop.

Yee Haw...looking good. Take your time Tips...I know this is going to look great in my lounge.

Thank you Mike for the big piece of tapa for my ceiling. Will definitely need some experienced ceiling guy to get that up and a bamboo grid built. Thanks for all your ideas, they will be very helpful. Here is my tapa...hoping to get my ceiling done this year.

Aye Carumba!!! :wink:

It's 14 feet by 16.5 feet...that's BIG. BB...HELP!!! :lol:

Kool tapa vamp

Your tiki mug collection is awesome!!!!! Like what you have done with the room. The Von Franco bike is a cool idea. You never really see that :). Overall your collection is awesome!!!!!!! :D

Looks like you are having fun. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, that all looks so good. I'm sure looking forward to seeing it all in person, Wendy

Here is my VampTiki.

I have the blue version on the left, when I get my ceiling done, will hang that over my liquor cabinet.

Looking Great, Love the Tiki!

Who did that Tiki?

VRN that tiki is amazing! I like the old school radio too. How crazy is it that that's how big radio's used to be. Anyway I'm getting off topic, I just wanted to let you know that the tiki is very cool.

I am very blessed to have my beautiful girl Tiki. The wonderfully talented 4WDtiki(Bill) carved that Tiki. He did an awesome job and the tattoos are indeed the crowning glory. She is 5 1/2 ft tall and posts guard right inside my front door as you enter the lounge. Bill used to live in Vista, Ca but he lives in Kauai now (lucky dawg)...shout out to ya Bill!!!

touch-a touch-a touch-a touch me
i wanna be dirty
thrill me, chill me, fulfill me
creature of the night

I am having a contractor come to check out the VampTiki Lounge on Monday, as I need to get my ceiling done within the next few weeks. I have an email out to the local Ohana about their thoughts on engineering this project, so thought I would ask here too. Since I have visions in my head, plenty of resources to pictures on Tiki Central and a passion for decorating I should be able to help the contractor understand the basics about what I want...tapa on ceiling, suspended bamboo grid and hanging of various items. I'm sure he won't know about Tiki but I think I can help him understand the genre and he seems very open to the project. What I don't know about is the engineering of this work.

1. Where can we get bamboo in the Sacramento area?
2. How do you tie the bamboo grid together and how do you hang it?
3. What is the best way to place the tapa on the ceiling....although I hate to have that huge piece cut up, is that the best way to do it (in squares)...just totally lost on this aspect?
4. How do you secure the tapa to the ceiling?

I am open to suggestions on how to get it done (tapa cut and placed on frames to mount on the ceiling and how would you do that, or whatever). The tapa might be too much as one big piece. The lounge ceiling is 14 feet high and I do not have scaffolding so might need to rent that but think the contractor will be able to take care of that. I have items I want to have hung (1 chunk lamp, 1 glass float lamp, 1 giant personalized swizzle stick, etc.). Want a bamboo grid to hang down about a half a foot from the ceiling. I also want to have options built in to hang other items in the future.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I have viewed home lounges on this board for years so not worried about the design aspect. HEY...girlie here...no mechanical skills!!! Make suggestions, post some links to helpful information, or send me a pm if you don't want to post here. My ceiling is NOT white...it is more of a "almond" so if any of the ceiling shows it truly will not be a travesty. THANX

It sounds like a job for Bamboo Ben, What is your budget for the job?
maybe you can make it worth his time to come up to you?

This is not the kind of work most contractors know how to do, When I was explaining
what I wanted to do in the "Atomic Tiki Lounge" to a couple of hired contractors
who were doing standard (non Tiki) work at my house, They just looked at me like I was crazy.

Ben is the Man for the job.

Yes...Ben knows about my ceiling needs, but think he may be pretty busy and I am not close by. I'm rather in a pinch for time now and hoping I won't drain my bank account. Not totally thrilled with an unknown but since I can't do this myself I need suggestions and will just have to go with somebody that can build and follow my directions.

Hey Vamp,
You've really been working hard. I just love it. Can't wait to see the final reveal!
See you at TO12

Best Wishes for your ceiling girlfriend, Wendy

there's a place in sacramento called Builders Surplus out on power in rd. they've got a ton of 1'' bamboo that there practically giving away. 10 bucks will get you a bundle of about 30 8 ft poles or you can buy it by the pallet for 99 bucks.
it's been out in the weather and isn't the best syuff around but for the price it's hard to beat. i bought some to see if i could clean it up for outdoor tiki bar.
-k-

Thanks for the feedback folks. I met with the contractor and he has never done any work like this but is game to do it and was very open to viewing pictures I showed him and trying to embrace the whole Tiki genre. He is going to mount my big Tiki in the corner of the dining room and seems to think that will be a very easy job for him. He is slightly perplexed by the Tapa on the ceiling so I am trying to find out as much as I can to share with him. I am sharing PTD's post about his ceiling, although that is Tapa suspended on a bamboo frame and I want to have my Tapa glued to the ceiling.

If anyone has glued Tapa to their ceiling, please let me know how that went and if you have a post with pictures, please link me up. Much appreciated.

He said he will have to pull everything out of the room to set up the scaffolding for the job. That includes the fridge, so it will be a perfect opportunity to paint that. Is it OK if I just go with the paint that was used on the walls?

Pictures Girl! take em, post em, own em!

Cant wait to c the new stuff

I've been researching what to do to my white fridge and sounds like painting is not a reasonable option, but gluing something on it would be. The fridge sits in a corner so only one side and the front show.

OPTION #1 = Randomly glue post cards all over it. I love how that looks on a bar top.

OPTION #2 = Glue fabric to it.

OPTION #3 = Glue some kind of raffia or similar matting to it.

Any feedback or links would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like a Mad Dog Mike project...

Changes...changes...changes. I have decided not to move forward with the ceiling project at this time, too many complications and don't want to rush it. Will just store my piece of Tapa and do it another time in the future. Probably going to go ahead and hang the lights up though as I need a little ambiance in there. Additionally I have a couple of new pieces of art to hang in there too.

Mr Marquesan (in all of his 10 foot glory) is going to get bolted in the corner of my dining room though. My contractor will do that in about another week and I am sure the Tiki will be happy too as he is just tied to a pillar in my entry way and I can't even see his beautiful face. I have decided to go with maps in the dining room, already have one large one in there, so have two medium sized ones to hang and also another giant one still getting framed at Aaron Bros. I love maps, so that will feel comfortable. I promise to take pictures when all the dining room work is done.

Can't wait to see pictures!

Saw a sign and thought of your bar

Vamp'd

I'll try to get a pic soon...

:)

Thanks Hang10...great sign, I appreciate you posting it.

The TV Marquesan has been quite a chore for my handyman. It has a bolt sticking out of the back of its neck so after months of looking for a nut to screw on to it so it could then be attached to another piece of pipe on the wall we could not find anything that fit. I suggested drilling through the bolt and running a cable through it to secure to some eye hooks in the corner of the wall...so that is underway. My handyman had to get a new drill and use oil to drill a hole in that bolt (quite a task). I think he is coming over today to put the eye hooks in the corner. Then need to get a team together to move the extremely heavy Tiki about 20 feet over into the corner and cable him up. I am hoping I get to see him secured in the corner before I leave for Oasis and also the additional artwork up on the walls.

Vamp, just wait until the upcoming Crawl and you'll have lots of (drunk) people to help move that heavy tiki! :D