The Straw Hut

Aloha Tiki peeps-

I've been working on my home bar for the past year or so, and I'm finally getting around to posting some pics. I was lucky enough to have Mitch Tobias, professional photographer and guitarist from APE, shoot my bar about a month ago. His great photos are really what's pushing me to create this post. If you haven't heard, Mitch has been photographing folks in their home bars for a possible forthcoming coffee-table book. How cool would that be!

Thanks for looking, and please feel free to ask me any questions.

-Trad'r Bill

Your bar is so great my friend and his photos really are "wow"! I can almost taste the mai tais!

Great stuff!!

What a great looking place, the photographs are beautiful!
I really like the nook with the distressed wood, Chinese tiles and story board. The giraffe print carpet is cool too.
The stoic looking chihuahua guarding his beverage should be turned into a painting.

On 2013-07-24 14:47, tikilongbeach wrote:
The giraffe print carpet is cool too.

That's not carpet...he taped off and painted the floor :)

Very nice job, place has a great flow to it!

Bad ass, wish we could see some "in process photo's"

Hit it out of the park my friend!

-Longboard

Wow, that place is amazing! Looks pretty big.

By the great God Ku that's one great looking space. The furniture, the lamp, the dog, the shirt, the hat - far too cool for your own good my friend. Well done.

Thanks for the props, friends! I have to give a shout out to Sandra Dee and later Mai Tai for hooking me up with Mitch... that guy is amazing! I can't wait to see all the other home bars he's photographing.

WHen I clicked on Staw Hut, I certainly didn't expect to see this masterpiece. I had to look at the pictures several times and every time I saw something fantastic. I will have to continue to review the pictures to see what else I see. Would love to see some in progress pictures as well. Did you do all the work yourself? Very nice job indeed.

Looks really cool! I like the turn tables.

Thanks TikiVato - my last name is "Straw" hence the name of the bar... but I do like it for the sleeper factor of the generic-sounding "Straw Hut" :)

lunavideogames - yep, turntables are always fun to have around... even though I don't utilize them as much as I used to, I figure it's easier to get guest DJs for parties if you have a setup in-house. These are the classic Technics 1200 model

[ Edited by: Trad'r Bill 2013-07-24 21:11 ]

Nice work Trad'r Bill, I'll be happy to put The Straw Hut on to my top ten home bars list once I visit it. :lol:

Can we see a shot of the photo wall? I've seen glimpses but not the whole thing.

Yes it sure looks like all the boxes are checked, and I concur that the Mai Tais just got to taste better in there !!!

A class act!

Very, very nice. Gotta be one of the best I've seen and I be the old kine tikiphile.
Cheers,
David, La Mirada, Ca.

Classy joint.

Very nice! Thanks for sharing those photos with us. You have a beautiful place.

Hey Boris - you are welcome to come check it out any time you please! Lmk next time you're in the Bay Area. Your top-10 ranking carries weight!
...and thanks hottiki, bigbro, n'u'u, Tiki Shaker, and Slacks - I appreciate the comments.

I'm organizing a series of progress shots, but in the meantime here are a few corners of the room that weren't captured in the previous photos. Definitely not as clean as Mitch's photos, but you can get the idea at least.

Entranceway:

Photo wall - Boris, I think you've seen this one before... I've added a few more pics since this was taken, but this is pretty much it.
Gathering these photos was a Tiki Central-wide effort. Contributors were: Tiki Skip, Tattoo, Bigbrotiki, Bamboo Ben, Swanky, Bifcozz, Abstractiki, and I'm probably forgetting a couple people. Thanks everyone!

Corner:

Masks:

Porthole looking out onto the small patio:

Patio:

Thanks for looking,
Trad'r Bill

Fantastic! Great looking place!! :)

Killer! Love the wall of photos & the lamp made with the green tiles is 'Da Bomb!

Very impressive! You've got taste!

Holy kriminee...your place if off the hook. Those professional pictures I am sure do it justice. Who knew such decor adventure existed in Hercules!!! Love it.

Wonderful play land for tiki enthusiasts. I'd love to hang out there. Wendy

Wait a second!! You have steps leading down into the Straw Hut? - Ridiculous!

You have a Porthole looking out onto the small patio? - Completely Ridiculous!

Those 2 things are incredibly awesome and nicely done!

I'm gonna have to come up with a cool photo worthy of your wall and send it to you. Gimme until New Years!* :D

*That's 1/1/2014

I'm coming up with Boris!

The Straw Hut has that classic Poly Pop vibe. I must see it in person someday. Well done!

Excellent attention to detail, the way it should be done! 100% classic style all the way. You earn an A+.

On 2013-07-24 14:49, SandraDee wrote:

On 2013-07-24 14:47, tikilongbeach wrote:
The giraffe print carpet is cool too.

That's not carpet...he taped off and painted the floor :)

No worries about spills then! I'm even more impressed. It's a great looking place. It looks very relaxing.

Thanks Tki-kitty, Big Kahuna, Bongo Bungalow, VimpiressRN, Wendy, Boris, Poly-Pop, Kahaka and TLB - phew! The compliments are great... I spent a lot of time building this space, so it's really nice to get some positive feedback.

My overall goal for the room was to recreate the feel of a 1950s - 1960s tiki bar. I got a lot of inspiration from old photos, and from the old surviving spots up here, like Minnie's and the Tonga Room.

[ Edited by: Trad'r Bill 2013-07-26 09:22 ]

This is your HOME bar!?!?! OMG!! It’s gorgeous! I love everything about . The kitch, the MCM, everything. To say that I am blown away is an understatement. Just...WOW!!

Excellent Home Bar! You nailed it with this one. The fine details throughout the bar are impressive. Everywhere you look you are engaged in the tiki environment.

On 2013-07-25 22:01, Bora Boris wrote:

You have a Porthole looking out onto the small patio? - Completely Ridiculous!

I'm with Boris...that porthole is incredible!

This is as legit as it gets. I am very impressed. I love your dedication wall to all those and places who gave birth to the Tiki boom. Just awesome!!!!!!! :D

Holy crow! Your place is amazing!!

A very special place Trad'r Bill.
When's the official Tiki Central night? :D

Super cool!!!

Your home bar is freakin' AMAZING! Seriously, of the caliber one would find in a commercial establishment! Love the port hole window especially.

Amazing!!!

Yes - Yes - Yes - !

Thanks for the kind words everyone...

To say the least, this room has been a labor of love for me. I did all the work myself, except for the 2-man jobs when my brother-in-law helped out. Certain aspects of the build took much longer than I had expected... and if I knew then what I know now, I'm not sure I would have chosen certain paths. The floor, and the wood paneling jump out as examples. As I said earlier, it took me over a year to get to this point, and I still have more work to do.

My family moved into a new home about 18 months ago, and for the first 6 months or so, the room served simply as a storage space for my tiki stuff. I had a newborn daughter at this point, so my focus was obviously on her:

My floats were moved in without incident:

Moving in my baby, er clam shell:

Crap everywhere, albeit good crap:

I was still gathering supplies at this point... Bamboo Depot in Benicia was my main resource:

I found this booth on Craigslist, which came from a Chevy's at the Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara:

looked better once I painted the hideous fabric. I was too chicken to reupholster it myself:

I got this large piece of Tongan ngatu cloth for $35 at an antique fair - score! This is going behind the bar.

Little by little, I was able to do some work, like splitting and sizing the bamboo:

...and eventually I cleared everything out to start doing some real work:

Post is getting long, I'll add more soon. Thanks for looking.

-Trad'r Bill

wow- your spot is seriously legit- nice work! Love the floats over the bar, they look amazing! that's alot of weight, must've been fun securing those :wink:

Yep, I had to do the old Bamboo Ben "hang on it and see if it breaks" test when hanging the glass floats. My wife is still convinced that it's going to bring down our house, but I don't think so.

Outstanding! I tip my hat.

Wowie, WOW, Wow!!
Right on!
Great job, this is how tiki should look.
Pm me your address and I got a few more photos for you.

Needs a Tikiskip light tho.

On 2013-07-24 14:29, Trad'r Bill wrote:
Aloha Tiki peeps

Great space!

I really like that the walls are lighter than the floor - Ive been thinking Id prefer it & wondering what it would look like - did you treat / lighten the matting in any way?

Oh & I'm jealous of your wood! :wink:

I would love some pieces like that!

Thanks AdOrAdam - I didn't lighten the matting, but I did use bamboo matting, not the usual lauhala matting. Maybe that's why it's looking lighter than your used to.

Also, FYI you can still get those cannibal trio statues on Swanky's site: http://www.swankpadproductions.com/indexproducts.html Now that Marquesan lamp, much harder to come across that one :)

[ Edited by: Trad'r Bill 2013-08-04 20:59 ]

Great job..... love the room / bar. How is exterior patio?

Fantasic! I,too, had to look at the pictures several times to get the details.