The Hokulani Lounge is born!

Well, I feel like we've come far enough in our tiki bar-building journey that I can post a few pics. We're definitely not totally finished yet (will we ever really be finished?), but we've made enough progress that I can share. Thanks to everyone for all of the great ideas! My main inspiration and tiki love is Kona Kai in Philly, where I practically grew up as a kid. I wanted to recreate in miniature a little of the magical feeling I always got when we went there.

Our challenges were that our budget was limited, the room is relatively small (about 17 X 11), the ceilings are quite low, and the wood stove takes up a good bit of space. But our assets were that the stone floors were already in there when we bought the house, and I'm pretty stubborn and persistent when I get going on a project! :)

The first step was to clean out the room, which was no small feat. We'd been using it as a music room/library, so there were literally thousands of books, LPs, and 45s. Thousands...sooooo many.... They were supposed to all be moved into the room across the hall (my new treatment space/office), but we found out my mom now has to move in with us for a year or so until my husband builds her a tiny house next spring/summer. But the tiki bar would not be stopped, so I've put most of the books and misc furniture in storage for now.

I stained the LP holders and my old IKEA corner plant shelf that now holds the scorpion bowls etc. I don't know how to work a router & he doesn't have time, so I made my first foray into woodburning.

We got a home bar in great shape from some sweet guys restoring a gorgeous old farmhouse inn...it used to be the registration desk back in the day! It kinda reminded me of all the nautical-themed cocktail lounges my parents took me to when I was a kid & I didn't want to cover it up. So I left it pretty much as is. Maybe I'll embellish it more later, but just added an LED light strip for now.

I originally wanted to do the ceiling and all the walls in matting & paneling, but as many wise folks here pointed out, giant wood stove+matting=tiki inferno. So I came up with some fun paint schemes for the areas closer to the stove. I did the ceiling in a starry night design and brought it down the walls adjacent to the stove with a gradient tropical twilight kind of effect.

The starryness is pretty subtle, so it doesn't show up too well in the photos, but I like the bit of twinkle.

Once that was up, we could erect the bar shelves/counter/cabinet my husband had built for me, and I stained and finished them. And get all of the lighting in place. I wanted to do a ton of swag lamps, but the ceilings are so low! We kept whacking our heads on them! So I did a few swag on the perimeter, and added in some 60s-esque wall lights and a few little table lamps.

Our puffer light (I named him Al) arrived with damaged wiring, so I can't get him to work yet. But he's still a cutie :wink:

The long sconces were removed from a guest room at the Poly in the 2003 renovation. My first husband (who passed away in 2004) and I were married at the Poly in 1992, when I was 19. So I tried to fit in some nostalgic touches here and there, like some authentic signs I got off of eBay. We had to make one of our Crazy Al's switchplates look a little drunken to get it to fit :)

I also have 2 of the pillow shams from this Poly pic, but haven't figured out how to work them in yet.

Then we moved in all of the mugs, mounted the tapa, put up bamboo blinds, added some other little touches we've collected along the way, and voila! The Hokulani Lounge is born! :)

My purple Bob from Wendy, nestled between my vintage Kona Kai mugs!

Had a house concert at our place on Friday, and gave a few friends a sneak preview. The puffer came as a surprise!

Stuff we still have to do in the coming weeks: add torched bamboo planks and half rounds for chair rail, trim, framing out sections; refurbish the bamboo armchair we trash-picked; add a bunch more foliage (probably silk, as it's awful dark for tropicals down there), add a bit more lighting (esp around bar area), a couple more bar stools, get some larger masks.

Thanks for looking! Stop by if you're ever in Vermont. And everyone here is invited to the grand opening Rockabilly Luau birthday bash on September 12!

HOLY COW!!! You did a fantastic job in such a short period of time. The place looks wonderful and delightfully dark and cozy.

My Tiki decorating plans and socializing is on hold as I had my Mom come live with me a couple of years ago. Challenging, but it is the right thing to do, she is still pretty spunky at 96 years old. Bless you and your husband for helping your Mom out.

Keep up the great work in your lounge, looks like you are having fun doing it. CHEERS!!!

Nice work. Looks great

Thanks! Yes, we've been having a blast. And we're already getting a lot of use out of it. Once I get started on something, I am generally pretty driven. Makes my husband a bit nuts, but gets the job done!

96, that's great! My mom is generally healthy in most ways, but has terrible pain in her knees and legs from some sort of degenerative condition that they can't quite pinpoint yet. She hasn't really been able to get around safely for a while now, so I'll feel much better with her here. She'll be right across the hall from the Hokulani Lounge, so I hope she grows to like exotica music and Mai Tais! :wink:

We hope to finish the shelves behind the bar & get all of the bamboo planks up next week. And hopefully we'll get that puffer light working, too. I do love a project! :)

VampiressRN is one of our dearest friends. She runs the Sacramento Crawl. KonaKaiBaby welcome to the world of tiki. You have entered with a BANG! Your room is marvelous, so many fun touches. I'm so happy to be a part of your room. I'm looking forward to the next photo when your Zombie Torch arrives.

Everything you need is here on Tiki Central, from music to travel but always remember you can ask us all questions.

I'm enjoying seeing your room and knowing I have a new friend, Wendy

Aloha,
The Hokulani Lounge is beautiful! I could hang out in a room like that for hours.. Great job on all the amazing details. That wood burning idea is genius - routing seems so difficult. You've inspired me to try this idea.

Hope you post more pics once you get other details added!

Looks great KonaKaiBaby! You've got yourself a wonderful, welcoming tiki room! Nice touches all around. I hope you get your puffer working soon. I picked mine up at Ohana on the Lake a few years back and he's one of my most treasured possessions!

Looks amazing! I really like the dark painted ceiling. Gives the place a nice, dim look.

Nice job.

What is that on the floor in the bedroom, Carpet or paint? Really makes the room.

-Longboard

Looks great! Did you paint the moon or it a decal?

Thanks SO much everyone!

It's been a crazy week moving my mom out of her place into ours, but we're looking forward to a relaxing beverage in the lounge once it's all finished :)

Wendy, thanks for your sweet words! And Happy Birthday again! Cool that you & Vampiress are wonderful tiki friends. We love VT, but it makes me wish we were out west with you! And I have a brand new pic to post here and on your thread...zombie torch mug has a new place of honor in the lounge!

Thx, Jiminy C! The woodburning was fun. Took a little bit to get the hang of it, but having a kit with a bunch of different tips helped. Hard to get the curves to work without the special tip. My first husband who passed away used to woodburn all the time, and he made it look so easy! Maybe with practice I can do the kind of detailed work he used to do.

Thanks, Lori! That puffer is sure giving us a challenge. My husband could fix the wiring in a flash if we could figure out how to get access to the inside. We can't even figure out how one would change the bulb, when needed. I had thought it would be through the mouth, but it's way too tiny even for a little Christmas tree bulb. It's quite a puzzle!

Longboard, I wish that was our bedroom! It's the Polynesian Resort in Disneyworld circa late 1990s. I posted it to show where the sconces we have in the lounge used to appear in the Poly guest rooms. I also have some of those blue and brown shams from the Poly, but haven't figured out how to use them in the room just yet. But I'll keep dreaming of a Poly bedroom like that! :wink:

Thanks, Biotron! I was a little nervous about doing the dark ceiling. Everyone said I was nuts to make a basement room with low ceilings even darker. But I figured, that room is never going to be light & airy, so why not embrace the darkness! :wink:

Hey jimsflies, it's neither actually. It's a light that I bought off ebay. It does a "phases of the moon" kind of thing, so it can be all lit up as a full moon, or half, or crescent. I like it best full. I was a little wary of ordering a plastic made-in-China light like that, but it sounded like it could be fun. I'm glad I got it! We've gotten a lot of compliments on it. It's obvious that it's plastic when you're holding it, but up on the wall, it blends well.

Thanks everyone! We'll get the bamboo planks torched and up soon (once the mother moving is done) and I have some menus and artwork to frame and get up on the walls. And maybe we'll figure out how to get access to the wiring in that silly puffer and get it working, too! More pics and fun to come as it emerges! :)