What the hell to do with a really low ceiling (and a fireplace)

As I spend time getting all the crap out of my basement, and painting it in a few shades away from 'piercing white', I'm troubled by a couple of features in my up-coming downstairs Tiki bar.

Firstly, the ceiling is seriously low - anyone over six foot would have to stoop. As a result, I can't hang any of the fun, nautical stuff up unless I strung up a very tight net on the ceiling. There's been many a mention of basement bars, but has anyone had any success dealing with the low-ceiling problem?

Second hassle is the fireplace, which looks ok, but isn't all that Tiki. It could be operational at a stretch, but I'd prefer to put something fun where the fire should be. Any suggestions?

All help much appreciated.

Trader Woody

Low ceiling.... I might try first covering with a natural material... woven matting like lauhala, or maybe tapa cloth... then tack up vintage postcards, menus, pages from BOT, etc...

have you thought of building a Kahiki-esque facade around the fireplace? and I do not mean a cheezey one like on Monster House, someone like yourself who knows and loves Tiki could do it up right.

-Z

Yes I agree with the covering and postcards. At our old tiki bar we had tons of old Hawaiian postcards pinned up on the ceiling and it looked great. And either a woven matt covering or seagrass matt would be a great background. With the fireplace - it's gotta be stone or lava rock with some tikis worked in. Either that or turn it into a little waterfall, pond thing with some planters and uplights. Show pictures of what you come up with!

[ Edited by: pariartspaul on 2004-04-06 19:17 ]

I know that this very issue plagues many people. If you were really ready for a challenge, you could cover the ceiling with wood and make it like you were below deck in a ship. That might be tough, or, you might find some very thin paneling that would give you the look.

As for hanging stuff, you just have to put it out of the way. It will break up the room well though!

How about a Japanese Tiki Bar?
To where everyone would have to take off their shoes and that will help eliminate the height problem.
I'm sorry, nothing constructive on this post. Just being a smart ass.
Then again, a Japanese Tiki Bar could be kinda cool.
"I'll take an Unagi roll with my mai tai you Gisha babe you."

A Tiki Cheers To You

[ Edited by: Unga Bunga on 2004-04-06 21:33 ]

Buy stock in "Knee Pads!"

A Japanese junk, below decks, without shoes but with knee pads… hmm it makes ya think, don’t it.
Lower the floor man, sure it’s a lot of work but not the end of the world. I guess the big question seems to be , do YOU have to stoop, or only your taller guests?
Maybe you could lower the floor in the center of the room and the bar proper, and leave the edges at the original elevation for booths.
Or you could go for a grotto and give guests cool hardhats with big ol lights on ‘em, cool drippy walls, corny sleastack looking booths, fish behind the bar.
Back to nautical you could do a Jules Vern kinda submarine deal.
Or the inside of the whale that ate Pinocchio… Monstrow?
Or 50’s bomb shelter swank. Complete with ladder entrance option, ( keep the stairs you’ll need ‘em.
Or a bumper car rink with lark scooters.
Or…
Wait, what was this thread about?
I’m gonna go mix another drink.
I bought all this weird ass booze yesterday…

On 2004-04-06 19:16, pariartspaul wrote:
With the fireplace - it's gotta be stone or lava rock with some tikis worked in.

I'm intreged, I have a drab brick fire place and have been pondering what to do with it and lava would make a dandy replacement, anyone know any sources of lava or stick on lava paneling, I'll I can find in these parts are bags of small black lava rocks suitible for backyards.

Or a bumper car rink with lark scooters.

And have the blue-hairs race after bingo in the local church!

yeah lark "bumpercar tiki bar"... if the overhead is low you will fit in your bumper car on account of yer sitting down. blue hair, blue drink, blue mers, okay I'm done now...

Move.

I love the waterfall-in-the-fireplace idea. Is it really necessary for people to stand in the bar, though? People couldn't really stand in the Humuhumu Room, because the palm fronds came down to about 5'. They kinda ducked in and sat down, or stood right next to the bar where it was more clear. Of course, bonking into palm fronds is gonna be a lot more comfortable than bonking into glass floats.

Without seeing pictures of your space, it's hard to imagine if this would work, but what about creating a cave-like atmosphere for the room? By applying some roughly textured faux rock, building it more heavily into the corners, you'll create some visual interest without losing too much height. Plus, removing definite boundaries to the room may actually make it feel more comfortable. Don't know exactly what you'd use, papier mache perhaps, or spray foam or insulation that gets painted over, perhaps some well-anchored chicken wire framing in the corners where you couldn't fill it completely with material.

Thanks for all the suggestions - the ceiling will almost certainly have postcards (now I've got to get some!), tapa cloth (also when I can get hold of some) etc, etc. I'll probably have a few things dangling down in places where people won't be walking round.

I posted pics of the basement in this thread a while back:
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6583&forum=7&5
and here's a photo of the fireplace:

It's about 4 ft high while the ceiling is just over 6 feet, so sadly a Kahiki-esque facade is not possible.

Having a basement at all in the UK is pretty rare, and we had to hunt high and low to find an affordable one. As it's difficult to get permission to build houses on 'green field sites' in the UK, land and housing costs are very very high. In London, this basement would be re-named a 'Garden Flat' and cost more than a 4 bedroom house in Florida! Luckily, we're a long way from London.

Anyway, for the most part, I just intend to put shelves all over the place and fill the walls with prints, etc. The fireplace is a focal point, though, and it would be cool to have something impressive like a water feature/volcano inside it.

Trader Woody

[ Edited by: Trader Woody on 2004-04-08 01:24 ]

Can I also point out that I'm utterly cack-handed and even putting up shelves gives me 'the fear', so some of the elaborate ideas would be well beyond my extremely limited skills!

Trader Woody

Woody, I would do some Maori swirls on the wood and do a tiki mug shelf on top of the mantel. Swirls can be painted or carved out with a router. I would then have a storage cart on wheels slip into there and roll out when you need it. Somethin like a buffet or a secondary bar.

On this US telly show they build a giant tiki head over the fireplace..

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/monsterhouse/houses/tropical/tropical.html

you could do it with chicken wire and plaster, you could even build some side shelves and hide any bad carpentry with plaster and paint.

"and I do not mean a cheezey one like on Monster House"

Classic! I hated that thing! I loved the concept, just their execution was a little weak I think.

[ Edited by: suburbanpagan on 2004-04-09 14:02 ]

Have a drink or two and visualize Trader Woody... it will come to you... there's a lot of potential to your space! At least you have a house to work with!

Lake Surfer,

That is both amazing and hilarious! When the pictures came up, I must have been like a cartoon character rubbing both eyes with his fists in disbelief!! It looks better than it ever could in real life!

Some very fine ideas in there, but one thing that's a definite is that prints of the photos you did will be framed and mounted in the Lono Lounge.

Cheers!
Trader Woody

If your ceiling is low, why not paint it midnight blue (almost black) and put glow in the dark dots on the ceiling to look like stars? In dim light it would make the ceiling look sky high!

I'm to short to be able to read ceiling postcards. I hope my advice does not come too late. Because as we all know, it's all about me.

:) Makes it worth making the images! Would be scary-realistic if I spent some real time on them... Now you have to support Bosko, Tiki Farm and Seamus since I "placed" their work in your room... :wink:

Here's a look with the lights dimmed...:)

Good luck with your project... savor and enjoy every minute!

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer on 2004-04-11 23:53 ]

Super-cool lighting effects! I'm already finding that I go downstairs expecting to see it looking like your photos and suddenly being hit with the sad reality!

The fireplace will definitely go the Tiki with flaming torches route, though the 'volcanic' rock will probably have to be local Lancashire quarry stone.....

Tikifish, the far room's ceiling could well be painted in the style you mentioned - it's a great idea! (Plus, it'll take me years just to get enough postcards for the main room). We're all short-arses in the TW household too, so there's never going to be anything too high up!

Trader Woody