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Pao Pao Hut |
ashman_atl
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 23, 2010
Posts: 79
From: Atlanta, GA
|  Posted: 2010-02-28 9:44 pm Permalink
After watching the projects here on TC for several years, I finally broke ground on my home bar. Having a very small budget and even less space to work with, I decided to convert a small utility closet in my library. The area is nearly microscopic at 47" x 37", nonetheless, I'm determined to make something of it. Following a week of cleaning out all of the stuff and making a bunch of measurements and sketches, I was able to get started this weekend...
Here are a few photos of the progress-
Reclaiming a piece of wood I've been hauling around for some 27 years; never could bring myself to throw it out and now it's going to good use as the bar top... (dig that urban workbench)
Shot of the basic footprint...
Area with the weathered bar top and the bar frame going up...
Conducting the Bass test on the bar top... Had to be performed several times, but eventually passed.
This week, hopefully will get some tapa done then over the weekend can finish up basic wall coverings and bar top.
Any ideas for getting more out of small spaces, please advise!
Cheers!
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Bongo Bungalow
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2007
Posts: 1230
From: Indiana
| Posted: 2010-03-01 02:00 am Permalink
Ashman, that's a hell of a tiki spirit to make something out of your little alcove! Good for you! There's no reason it can't be great. Since this tiki home bar area of TC has been started, I'm picking up lots of ideas and I'll bet you are too.
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ashman_atl
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 23, 2010
Posts: 79
From: Atlanta, GA
| Posted: 2010-03-01 06:52 am Permalink
Thanks for the kind words Bongo. Definitely getting some inspiration from the "masters of the build" here at TC and this home bar forum. Someday I hope to go for the full out lounge, but at the moment we're renting so it keeps my ambitions humble. Still fun, though...
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JackLord
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 18, 2006
Posts: 146
From: Washington, DC
| Posted: 2010-03-02 11:27 am Permalink
You are off to a good start. Just wondering though- Atlanta is more or less subtropical. Do you have any space outside that could be Tikified?
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ashman_atl
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 23, 2010
Posts: 79
From: Atlanta, GA
| Posted: 2010-03-02 6:00 pm Permalink
Atlanta certainly is in a fairly warm zone though this winter's been kind of crazy with the snow... I am renting a duplex without much available in the way of outside space, but since you mention it, I may try to put my imagination to work for something outdoors once we thaw out.
The progress is painfully slow and not helped by the fact that I'm guessing as I go with the bar, but here's a pic with the shelves in and top rails leveled (not real exciting stuff, but we'll get there)...
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Agent 86
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jul 22, 2009
Posts: 65 | Posted: 2010-03-02 10:04 pm Permalink
Tiki is as much a state of mind as it is a place and you are going for it and utilizing what you have where you're at...good for you and keep up the good job!
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Mr. Pupu Pants
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 06, 2008
Posts: 332
From: Edmonds, WA
| Posted: 2010-03-05 8:57 pm Permalink
Off to a great start ashman  I hope you have a lot of fun with it. Limitations like room size, etc. can sometimes be the best force for creativity
Mood lighting in the rest of the room will definitely 'extend' the nice vibe once you're all done.
Some random ideas to possibly make it feel bigger:
Maybe you could put a mirror on the closet walls to the left and right of the bar top to turn it into a bar that stretches to infinity. That way, you'll always be drinking with a room full of good friends too.
Or you could make the closet ceiling look like a tropical night sky with some stars and a black light to make them pop.
In my basement, I built a fake awning with a hole in it where you'll eventually be able to see the 'night sky' above.
Perhaps you could do something along those lines -- with a fake 'hole' through a false hut ceiling in your closet and have some blue moonlight (light source hidden from view at an angle) shining down on the back wall of the bar from above. Might help to make it feel like there is more to see beyond the closet (at least in your imagination).
 
Or you could build an 'exterior' facade and awning of a hut on the walls surrounding the outside of the closet and make it feel like you're bellying up to an outdoor bar. You could even paint the whole room ceiling dark blue and add stars, a moon, etc to open it all up. You can find kits with phosphorescent paint that work great for this (we did something similar in our kids rooms to surprise them on our first night in, what was then, our new house -- the stars were painted onto the ceiling as they appeared in the actual night sky of the calendar day and year they were born).
Or you can tell me to keep my pupu to myself
Again, hope you have a great time with whatever you do in there!
Aloha,
John
[ This Message was edited by: mr. pupu pants 2010-03-06 23:00 ]
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ashman_atl
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 23, 2010
Posts: 79
From: Atlanta, GA
| Posted: 2010-03-06 9:50 pm Permalink
Well, after a week of nothing much happening and this week's spending cash blown on tools, total accomplishment has been next to unnoticeable. It seems I had everything planned out until I actually started working... Almost embarrassing to post this update, but did want to say thanks for the encouragement as well as the great suggestions. John, I will definitely take you up on the suggestion for the ceiling and yes, I do plan to add a thatch awning, but will likely go up last.
Here is a shot with the unfinished bar top attached and some detail of bamboo trim and decorative panels (which I opted for in place of tapa which I convinced myself I was too lazy to produce and too cheap to buy, but I guess looks OK...)
Close up of the fabric panels (taken from a dress my wife bought in Hawaii and had scheduled for donation to Goodwill...). I glued a couple of pieces onto foam core and a few on 1/4" plywood...
Another pic to give an idea of the space (or lack thereof)
Detail of the bar top which, as mentioned, is a piece of lumber that's trailed around with me for several decades and spent at least one of those outdoors becoming the weathered hunk of board that it is (notice what looks like a router accident on the right corner- actually a cavity created and occupied over some seasons by carpenter bees...). Fairly cupped on the left side, so before staining and waterproofing, will have planed square.
Long day- time for a libation....
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Kon-Hemsby
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Sep 17, 2003
Posts: 1225
From: Andover, England
| Posted: 2010-03-07 07:42 am Permalink
It's looking good and a great use of limited space.
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Grand Kahu
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Jul 31, 2006
Posts: 143
From: Dallas, TX
| Posted: 2010-03-07 5:43 pm Permalink
Great work! I really like seeing what one can do with a small space to make it something special. One does not necessarily need an entire basement to get the tiki bar vibe going...
I turned a dining room closet into a 1960s space age bar and that worked pretty well too, so if anyone else has a tiki corner/nook rather than a full bar, that would be cool to see.
GK
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Grand Kahu
Tied by my Mai Tai...
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ashman_atl
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 23, 2010
Posts: 79
From: Atlanta, GA
| Posted: 2010-03-27 10:04 pm Permalink
Finally found someone with a router and was able to get the project moving slightly this week... Everything basically hinges on the bar top and I wanted to install a spill mat on top and have lighting on the underside. Nothing happening until my friend JB showed up with a router and started removing some wood. Ended up looking like this-
Track on the bottom for string lights
Recess on top for spill mat
Living room has become the shop space (totally irritating the wife!)
(Extra special thanks to Gary M for letting me borrow the awesome DeWalt portable table saw)
This bar is being built from scratch, including decor, so I've had to be busy collecting some stuff...
Found this at thrift store
Flea market lamp
Yard sale King K
Benson's Imports Ku and Kanaloa
Moving along with the bamboo trim and wood paneling
More or mostly less tying it all together
Next up- split bamboo around the base of the bar, three more shelves for bottles and mugs, and then install the awning.
And then.....
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teaKEY
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 09, 2004
Posts: 3663
From: The thumb !
| Posted: 2010-03-28 04:37 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-03-27 22:04, ashman_atl wrote:
Yard sale King K
Benson's Imports Ku and Kanaloa
Moving along with the bamboo trim and wood paneling
More or mostly less tying it all together
Next up- split bamboo around the base of the bar, three more shelves for bottles and mugs, and then install the awning.
And then.....
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Looking real good. I really like the hawaiian fabic. It added texture and color and breaks up the browns with a punch. And the coolest part is the you reused and then recycled it. Being tiki and saving the world at the same time, I aplaud you for that. ps the soccertiki is in here just to get the word out 
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ashman_atl
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 23, 2010
Posts: 79
From: Atlanta, GA
| Posted: 2010-04-01 9:09 pm Permalink
Just a few progress pics (moving at the speed of evolution, I tell ya!)...
Finished the paneling wrap around (filled in the corner gap after this photo; shelves will go up above the paneling next)
Looking down into the back of the bar
Got the plywood skin on and stained, corners and base trimmed in, and started putting up some split bamboo
One of these days, I'll get this thing finished, but it is a lot of fun and don't mind taking my time. Hope to have another update in about a week...
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Monkeyman
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 04, 2003
Posts: 2301
From: Vista, CA
| Posted: 2010-04-02 09:10 am Permalink
pretty amazing what you are doing with such an intimate space
proof that tiki can fit anywhere regardless of your space or budget.
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LiddleLola
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 24, 2008
Posts: 162
From: Elk Grove, CA
| Posted: 2010-04-02 8:10 pm Permalink
Looking great! Is that Bac Bac matting on the bottom. I'm still trying to decide which to use.
Darilyn
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