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Puamana & Selector Lopaka's backyard Bali Hai |
kctiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 22, 2003
Posts: 439
From: Kansas City
|  Posted: 2003-10-09 4:01 pm Permalink
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On 2003-10-09 02:08, SugarCaddyDaddy wrote:
For those of us contemplating doing something similar for our backyard (PolyPop?), what would be the approximate total cost for doing a backyard conversion like yours?
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SugarCaddyDaddy, I'm contemplating something like this (just dreaming right now). I showed the photos to my fiance who designs & builds "unique outdoor structures". He said he would price the structure at about 8K using cedar. That wouldn't include the structural tiki of course.
Puamana, what a beautiful backyard! I'm green with envy.
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2003-10-09 4:39 pm Permalink
I'm lucky enough to have experienced the beautiful Backyard Bali Hai. We had an elegant dinner of seared ahi (served on vintage polynesian divided plates, recently featured in Collecting Tiki), with the best exotica piped in over the built-in sound system. Lopaka has buried speaker cables run out from his Mac inside, so all he has to do is queue up a bunch of tunes, and it's good to go!
It really is fantastic. I got to see the yard before they started, and it was a typical, nondescript north Seattle yard. It was amazing to see it transformed only a few weeks later into a private-feeling lush paradise. After the landscaping has a couple of years to grow in, it'll be even more mind-blowing. The banana that they have planted near the structure in particular may really take off -- I have a dear friend who lives not far from them with a banana that after 10 years now is massive and actually produces fruit! (Just decorative, not edible.)
Puamana & Selector Lopaka's whole house is amazing -- the two are thrifting fiends, and have amassed an amazing collection that is really beautifully presented throughout the house.
I've got a few more pics of the Bali Hai at home, I'll post some later.
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4805
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2003-10-09 5:54 pm Permalink
Now you need to get some thatch panels and cover the roof for the grass hut effect!
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2003-10-09 6:05 pm Permalink
I'm afraid that thatch wouldn't work well here in Seattle -- it would never get a chance to dry out, and would probably get moldy & rotten. We had 97 straight days of rain a couple years back -- think about that -- three straight months without a break from the rain (and you can bet the dry days on either side of that were not long stretches). I wonder how expensive synthetic thatch products are?
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Selector Lopaka
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 07, 2003
Posts: 204
From: Jet City
| Posted: 2003-10-09 6:24 pm Permalink
Golly Humuhumu, and all you Tiki Centralites, much thanks and praises for your kind words. We've been dying to get photos up, and the feedback has been great, both here on TC and from those who have physically visited our home. I'm amazed every morning as I look out the kitchen window. We are nothing short of blessed with the results, and knowing the talented people who contributed to the project. Let's hope some of y'all will get to chill back there one day. Mahalo many times over!!!
Thatch would be cool, and synthetic does exist. I'd still like to research what kind of luck people have had with any kind of thatch up here in the NW (Anyone?). It would be a drag to have to change it every year or so. We almost did cedar shakes, but the metal roof made the most sense at the time, especially since the cost of the whole project ended up being more than we anticipated. And another justification/rationalization for the metal was that similar roofs are used on structures throughout the South Pacific and the Caribbean, plus it sounds cool when it's raining. Still, thatch would be the ultimate.
[ This Message was edited by: Selector Lopaka on 2003-10-09 18:46 ]
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freddiefreelance
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 15, 2003
Posts: 2983
From: San Diego, Ca.
| Posted: 2003-10-10 05:21 am Permalink
Look into Eastern European thatch. It's designed to last through Polish winters & probably would only have to be replaced every 50 years or so. Check out http://www.thatching.com for more info.
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Selector Lopaka
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 07, 2003
Posts: 204
From: Jet City
| Posted: 2003-10-10 07:23 am Permalink
Wow! Great link. There is hope for thatch. Thanks!
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tikifreak
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 15, 2003
Posts: 253
From: Jacksonville Beach FL
| Posted: 2003-10-10 08:01 am Permalink
Totally rad.......
T.F.
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2003-10-10 09:03 am Permalink
From the web link:
Quote:
| McGhee & Co. is led by Master Thatcher Colin McGhee, who started thatching at the age of 16 in Essex, England. At the age of 25, he became the youngest thatcher ever to win the Master Thatcher's Cup. |
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?? What does it take to win the Master Thatcher's Cup? I haven't seen ESPN2 in a while, I guess I'm out of the loop.
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7193
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2003-10-10 10:48 am Permalink
A little pool acid goes a long way to give it that un-polished look (and a lot cheaper than that thatch). Or, just save all together and let mother nature go at it. With 97 days of rain......(are tanning salons big in Seatle?) You could always do the underside but, it would've been a lot easier before the tin went on. Screw it! It's beautiful the way it is!!!
[ This Message was edited by: revbambooben on 2003-10-10 10:52 ]
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DawnTiki
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Sep 01, 2002
Posts: 1673
From: next stop Hulaville!
| Posted: 2003-10-10 10:56 am Permalink
Can I get an Amen for the good RevBambooBen?
It's pretty
outstanding the way it is!
[ This Message was edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-10-10 16:27 ]
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2003-10-10 11:00 am Permalink
What Ben said - it's beautiful the way it is, plus, as Lopaka said, it does sound really cool when it rains.
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| (are tanning salons big in Seatle?) |
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Not really. Pasty & pale is the norm. The people who go tanning stick out like sore thumbs here, it just looks obvious & weird.
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Selector Lopaka
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 07, 2003
Posts: 204
From: Jet City
| Posted: 2003-10-10 4:02 pm Permalink
AMEN!
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4805
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2003-10-11 10:08 am Permalink
Totally off topic here, but I am excited to know what Lopaka means! I have a friend at work who lived on da islands for a long time and I looked up his name to suprise him one day. Lopaka!
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RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7193
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2003-10-11 11:28 am Permalink
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it does sound really cool when it rains.
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I remember sitting at Tahiti Nui on the Lanai with my Dad 15 years ago, on our 5th Mai Tai each diggin' the "Rain on the Roof!"
(Needless to say, it didn't stop raining for 6 days! I guess that's the closest I've been to Seattle.)
(And one more thing. Our old ceramic factory was built out of studs and corregated tin. I definatly remember that sound!)
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