ITT, I'll post my new bar build and post some lessons learned from this and my previous build, and hopefully bounce questions and ideas off of everybody.
I am starting from a kit this time (available through several retailers). When I saw these ad images for an acacia bar I thought, "Hey, self, I can definitely work with that. And it's the same genus as koa wood, so bonus points!"
Is it just me? Can this small serving bar be turned into a serviceable, tropical bar, let alone a tiki bar?
That's what I aim to find out. And you can come along for the ride to see if this is a good idea or a fool's errand.
I'll start off with the obvious negative: size. It's only about half as long as my old bar and the bar top is about 2/3 deep, so I'll have less working space. And the bar top doesn't extend as far forward from the base as my old one did. But like the old bar, we will bring this out for parties or just lounging on the weekend. Very rarely did guests sit or stand at the old bar, instead swinging by for me to sling a drink or standing at the sides to chat, and then lounging at the tables and couches elsewhere on the lanai or in the back yard.
As for the positives? The shelves, and the bottle storage. Man, I love the little built-in bottle rack and it solves an issue I had with my first bar. It's sturdy and can be disassembled with little work if/when need be. I also really like the base color and am very fond of dark wood contrasted with lighter colored bamboo and lauhala.
As I post this build, there a few things to note. Like my old bar, this will be an outdoor bar that we will keep out for the Summer. My previous bar was big and heavy, but I designed it to be pretty simple to disassemble, fold, and store in our shed if we were having multi-day rainstorms, hurricanes, etc. I guess that later on I may post what spelled doom for that bar (hint: neglected for months in a leaky storage location).
This one, I'll easily move into the garage when we have heavy weather. Except for a few dedicated outdoor decorations (a fountain, some lamps, and one of those Design Toscano Kanaloa tables, everything else is stored inside the house when we're not using the bar.
After receiving this kit, I assembled the bar to check fit and finish, and to identify areas for future modifications.
Then I disassembled it and over the course of a weekend, applied a couple of coats of tung oil to every surface. Then I let it sit and polymerize for a week before applying finish, and waited in vain for my pile of oily rags to spontaneously combust.
As for the basic kit, the whole skeleton I was basing my build off of? I liked it and could have totally used it somewhere inside the house in its basic, raw form.
But how will it look with lauhala and bamboo?
We'll find out.
I am starting from a kit this time (available through several retailers). When I saw these ad images for an acacia bar I thought, "Hey, self, I can definitely work with that. And it's the same genus as koa wood, so bonus points!"
Is it just me? Can this small serving bar be turned into a serviceable, tropical bar, let alone a tiki bar?
That's what I aim to find out. And you can come along for the ride to see if this is a good idea or a fool's errand.
I'll start off with the obvious negative: size. It's only about half as long as my old bar and the bar top is about 2/3 deep, so I'll have less working space. And the bar top doesn't extend as far forward from the base as my old one did. But like the old bar, we will bring this out for parties or just lounging on the weekend. Very rarely did guests sit or stand at the old bar, instead swinging by for me to sling a drink or standing at the sides to chat, and then lounging at the tables and couches elsewhere on the lanai or in the back yard.
As for the positives? The shelves, and the bottle storage. Man, I love the little built-in bottle rack and it solves an issue I had with my first bar. It's sturdy and can be disassembled with little work if/when need be. I also really like the base color and am very fond of dark wood contrasted with lighter colored bamboo and lauhala.
As I post this build, there a few things to note. Like my old bar, this will be an outdoor bar that we will keep out for the Summer. My previous bar was big and heavy, but I designed it to be pretty simple to disassemble, fold, and store in our shed if we were having multi-day rainstorms, hurricanes, etc. I guess that later on I may post what spelled doom for that bar (hint: neglected for months in a leaky storage location).
This one, I'll easily move into the garage when we have heavy weather. Except for a few dedicated outdoor decorations (a fountain, some lamps, and one of those Design Toscano Kanaloa tables, everything else is stored inside the house when we're not using the bar.
After receiving this kit, I assembled the bar to check fit and finish, and to identify areas for future modifications.
Then I disassembled it and over the course of a weekend, applied a couple of coats of tung oil to every surface. Then I let it sit and polymerize for a week before applying finish, and waited in vain for my pile of oily rags to spontaneously combust.
As for the basic kit, the whole skeleton I was basing my build off of? I liked it and could have totally used it somewhere inside the house in its basic, raw form.
But how will it look with lauhala and bamboo?
We'll find out.
