How To Put Bamboo On Top Tiki

The foundation of a great tiki bar is its walls. In an ordinary room a coat of paint is sufficient, just in a tiki bar, you want to remove any vestiges of an ordinary room. You want your visitors to imagine a quiet, moonlit beach on the other side of that wall, or perchance a dark, untamed jungle. There are many ways to do that, no matter your budget:

Materials

Bac-bac matting

Made from strips, typically near i″ wide, of banana institute "bark." The strips are woven diagonally, making a diamond pattern. Bac-bac matting typically has a lot of color variation within the weave, with strips ranging from pale to dark brown.

Lauhala matting

Fabricated from the leaves of the hala plant, also called pandanus. Lauhala mats look very much like bac-bac matting, but with a relatively uniform, pale colour, and a smoother cease. It looks a fleck more polished than bac-bac.

Neou palm panels

These Tahitian-mode woven panels, made from 2 intertwined palm fronds, were more commonly used in the early-to-mid 20th century. They are even so bachelor, but they are often toll prohibitive for use in large numbers. They're about one human foot wide and half dozen feet long. If you have the budget and are aiming for a more authentic historic tiki bar look, there's nothing quite like them.

Abaca cloth

Abaca is another name for Musa textilis, a species of assistant plant. The tough fibers from the leaves are quite thin, perhaps a millimeter wide, and when loosely woven into a material, it resembles a non-fuzzy burlap. Abaca cloth comes in large bolts, well-nigh 2′ wide and 30′ long, and is particularly affordable.

Three styles of tropical mats using varied materials

Combination matting

Abaca, sisal, sennit, palm, bamboo, and other organic gristly materials can be combined to create mats with a diverseness of unique patterns and textures.

Bamboo slats

A common wainscoting pull a fast one on in tiki confined: use inexpensive bamboo slat blinds, turned sideways. These blinds are widely available at hardware stores, and come up in a multifariousness of styles and finishes.

Reed fencing

A specially affordable fashion to encompass a large area, elementary reed fencing is also available at most hardware stores. Long, thin reeds are bound together by lightweight wire. It's a bit rustic, and is more usually used outdoors, simply it can work wonders if yous're on a budget.

Line-fishing nets

The ultimate quick & muddied tiki bar wall solution: fishing nets. Awfully cheap, and quick (though skimpy) coverage. They can be found in many colors; existent line-fishing nets are likely to be a pale gray-brown, simply I ordinarily reach for black nets.

Tapa cloth

Tapa textile is made from the pounded bawl of the mulberry and stamped or painted with ornate designs using natural dyes. It is often considered the ideal tiki bar wall treatment, but information technology can be difficult to source and expensive once you do. The nearly mutual larger pieces y'all'll encounter are Tongan. Fijian tapa tends to exist establish in smaller pieces and commands higher prices.

Where to buy

The place nosotros all dearest to support is Oceanic Arts in Whittier, simply outside of Los Angeles. Oceanic Arts is a wonderland of tiki supplies. If you're lucky enough to visit their warehouse, come prepared with room in your automobile, yous'll want to take everything home. Oceanic Arts has been outfitting tiki bars for over 60 years, and we're then lucky they're notwithstanding at it today. You can look through their catalog online, and they ship all over the world.

If having items shipped from Oceanic Arts isn't viable for y'all, practise a uncomplicated search for these materials and you'll plow up many alternate options. Landscape supply stores and hardware stores volition carry reed fencing, and the latter will also have bamboo blinds.

How to utilise them

Cutting to size

Most of these materials tin be cut with scissors. You may accept edges with bindings that could unravel, you lot can seal those spots with a hot gum gun.

Artificially aging

Some of these materials tin await a petty besides "raw" if they're used without some aging. Experiment with some chip cloth. I've had success using spray stain, which works a lot similar spray pigment. A stain & polyurethane combo is another selection. I've non had great luck using coffee or tea stains as one might with fabric, but it might be worth trying. Whatsoever approach y'all use, be certain you let the materials dry out out completely before using them in your room—y'all don't want mold and mildew.

Burn down retardant

All of these wall treatments are made of dried plant materials, and accept the potential to be highly combustible. Before putting whatever in identify, make sure they've been treated with a fire retardant. Some can exist purchased with fire retardant already applied (Oceanic Arts offers this). It'southward also possible to practice it yourself. It can exist tempting to skip the treatment stride to save money or fourth dimension, just delight accept the time to do this. I utilise this spray in my tiki bar, but there are other solutions on the market place (including companies who volition come spray your materials for you). Follow the instructions closely, and use liberally. You lot may have a faint white residuum in some spots, where the salt in the solution has crystallized. Don't sweat it, it's not likely to be at all noticeable one time your materials are up on the walls and the lights are low.

Hanging

Before hanging, consider painting the wall a dark brown color, and then that at that place won't be any white peeking through. The heavier mats can be wall mounted using a contact cement, similar those used for gluing rug. Lighter matting, like abaca material, can simply exist stapled into place.

Trim

The raw edges of your wall treatments will likely be covered by trim pieces. Divide bamboo and carved wooden trim are the most common choices—another post for some other day!

But what if y'all're renting?

I've heard a few solutions over the years. Often landlords volition okay making alterations to the walls, as long equally yous commit to patching any holes and painting back to white before you move out. Some folks utilize lightweight wall treatments that tin be tacked up or stapled upward, or even hung from a few strategically placed hooks, rather than using glue. Another pick is hanging up cloth to comprehend the walls. A more dramatic solution: consider mounting elaborate wall treatments to large panels that are attached to the walls, and can exist taken down when it's fourth dimension to move.

What I did at my place…

Honestly, my place is about half finished. I oasis't yet put up trim, for instance. Merely information technology's a outset! I turned on some bright lights to have these photos, it's ordinarily much moodier…

Fijian tapa, abaca cloth, and bamboo slat wainscoting at Balhi Ha'i.

Fijian tapa cloth, abaca cloth, and bamboo slat wainscoting at Balhi Ha'i. — Fijian tapa fabric, abaca textile, and bamboo slat wainscoting at Balhi Ha'i.

Can you imagine what information technology would look like if the walls had been left white? The touch on wouldn't be the same.

The walls were start painted with dark brown matte finish paint. Abaca cloth from Oceanic Arts was stained with night walnut spray stain, sprayed with burn down retardant, and stapled to the wall with a staple gun. Dark brown bamboo slat blinds from Dwelling Depot were sprayed with burn retardant and stapled to the wall with a staple gun. Black angling nets from Oceanic Arts are hung from the ceiling with pocket-size hooks. Tapa cloth—lucky scores from years of scouring vintage shops—is hung on the wall using thumbtacks. A piffling actress bear upon: I painted a light switch comprehend brown and glued leftover abaca cloth onto information technology with Modernistic Podge, then it blends into the wall.

Wikiwiki, become going!

In that location is no unmarried thing you can exercise in your home tiki bar that will transform information technology every bit dramatically every bit the wall treatments. I promise this guide has you inspired and excited to start building the hut of your dreams!