My wife and I love taking vacations in the Caribbean. I got the idea of making my own backyard paradise by building a tiki bar with a full thatched roof. I had several pictures I have taken during our cruise vacations in different islands in the Caribbean. I new the design I wanted, but next I needed some plans to follow to build my island backyard paradise. After looking for plans on the internet I came across some very well laid out guide which included photos; believe me I like looking at pictures so I can visualize what I am building. I wanted plans that where easy to follow with illustrations showing each step along the way. I am very picky when it comes to following drawings, they must be precise and if I want to change some dimensions my self I could. I bought the plans in an e-Book format which downloaded immediately to my computer. They came in a PDF format which meant that I could print them out if I desired, which I did. The first thing I did was look at a very well organized material list so that I could purchase my lumber from my local home improvement store. I decided to make the outside of my tiki bar done with cedar tongue and grove which made a very attractive and able to withstand the east coast weather. This bar that I made is eight foot long by four foot wide, and will easily seat six adults. The bar top is made of oak plywood that is a decision that I made instead of using marine plywood, and really it's how you coat your bar top to with stand the weather. Another great design of this professional bar is the white cedar logs which seem to me hard to get in this part of the country. But, without the white cedar logs it just would not be a real tiki bar. One note that I might make here is that all the cedar logs and palm thatch are available from the same people I got the plans from. I could go on and on about the quality of this tiki bar but until you actually see one in person; well you will have to take my word for it.
As far as what tools you will need are just basic power tools. I used a powered miter saw to precisely cut my two by fours for the frame to make sure everything was square before I started the assembly. The assembly was very simple because the step by step drawings showed you in detail with pictures what your bar is suppose to look like. Don't laugh, I assemble the frame work for the tiki bar in my basement and guess what it would not fit through my basement exit doors! It is a good thing I didn't glue it together, which I recommend. You are probably wondering were I got these plans for this professional tiki bar? Go here to read the rest: Build Your Own Paradise a Back Yard Tiki Bar Autoblogged