Tahiti Witco Bar Restoration

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Hepcats Haven

Here is the original ad of the Witco Tahiti bar. This bar is out of sight and is one of the most ornate bars produced by Witco that I have ever seen.

Mel and I came across this bar while searching Craigslist. I thought it might be Witco so we shot down and nabbed it.

The bars finish was really dry and the varnish on top was missing in some spots and peeling off on others.

Mel and I decided to try to recapture the original finish of the bar top by using Famowood Glaze Coat Gloss Polyurethane. This stuff is great, it is equal to 80 coats of varnish but can be pretty messy.

Here you can see one of the stools is stained and polyurethane applied while the other is in as found condition. I used Minwax Golden Oak as the color stain I thought best matched the original finish.

Here are the stools all done. We plan to have the cushions recovered in zebra pattern fabric by B&T Upholstery.

Here is the top refinished. We didn’t do too bad considering it was our first time using a glaze coat. I plan to also get a piece of glass cut to make sure the top doesn’t get messed up from use.

The wood looks so great with the refreshing it received.

This will be a real conversation piece for our tiki room. We just love how ornate it is.

The pictures really don’t do this bar justice. The wood grain is phenomenal in person.

We will enjoy this for many years to come.

9 Comments

Posted in Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 70's bar, aloha, Bamboo, bill westenhaver, carved tiki, carved wood, carved wood bar, Hawaiian Bar, hula, kitch tiki, mid century bar, retro bar, tahiti bar, tiki, Tiki bar, tiki culture, tiki furniture, tiki god, vintage bar, Western International Trading Company, William Westenhaver, witco, witco bar, witco corporation, Witco Decor, Witco Furniture, witco tahiti bar, witco tiki. Bookmark the permalink.

9 responses »

Sandie Sinatra | August 26, 2014 at 2:19 am

Wow!! What a great restoration! You truly have a piece of Mid Century art there!!!

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Teresa Zita | August 26, 2014 at 3:06 am

FREAKIN AWESOME !

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JB Brackett | August 26, 2014 at 5:58 am

FANTASTIC! What do you mean “WE will enjoy this” aren’t you putting this up to give away for free to one of your followers in a drawing? 😉 Great piece!

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Anonymous | August 26, 2014 at 12:42 pm

It looks truly AMAZING! What a great job!

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Germaine Houtkamp | August 26, 2014 at 12:45 pm

It truly looks AMAZING! What a great job. I love to see your renovations 🙂

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Anonymous | September 21, 2021 at 9:33 am

I own a bar like this. What is the value of it??

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Jennifer Richardson | September 21, 2021 at 9:35 am

We own a bar like this. It is about to go to an estate sale. What is the value?

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- Hepcats Haven | September 21, 2021 at 10:17 pm
  
  I’m honestly am not sure, but there are only a handful of these bars left.
  
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