Creating a poolside tropical retreat with Beautiful Bamboo

A customer in Kissimmee wanted to create a tropical look for his outside poolside area so he came to Beautiful Bamboo.  We helped him select various sized bamboo poles, reed fencing and bamboo fencing.

With the assistance of a talented local craftsman, our customer's outside sitting area was transformed from an ordinary patio to an extraordinarily beautiful tropical retreat.

Walls, ceiling and trim - all covered with bamboo products

Even the light fixtures are made with bamboo

Rolls of reed fencing and bamboo fencing made easy-to-install wall and ceiling coverings

Next project:  a bamboo floor!

Handmade Bamboo Headphones

Creativity comes alive when expert craftsmanship is paired with Beautiful Bamboo.

A customer who bought bamboo poles from us several months ago recently emailed us photos of his finished product:

Hi Jennifer,
It has been a While. I bought a piece of Bamboo around 6 Mouths ago. I have been working on this pair of bamboo phone, I had mention. During to the summer close down, I am not able to working on it for a few months. BUT here we got, I FINISH IT~

so I would love to share this with you.

Thanks all your help on the way, it wouldn't be possible without your help your beautiful bamboo.
I.O.K. 

Grow your own flute-making and building materials

Few things are as peacefully inviting as a gentle breeze blowing through a bamboo forest.  While mountainsides covered in giant bamboo are not part of the American landscape, by installing a few Madake Japanese Timber Bamboo plants, you can create a miniature version of a bamboo forest in your own backyard.  

A four-year-old grove of Madake - Japanese Timber Bamboo

Not only does Madake (Phyllostachys bambusoides Madake) Japanese Timber Bamboo make a serene and lovely grove, the thick, straight canes - 2 to 6-inch diameter and up to 60-feet tall - are one of the best bamboos to use for building projects.

The thick white line that encircles each culm section on Madake's dark green canes adds to the attractiveness of this beautiful and highly functional running bamboo

 
Instrument-makers also favor Madake for flutes and didgeridoos because of its exceptionally strong, thick-walled canes.

A Shakuhachi flute made from Madake bamboo by flute-maker RyuzanTakahashi (photo by Brucehuebner.com)

At Beautiful Bamboo, our popular Designer Quality, Polished Bamboo Poles come from domestically-grown Madake Bamboo.

Beautiful Madake bamboo canes are available in a variety of sizes on our website

 

Madake Japanese Timber Bamboo is a running bamboo, which means it is not an appropriate choice for all landscapes.  We control spread of the underground rhizomes by mowing a swath of about 20' around the grove but running bamboos can also be controlled by installing a rhizome barrier.

 

A bamboo teacup

What can you do with bamboo?  How about making teacups?  Here's a photo sent by one of our customer who not only made a set of teacups out of bamboo poles but used a wood burning tool to etch a design into the wood.

What can you build out of bamboo? How about a beautiful wet bar!

Beautiful Bamboo customer and local craftsman, Teron June, used our Domestically Grown, Designer Quality Bamboo Poles to construct a wet bar for a client and sent along the following photos of the finished project.

Elephant Leg Bamboo Poles

The two poles on the right are freshly cut Moso poles that have not been kiln dried or hand torched like the four poles on the left.  Green poles are available by special order only.

Notice how the space between the nodes changes from bottom to top.  Toward the base, the space between the nodes is only a couple inches wide but toward the top the space is a half-a-foot or more.

A beautiful bamboo chest

A customer from Bradenton, FL sent us these photos of a project he created using poles purchased from Beautiful Bamboo:

Hi Sherry, 

I was glad to find a local source of domestic bamboo. As promised, here are some pictures of the small chest built using Home Grown bamboo purchased in February.

The bamboo was caramelized with a high-temp heat gun and treated with paste wax. The rest of the project is a combination of birch plywood and solid aspen.

Thank you again,

Tom

Bradenton, FL

Is green bamboo good for building?

A visitor to our website wrote:
I love your website! I have a question. You mention that you have green, just cut, bamboo. Can you actually make fences, etc from green bamboo or do you have to wait for it to dry out? I’m just thinking that if I buy and plant bamboo, I’d like to know whether I could build furniture with it as soon as it’s tall enough. Thanks!

My response:
Freshly cut bamboo will turn tan as it dries and it dries rather quickly, usually within a few months. It can certainly be used for building when green but, like any wood, as it dries, there is shrinkage. If you use freshly cut bamboo canes you'll need to factor that into your calculations.