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5.17.2018

tiki punch!

mid-century modern. contemporary, vintage, kitsch, tiki bar, backyard, home decor, diy, wood, trellises, painted, makeover, homewardFOUND decor blog
this recent project in our backyard makes me feel like we're time-traveling back to the sixties!
mid-century modern. contemporary, vintage, kitsch, tiki bar, backyard, home decor, diy, wood, trellises, painted, makeover, homewardFOUND decor blog
remember these guys? 
these Tikis were in Mom & Dad's backyard for over 20 years, and i featured their first 'makeover'
as part of my 'Thrifty Weekend Makeover' series here on the blog a few years ago.
(that post is really gettin' hits right now because of the 'one step bamboo fence makeover tip' in it!)

well, we saved those tikis when we moved to the new house
but we didn't think we'd use them... except for a party, maybe.
here in the desert /wine country, it just seems out of context to have Hawaiian decor.

then i saw some photos from Palm Springs Mid-Century Modern Week.
and an idea came to mind for an area of our backyard that needed a little punch.

... keep reading to see how i created some TIKI PUNCH!

in the photo up above, you can see the progression of the tikis a few years ago...
but two years ago when we moved here, their colors had faded. so into the 'party supply' box they went -
until this new idea spurred me to dig them out...
mid-century modern. contemporary, vintage, kitsch, tiki bar, backyard, home decor, diy, wood, trellises, painted, makeover
since there were so many colors on the tikis, and that's not the look we want here,
i used what i had to prime & cover them - and what i had was five cans of rose-gold metallic paint.
so they got a nice THICK coat of that, sealing the color IN and the water & sun damage OUT.
i only had a can and a half of gloss orange spray paint, so the rose gold also made the orange seem richer.

(i don't know about you, but when an idea hits me outta' the blue, i just jump up and GO.
i want to get started and get FINISHED so i can see if it will actually work. 
i do not want to get in my truck and drive to the store and buy supplies. 
i just want to DO IT NOW.
that's pretty much where my 'use what you have' philosophy comes from. 
that, and being incredibly CHEAP.)
speaking of using what i had on hand... these trellises were stacked in the garage.
when i closed my brick & mortar retail shop earlier this spring,
i removed them from the end wall of  Room #1 and brought them home.
i thought i'd probably sell them at a garage sale... LOL i should know better by now!

i took two of the trellises and cut sections off of them, to create two different heights.
this is is far more interesting than symmetry - plus i just didn't want them TOO tall by the fence.
one of the sections that i cut off was used as a third piece, on the left side of the arrangement.

so i zip-tied the tallest trellis to the fence post, the other trellises to it,
and then tied the tikis to the trellises with heavy twine.
a small citrus tree in a round rustic pot sits next to this, adding green color and softness to all the angles:
mid-century modern. contemporary, vintage, kitsch, tiki bar, backyard, home decor, diy, wood, trellises, painted, makeover, homewardFOUND decor blog

we love the mood this creates in our yard...
it's a little bit Polynesian, but it's also Mid Century Mod and Palm Springs Getaway Glam.
i think it looks like it may have appeared in a 1967 issue of Sunset Magazine!


it's colorful and kitschy and fun, the wood coordinates with other wood details we have,
and it perfectly fills what was a big empty space at the end of the patio:
mid-century modern. contemporary, vintage, kitsch, tiki bar, backyard, home decor, diy, wood, trellises, painted, makeover
definitely just the PUNCH of color we needed!

click to see my rustic signpost made from scrap wood
and the A/C cover made from artificial turf and a folding bar


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