SUMMER: thrifted game as tiki wall art

Summer is finally here, and it's time to get into an island groove!
But Deb, you don't LIVE on an island!, you might say. True.
But we LIVE like we do!

Back in 2020, our home decor theme shifted. Massively. 
We had created a sort of farmhouse/wine country hybrid with small seasonal accents, made by me. But when the Pandemic lockdown was put into place and we had to cancel our summer trip to Hawaii, we pivoted. "If we can't go to Hawaii, let's bring Hawaii to us!" was our mantra... and the shift to tropical decor with a tiki subtheme hasn't stopped! We enjoy it 365 days a year. (Yes, I still add in a few seasonal items - but now, they're ALL tropical!)

Thing is, I know this kind of themed home decor doesn't appeal to the majority of people. It is a bit like living in a Disneyland attraction (that's by design - my grandfather helped build Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room!) and that's not for everyone, so I chose to continue creating & sharing 'regular' seasonal decor projects that would appeal to most of my blog readers.

But life is crazy right now in these United States, and I need FUN! I need HAPPY!
I thought that perhaps you, dear readers, might need more of that as well.

So this summer, I'm sharing a slew of tropical / tiki / Hawaiian style projects that I've already completed here at home. This is your 'peek behind the curtain'!

...continue reading to see how a thrifted 'cornhole' bean bag game became wall art!

SUMMER: one-step bamboo refresh!

 
This is a tip I learned years ago from my sweet Dad...

I've shared it before in my 2013 makeover of their backyard, but since my ENTIRE summer series this year is about creating your own tropical decor, I thought this project would be a perfect way to kick off the season. It's an easy first step to refreshing your yard!

Continue reading for details...

TROPI-fall decor in our Shasta trailer!

before i start sharing NEW pumpkin & fall decor ideas,
i wanted to time-travel back to last September and show you
my 'TROPI-fall' pumpkins in a different kind of setting!

though i don't share many photos of our home here on the blog,
all of our rooms and decor have a tropical vibe.
since we are unable to travel to Hawai'i now, we 'live Aloha' here at home.

as summer wanes and autumn approaches, 
i bridge the seasons with pumpkins that i create in beachy, tropical styles...
faux painted bamboo and sand, coconut tiki mugs with stems, and more.

so would it surprise you to learn that i ALSO use tropical decor
in our Shasta camping trailer, Miss Dot?!!!

i 'shop the house' for decor elements that fit the season or theme
of the campout we're going to
(we are members of three different trailer groups),
put them into a storage bin, load it up, and then
have as much fun decorating Miss Dot as i do decorating our home...

continue reading to see how Miss Dot looks with TROPI-fall decor!

'Christmas in July': SanTIKI mug

the summer heat must be getting to me,

because i'm jumping on the 'Christmas in July' theme. 

👀 WHAT???!!!! 

truth is i've been dealing with some.... stuff... and my creativity is ebbing.

i've run out of time and frankly the energy to complete the diy projects i started.

but as i was perusing photos of past projects,

i found one that i created + photographed back in late fall 2019, but never shared it.

since it just happens to fit the 'Christmas in July' theme that we're seeing everywhere,

i've decided that NOW is the time!

(granted, it's got a summer vibe,

 but it's made out of something decidedly Christmassy... so it works!)

 

...continue reading to see how Santa became a tiki!

tropical tiki transformation

our backyard in Southern California underwent a transformation back in 2020....

when the pandemic shutdown happened and we had to cancel our trip to Kauai, Hawaii,

we decided to bring Hawaii to us!

i shared some of those backyard diy projects here on the blog back then

(the bamboo tiki bar, the tiki totem pole, and others - all linked below this post).

the project i'm sharing today wasn't a planned one - 

i saw something in a store and thought 'hmnn. that COULD look really good if i....'

and so i bought the item, brought it home, and worked some magic on it with paint.

it couldn't have been easier to transform a really cheap looking tiki mask

into something with much more of our own tropical style.

continue reading to see how it started... and how it's going now!

tropical front porch decor

i always tell people 'i see things differently'... 
that means i use elements & materials in ways they weren't intended to be used.
and i RE-use things i've created before in new ways.

this tropical look on our front porch is a perfect example!

in past posts, i've shared how i raided the garden shed for fall porch decor,
using items meant for the garden to decorate with. 
here i've used paper & bamboo party decorations...

continue reading to see what i used 'differently' to get this summer vibe...

easy tropical-style light cover

the summer heat arrived here on June 30th,
so i've been busy completing some fun new EASY projects around our home

(which has a tropical, tiki vibe going on all year long!)

since these projects work perfectly well as 'summer' season decor content,

 i thought i'd share them here on the blog this month!

so... let's get tropical!

first up, a ridiculously EASY way to make a builder-grade light fixture

look a lot more fun for summer... in just two steps!

continue reading to see what i did!

happy MAHALOween!

i read that term - happy MAHALOween - on a tiki bar's website.

when this fun phrase gave me a way to incorporate my love of

tropicana decor and tiki culture into October celebrations, i was IN!

(truth is, i'm not really into Halloween anymore - fall, yes. pumpkins, YES!

the 'scary horror bloody zombie creepy clowns and witches' kinda' decor? nah.)

since i have NO intention of dressing up in costume, 

 i simply decided to give a pumpkin a costume. with a tiki mask!

continue reading for the details and an easy paint tutorial...

coconut tiki mug pumpkins!

i was cleaning our indoor tiki bar the other day,
and as i moved some of the tiki mug collection off of a shelf to dust it,
i sat the two ceramic coconut mugs upside down on the bar top.
my hand stopped in mid-air as i looked at what i had done
and an idea came to mind...

 yes, i turn a LOT of different things into pumpkins!
first it was plates. now it's mugs. 
and it's so easy it's not even funny!

continue reading to see the details...

NEW! faux painted bamboo pumpkins

my penchant for tropical decor and tiki culture inspired this new pumpkin project...

our So Cal home is filled with tikis and bamboo and leafy palm fabrics,
because during the pandemic lockdown we had to cancel our trip to Hawaii
and decided to just make HOME feel as much like Hawaii as we could.
and we love it!
so, i like to create seasonal decor for us that coordinates with that theme.
pumpkins that look like they are made from bamboo are a perfect fit!

continue reading for my paint tutorial...

painted pineapple planters

i'm in a tropical state of mind, if you can't tell...
since i can't visit the island this year, i'm creating a tropical vibe here at home!

when i ran across an item at the 99 Cents Only store recently,
i immediately saw how i could easily transform it into a tropical decor accent...

continue reading for the easy how-to!

faux painted bamboo mirror

 when we moved into this house four years ago,

our decorating modus operandi was truly 'use what you have'...

more than 90% of the furniture we used came from my mom's old house

(1% came from mine - my grandpa's dresser and my farmhouse table!)

the mirror we have in our entry hall came from the guest room at the last house,

where it matched a dresser with a 'bleached oak' finish.

honestly, i love the mirror here...

it bounces light from the kitchen into an area that is lacking light.

but mercy, the original frame! i just haven't been sure about what to DO to it.

i contemplated a simple black satin stain or paint finish at one point,

but ruled it out as being too dark for this area of our home.

then two days ago, a brainstorm hit, and in just a few hours 

that mirror was made completely new using a faux paint treatment.

continue reading to see more details - including the 'before and after' shot... 

scrap wood tikis

last winter, i created a lot of tropical & tiki decor
as part of our fun 'Happy HULA-days' Christmas theme.

you've seen posts sharing most of it appearing in our current summertime decor,
bringing a tropical vibe to our home and yard for us to enjoy
during this 'staycation' that is lasting a whole lot longer than anyone anticipated.

one of my projects during quarantine has been the front entry of our home...
which isn't a porch but a 'vestibule' - and is really hard to decorate.

i came up with a simple solution using last December's holiday entry decor:

continue reading to see how i re-used my own tikis made from scrap wood!

NEW sweet sweater summer decor!

yes, yes, i HAVE lost my everlovin' mind, thankyouverymuch!

last Christmas, in the midst of my flurry of decorating in our Happy HULAdays theme,

i created some last-minute decor using.... you guessed it.... sweaters.

one photo of that project was part of this post back in December,

but really, the idea was so fun that it needs a bit more exposure.

with my mind on tikis and tropical style for summer, 
it's time to put them in the spotlight -
PLUS another beachy sweater creation from a few years back!

...continue reading for a bit of summer-y sweater fun!

tropical gift bag wall art

along with the plethora of tikis i've been creating,
i've added some other tropical decor elements to our home for summer...
elements like this leafy wall art, made from a plastic gift / tote bag!

continue reading for the easiest art project ever...

tiki garden markers

in March, we worked on the raised herb garden in the backyard,
ordering plants online from our local nursery - who offered curbside no-contact pickup of our order
during our state's 'Shelter at Home' quarantine.
social distance gardening - who knew??!

the garden needed some plant markers,

so i came up with a way to utilize an item that we have a plethora of around here.
and that worked great - for awhile.
but with the recent infusion of tiki decor in our yard,
those original plant markers just didn't fit anymore. so i gave them a makeover!

continue reading to see their old and utterly ridiculous (and FUN!) new look!

repurposed tiki signs

these signs appeared in my past two posts... one for each recent project.

do they look familiar to you? they should - you've seen them before!

  i shared them LAST YEAR as part of our Happy HULAdays theme - but they didn't look like this.

when i wanted signs to accompany recent tiki projects in our backyard,

i knew these pieces would work perfectly... and with a little paint, they did!

it's just one more way i can decorate using what i already have here at home.

if i can use summer tiki decor at Christmastime,

then i can re-purpose my Christmas decor as summer decor!

continue reading to see the before & after shots (and find out a secret about them)...

a tipsy tiki totem pole

you may have seen the sign that says 'Tipsy Tiki Bar' in my last post...

that's connected to another recent 'restyle' of an old project.

a week before the tiki bar came into being, Mom had an idea for something else in our backyard.

she shared her idea with me, and i liked the fact that it was basically a way to re-use items

from our Happy HULA-days theme last Christmas.

i started noodling the 'how' of the project... and remembered a favorite feature at Disneyland.

yup. there's something there that my grandpa Ward helped to build in 1963

that we enjoy to this day, and that inspired this project!

continue reading to see how i re-used our Christmas decor!

build a backyard tiki bar in a sandbox!

you guys, i discovered that my kids actually listen to me!

i mentioned to two of my daughters that i was sad that i couldn't go to the beach (thank you, Covid19).

and do you know what they did? they sent me a backyard sandbox!

"now you can get your toes in the sand, Mom!" 

little did my darlings know that they were kicking off my first project of the summer...

one that caused us to re-think EVERYthing about our backyard.

because.... if you can't go TO Hawai'i, then bring Hawai'i to YOU!

 i recently shared my salvaged wood potting bench in this post. i built that last summer, 

then took it down and put all of the elements in other places.

well...... as the plan for the sandbox unfolded, i pulled all of it out again.

because you know me, i love to just keep making one thing into another....

continue reading to see how a sandbox and a potting bench became a TIKI BAR!

junk makeover: beachy wood signs

many many many vacations have been cancelled or rescheduled this year,

by many many disappointed people. myself included.

there were no planned excursions to Hawai'i this year for us,

but because it is a place that my Mom and Dad loved, and now i love,
it has a special place in our hearts. even if we can't GET there.

here's my take on that: if you can't go to the islands, then bring the islands to YOU!

and that's exactly what my Mom and i have been working on in our backyard.

continue reading to see just one of the recent projects we've undertaken
to add some tropical charm to our 'staycation location'...