At the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki bar...!

I'll fast forward since it's been a few weeks since last I posted.  Ok - so now that I went and found all that incredible retro patio furniture, guess what happened? Yep - I was at an estate sale and found a great deal on a set of vintage rattan/bamboo furniture, even including a rocking chair with footrest version. Well, ok ...so the cushions are pretty beat up and need to be replaced/recovered, but still!... These are definitely mid-century, and once cleaned up will look great on our porch. Especially now that it is finally officially screened in - another project we were busy with the past few weeks.

Update: After some recent research online at tikicentral, I discovered this interesting little tidbit regarding the new furniture..."pseudo rattan was manufactured during WWII when Japanese cut off the rattan supply to the West.  It is most likely Ashcraft brand and made of ASH or possibly hickory.  This is why there are hardly any curved pieces.  To get the curved pieces they would steam the wood until it was pliable". Hmmm... bamboo/rattan or not - still very cool!

A few weeks ago hubby and I were sitting on the porch (on the two chairs that still had half way decent cushions left!) staring into the old utility room at the back of our garage, trying to figure out just what to do with it. It opens up onto the newly screened back porch with a huge wide door  (no idea why the door is so wide, but it is).

One of it's walls isn't really a wall at all, actually - it's made of those vintage decorative concrete blocks you used to see everywhere back in the day.  Well after enjoying a few cocktails it suddenly came to me in a flash. A tiki bar!  YES!  Why not make it into a little tiki bar?? We already had an old white wicker looking bar which was never used that we could put in there - cover it with some bamboo, add some tiki looking masks and polynesian paraphernalia and VOILA - a "tiki bar"! That would be a natural segue' from our newly purchased bamboo furniture.  And while we're at it.... (now the old wheels in my brain were really spinning!).... why don't we throw in some of hubby's old military aviation stuff that's never really "fit" into our current home's decor anyway, and turn it into a combo "Tiki/Aviation" bar - or would "Tiki-Ation" bar be more appropriate ;-) ? Regardless.... what a perfect way to finally get rid of that lovely military "I Love Me" wall and the crazy F-14 tailhook - and still give hubby a place to go relive his youth! And so.... we're off and running!

This is turning out to be so much fun! There's still a LONG way to go, but here's a peek so you can see the direction we are headed:

Trying to decide what kind of fabric to recover the cushions.  Hubby also plans to stain the cement floor.... eventually!

A new beaded curtain with hula dancer  should be here in the near future
- as will some wall coverings and more paraphernalia