So…. We Made a Tiki Hut!

Something about the summer air, the palm greens and the promise of a Mai Tai with a flower in it got us thinking of a Tiki Hut!

So… off to the hardware store for a length of split bamboo some random poles and a few flooring planks (have a drill and some screws and zip ties too) .

Then we hit a country car boot market, where we found fabulous and truly retro 50’s style orange plastic wine glasses, three dusty old wicker woven booze bottles, a weird flower shaped corkscrew and two very old cane light fittings. We still have the picture of a parrot and the vintage cat sculpture to use later.

That done, head home to have a search around under the house for some wood for the sign. A really rotten plank from an old jetty gets a good scrub and bleach, then sand it smooth (ish!) Pull out the acrylic paint tubes, and get painting.

Pinterest yielded some super retro tiki font that could be used for our Mombasa Tiki Hut sign.

The good thing here is not to be too neat or fussy about how the paint is applied, in fact we wanted it to look as if Pedro the fisherman painted it 30 years ago! So just splashed it on and aged it with some darker stain, added some splashy hibiscus and a rope for hanging.

The absolutely gorgeous off the shoulder jumpsuits and beach dresses in Aloha prints looked so “Island Style” we can’t stop admiring our handiwork! Our model Tahalia looked perfect today with the long dark curly hair and a pop of sugar pink lipstick.

 

Of course a visit to the Tiki Hut needs the fancy jewellery too, some sunshine bright raffia earrings, a large palm green emerald ring on the finger.

The striking raffia earrings in brightest Caribbean colours also looked so good photographed against the orange wine glasses and lurid lime green cocktail mix. Now we have to find a way to get the staff away and back to their desks after lunch!

 

November 14, 2018 — Mombasa Rose