Post #458126 by chiwito on Tue, Jun 2, 2009 1:05 AM

I lean strongly toward BananaBob's approach. When someone gives me a nice [in their eyes] gift, I can usually find somewhere for it that will please them yet not clash with better stuff in a way that appalls the eye. If all else fails, I collect so much stuff and my houses used to be so crowded, pre-marriage, that I can always plausibly claim that "I've been looking everywhere for that since we had to put all my stuff in storage; I really want to find it and get it up right here". Luckily my backyard "tiki bar" is more of a generic beach bar, mixing a mug collection and other tiki elements with a wall of coconut rum bottles [70 brands from all over], a couple of sailboards, potted palm trees, and lots of old record album covers, heavy on tropical rock artists like the one whose name is anathema on TC but consists of a word for an all-you-can-eat restaurant with an extra T at the end.