Post #517139 by Mr. Pupu Pants on Sat, Mar 13, 2010 7:20 PM

My story probably sounds weird...

Watching reruns of Gilligan's Island as a kid and all the creative and cool things they built to make the island into a 'home' away from home, inspired me at a young age, to try and do the same. We had a large section of woods behind our house in those days and my brother and I built huts, etc. to pretend we lived there.
It was fun to think that you really could make something out of virtually nothing and I loved the idea of making an existence from what you could find on a tropical island. We even wanted to build a bamboo peddle-car like the one they had in an episode.

About 10 years ago, I was shooting a video for Microsoft about the coming of the Y2K 'apocalypse'. We hired Russell Johnson (he lives on nearby Bainbridge Island, of all places) and, in the video, the 'Professor' has invented a computer that solves the feared clock issues in the software. One of the gags is that it was created on the island and uses an hourglass with beach sand to keep time. I built the prop out of bamboo, coconuts, seashells, sand, vines, and lauhala matting (and dry ice for a 'smoke' effect emanating from a coconut battery on top). It turned out really well (he even signed it for me: 'Thanks John. Love, Russell Johnson, the 'Professor') and got me thinking about making a whole room at home to relive those imaginary days on Gilligan's Island.

My other influences have been family trips to Hawaii and Disneyland and the desire to recreate that magic for family and friends.

And finally -- the idea that you really can dream up and make your own home into anything you want if you're not worried about resale value :)
I discovered that it's really not rocket science and you can always 'fix it' later. Pick up that hammer, saw and paint brush and fear not! :)