New & Improved Jungle Cruise Tiki yard

Hey all, just had a chance to start pulling out all my "supplies" for the yard after spending a week cleaning up and trimming trees and pulling weeds. although its a small condo patio, it seems like it takes forever to clean and stage for summer!
of course this is only after one day and one night of lugging stuff out of storage, more to come......

this of course is inside,

here's the first photos, spent alot of time just cleaning the items yesterday, started painting boxes in French, but sadly the paint didnt want to cooperate! German pith helmet and British flag come in and don't stay out over night lol

spent all winter looking for cool things to put in the yard, just unpacking some now, totally forgot about half of them, its like Christmas!!!

old foot lockers work great for storage of cleaning supplies and tools as well as non tiki items, who wants to see pine sol and bottles of tiki fuel just laying around?? lol

the small wooden British ammo box works great as a mini cooler, it has a metal liner and can hold ice and several bottles of water or beer

I've got another 10+ tikis I still need to put out there, as well as more old trunks

GREAT Job so far.

I can see it only getting better.

The Jungle Theme is one of my favorites!!

-Longboard

thanks Longboard !!
Ive got a few painted signs, as well as boots, footlockers, and more Im still digging out, just gotta keep The Big Kahuna (my male boxer) from peeing on all my stuff!!

heres some from last season.....

Oh my...love it love it love it. True that it can only get better, especially with more Tikis. You do a great job of displaying everything.

What a cool/fun looking place - love the hidden tiki behind the large leaves

thanks guys! yea Ive got more stuff that needs to go out like some of these tikis!!!

had a chance to dress up my full size G.I. Joe last night and placed him for a display. of course, he doesnt stay outside all the time, he freaks out the dogs and when people come over, "who's in your backyard??"not to mention hes wearing a Pre WWII tropical Africa khaki uniform, Richard Simons shorty shorts, boots and helmet which doesnt react well to sun and rain lol

Where in the name of the tiki gods did you obtain a khaki British Foreign Service Helmet with a brown puggaree? Awesome.

Great job on the yard.

Looks great! Would love to see how it looks at night too. Some "jungley" Les Baxter in the background with some dim lights in the right spots would be awesome!

On 2013-06-10 15:26, Bruddah Bear wrote:

Where in the name of the tiki gods did you obtain a khaki British Foreign Service Helmet with a brown puggaree? Awesome.

Great job on the yard.

LOL i prayed to the tiki god of "ïnexpensive reproductions" i found it by accident at a local surplus store near my house, it was white with a green liner, I found what seemed to be the correct shade of Khaki and painted the helmet then I used coffee grounds to darken the puggaree. the helmet was made in aof all places Vietnam, who knew? lol
yea if I had an original Id keep it in an air tight safe! every one Ive ever found was crushed or turning to dust!
The khaki Richard Simons shorts are actually British marked and the coat is a Kriegsmarine Tropical jacket, which I never let out in the sun :)
thanks again!!
paul

That is the backyard that I dream of having. Great selection of goodies that really give off the vibe of being in a remote jungle depot center. I hear glenn miller or benny goodman in the background. FANTASTIC!!!

I REALLY love those red louvered shutters. They add a nice color and, for some reason, make me think of the Monkey Bar in Tales of the Golden Monkey.

thanks so so much, hey your in san pedro only like 60 miles, next time your intown stop by for a drink, im off the 210-57 freeway, in the beautiful 909
yea Ive got a garage full of stuff im still pulling out and cleaning off to stage, GF keeps saying where are people going to sit?? lol

Very cool. It looks like Bogie and the African Queen will appear at any moment.

just came in Im hoping to dial in some lighting and getting the sound system back up too, its just too damn warm and humid here in so cal to continue!!
more photos by morning

Damn you people and your beautiful weather and ability to have awesome outside bars!

lol Hale Tiki, don't be hating on us west coasters!!!! I wish I had a basement to build a real bar!!! damn earthquakes!!!

On 2013-06-12 12:27, Pele Paul wrote:
lol Hale Tiki, don't be hating on us west coasters!!!! I wish I had a basement to build a real bar!!! damn earthquakes!!!

Touche. Mine is just my dining room. Well, what would have been the dining room.

finally had a chance to get the backyard organized and get some new pix.....

was finally able to figure out the night setting on my camera............

I like it both day and night.

Awesome job Pele Paul..and sweet night pix!!

So wait, are there two explorers? Or just one, and you've changed his position?

Pele Paul,

I love your jungle theme, but that mannequin is freaky, I'd hate to get drunk and find that in my Tiki Bar.

I'd be afraid to get in a fight with it and get my ass kicked.

-Longboard

On 2013-06-14 11:36, Longboard wrote:

Pele Paul,

I love your jungle theme, but that mannequin is freaky, I'd hate to get drunk and find that in my Tiki Bar.

I'd be afraid to get in a fight with it and get my ass kicked.

-Longboard

lol funny thing about the standing mannequin, about 15 years ago I bought him from a friend and set him up in my then Vietnam war room, which didnt have a door on it at the time, his left arm was up like he was saluting, well, when i got home late that night from work at midnight, I totally forgotten about him, I was walking down the hall way when I look over and see a half naked man standing there with his hand up, need less to say i screamed like a little girl and then attempted to bitchslap him, sadly I put a hole in his chest and broke his arm off !!!

I am really digging the groove your throwing down with mannequin, props etc. WAY cool my man!

I also just about peed on myself after reading your story about the saluting, half naked interloper. HAHAHA!!!

I love this forum. Cheers!

glad you like it Q-tiki,
Thats not the half of it! I did a bunch of Tech advisory jobs for TV and movies so Ive always had atleast 15+ mannequins to display uniforms for whatever era the producers were doing. well, they were promoting K-98 the widowmaker, and needed extras in period Russian naval uniforms, well I need the Sean Connery style worn in Red October, I had the shoes and hat no uniform, I dress a manniquin for the premire, and then moved it into my home office. one day my buddy came over who I borrowed the uniform from and said hey I need that back, so I undressed the figure but left his shoes and hat on a naked mannequin. needless to say my window is on the path to the pool in my condo complex, people kept walking by with weird expressions on their faces, WTF??? I had no idea u could see the naked guy with a big old smile wearing nothing but a hat and shoes!!! kinda gay, lol

heres the Soviet naval uniform in question.......

I hope you do set dressing in hollywood...you should
great set for your tiki adventure - rock on

Thanks TikiRancher, I try !!!! wish I had a job for disney that would be awesome!!! Ive done displays for the General Public and such as well as TV shows, but now a days everything is all reality shows :(

just scored some major wood crates 5'x 2' cleaning them up, sanding them, and going to stain them today!!! more pix to come..........

well after a few hours of cleaning and sanding them, Ive got two somewhat done, need another few coats of stain and some varnish, and I may even be able to put them in the house as furniture

now the stained version........

Looking at your thread is always inspirational to me. I think I am going to go for that army/jungle/safari look in my garage whenever I get to decorate it. I better start collecting (aka: hoarding) junk for this venture. I already have a lot of items that would work, so will keep looking at your pictures for ideas. Keep up the great work!!!

On 2013-06-22 15:32, VampiressRN wrote:
Looking at your thread is always inspirational to me. I think I am going to go for that army/jungle/safari look in my garage whenever I get to decorate it. I better start collecting (aka: hoarding) junk for this venture. I already have a lot of items that would work, so will keep looking at your pictures for ideas. Keep up the great work!!!

thanks so much, you made my day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
here's a few more

Those are awesome indeed. One of the best books I have is on Campaign Furniture.
http://www.amazon.com/British-Campaign-Furniture-Elegance-1740-1914/dp/0810957116

It has that same wonderful decor feel. I really enjoy your crates, trunks and boxes too...well done!!!

On 2013-06-23 19:14, VampiressRN wrote:
Those are awesome indeed. One of the best books I have is on Campaign Furniture.
http://www.amazon.com/British-Campaign-Furniture-Elegance-1740-1914/dp/0810957116

It has that same wonderful decor feel. I really enjoy your crates, trunks and boxes too...well done!!!

OMG why do I NOT have this book???????????????? lol must have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks so much again dear!!!! your the best!!!!

had a chance to put together a makeshift bar for a party, it worked but still need something more permanent

just picked up 6 more large crates for the yard.........more photos coming

came across 10 new crates last weekend, of course getting them home in my small truck was no easy task, my vehicle looked like the car in "I love Lucy" when Ricky buys a new car for their trip to California and fred packed it!!! thought I was going to have a heart attack looking in the rear view as old wood crates shattered all over the 405 fwy !!!

this is one of four I found about a month ago, spent all day hand sanding the orange paint off of it today...
before....

after

this is two of the 10 large Soviet ammo boxes that I picked up for next to nothing! the one standing I painted a two tone yellow/green paint, now to ruff it up and stencil something cool on it!!

The GF says I cant buy any more crates !!!!
Ive got about 10 in the garage which Im still working on.........

a few more...........

I like the crates. Maybe if you made them into multi-purpose decorative/functional items she would be ok with it? End tables and coffee tables would be a good use for them.

This person on etsy.com makes crates into tables like this:

very very cool!!! thanks!! Yea Ive got a few converted over to ice chests, but didn't think about giving them legs!!! too cool!!! next project!!!!