Tiki-tacky or Tiki-terrific?

As I've mentioned previously, the backyard project has taken on a distinctly Hawaiian flavor.

It started with the sloped roof on the shade structure, then we added some bamboo fencing.

Soon after that Dave had the idea that since we were going Hawaiian with our new tiki-bar theme, sand would make the ideal flooring. Ten bags of play sand later and all that was missing from our tiki-bar was...well...a bar.

Sure we have Craigslist out here in the desert, but we also have something called the "White Sheet" where all and sundry list their all and sundries for sale. Reading the White Sheet every week is like garage-saling from the comfort of your own kitchen table.

So I was cruising through the listings when I happened across the listing for a "Tiki Bar" (I am not making this up).

Yup - just when you declare your need to the universe, the universe answers with a dirt-encrusted and slightly broken version of whatever it was you needed.

So I bought it.

Then I scrubbed away several generations of spiders and their half-eaten lunches.

Then I fixed the broken hinge and tightened all the loose bolts.

Then I oiled it.

Left side is pre-oil; the right side is post-oil.

And how is a person to know that our "teak" bar is really a "tiki" bar? Well, all it takes is a cheap sign from Big Lots.

I LOVE my staple gun!

After hanging the sign, I realized the bamboo fence roof wasn't quite Hawaiian enough so I searched youtube for videos on making my own palapa and let me tell you there are quite a few to choose from.

All I needed was palm fronds...

When Jessie said he could provide the palm fronds as tree-trimming was on his Saturday chore list I was thrilled. And then Ellen said she would be happy to lend a hand...of course she didn't realize she'd be donating a pint of blood...those fronds have wicked thorns!

Ellen's job was to hack off the thorny stems without losing too much blood.

I used my stapling skills to create something that looked like it belonged on a high school Homecoming float or Hawaiian dancer paper dolls.

Palm fronds are really hard to staple through.

Ellen wanted to take a picture of me attaching the palm panels to the roof but had never used an iPhone before...here's the first picture she took:

Ellen's first-ever iPhone pic.

And here's the one she meant to take (after I stopped laughing so hard I could explain which way to point the darn thing).

I'm lucky she didn't push me off the ladder!

With the roof up, we positioned the tiki bar in the sand and set Dave up behind the bar...

How about some MaiTais?

Ellen deserves one!

Aloha from AZ!