Below Deck: DIY Tiki Room
This basement bar dubbed Blue Demon’s Hideaway was the first room that tiki connoisseurs Dan O’Connell and Michelle Warble furnished when they moved into their home three years ago. “It’s still a work in progress,” O’Connell says.
Art (1) – A framed piece of beach-themed crewel embroidery picked from the Indie Arts & Vintage Marketplace.
Ukulele (2) – One of many in a collection that O’Connell, a musician in several local bands, procured from secondhand stores.
Glass Ball Fishing Floats (3) – Two of these vintage globes came from the coastal Irish town where O’Connell’s father is from.
Lucha Libre Figures (4) – A collection of Mexican wrestler action figures represents both O’Connell’s penchant for WWE and Warble’s love of Mexican folk art.
Tiki Mugs (5) – The collection includes two from Indy’s Mai Tai restaurant and another from the famed Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale. “I want them to put my ashes in that one,” O’Connell says.
Lanyards (6) – Mementos from tiki events the couple has attended around the country, like the Hot Rod Hula Hop in Ohio and the Chicago Tiki Tour.
Booze (7) – Among the scores of bottles, O’Connell’s favorite is Rum Fire Jamaican white overproof rum. “But it isn’t something you would put in a Mai Tai,” he says.
Barstools (8) – Warble found these four vintage vinyl perches at 3 Stray Cats in Kirklin, which specializes in midcentury-modern decor.
Anchor (9) – A piece of pot-metal art from the 1960s that O’Connell picked up at Goodwill.
Read more from our
Isle of Tiki package here.
