Often when I'm between big projects and can't decide what to do next, I start thinking about something I started and set aside. Like this:
Remember this photo box?
I showed this a while back, not even sure when. It's a decent-sized box that had these hanging rods inside with "pockets" to hold photos, but I knew it could be a cool room. The box is 10 1/2" w, 7 1/2" d and 6 1/2" h. It could fit 1" scale but I thought half-scale would fit better because of the height. (* See the update and finished bar.)
I used some wood placemats to cover the walls and floor, added vertical wood strips to give it an attic look, and covered the top with textured scrapbook paper. The other side wall is textured brick paper (Starboc2 on Etsy) and I added two battery lights on top.
I'd seen a while ago that the NAME (National Organization of Miniature Enthusiasts) group was working on Tiki bars; here's all their NAME Day kits. Thought it was a cute idea, but never followed through on it. But I kept it in the back of my mind. Here are the Tiki bar kits from S&S Miniatures.
I started thinking of that again, and decided it still would be a fun little project to do. What got me going on it again was pulling out this half-scale table/chairs kit I'd bought a while back from Charrita Teague (Grapevine Miniatures) at a Chicago show. I changed the top to a hexagon piece I had and added padding and fabric for cushions. The shelf unit is a kit from CastleCrafts.
I started working on the table set and since I have enough of the material left, I decided to make a few more tables for this room, and one to go in a deck or outside scene. It uses 3/4" square wood cubes for the chair, which I have, and have made chairs out of before. I bought another 3/8" dowel rod for the bottom support and changed the top piece. I made a square and an oval table also using 1/4" square rods.
Next, I'll make my own roofed Tiki bar. I'm cutting pieces from mat board, wood, square dowels, and bamboo sticks from another placemat.
I have a couple 3D printed stools (have to find the other one!) from MiniDecorandMore on Etsy. I also noticed that a couple older thread spools, which are taller and thinner, are the right size and might work, so It'll experiment with that. I don't have any leafy material that'll work for the roof, so far. Maybe those green fake ferns I have (used on the HS Mansion roof) might work. Or? I have a couple rummage sales coming up, so I'll look around.
I have an idea to try using some printies of small Tiki-type cups wrapped around tiny Perler beads (which are straight and look like cups). We'll see if this works or not. I just want to give the illusion as I was thinking of putting a bunch of cups on that shelf stand and it gets costly buying everything. I do have a couple actual half-scale Tiki cups I bought before from Blackthorn Miniatures on Etsy I can use on a table, too. Apparently, I must've thought I'd do this project at some point.
I tried something different for flowers. I wanted to have tropical-type plants, so I punched out some 4-petal flowers from printed poster paper that I didn't have to paint, then I cut and glued on a fifth petal. I guess they look more like a Dogwood-type vine but they'll work. I cut the small points off a fake plant (the yellow ball I used in my HS Witch Cottage - scroll down on post here to see garden) and glued that in the center of the flowers.
The small planter is also a CastleCrafts kit. The large planter a plastic piece from a clothing hanger tag that I cut in half and painted. I glued on a piece of 1" scale railing molding for the planter box.
I also have several fake palm trees I found in a thrift store bag of Egyptian mini stuff, which I saved for something like this. I'll set those in small flowerpots. Then I have an LED light string with flamingos to use and I'm printing out several flamingo posters.
This will be pretty colorful inside, lots of bright orange and pink. I have an older cane-style couch kit (it says Twin Palms Miniatures) that I'd set aside as it looked intimidating, but hoping I have enough room for it so I'll have to get brave (ha!) and try to finally figure out how to put it together.
Almost forgot! I found these cool-looking Tiki-shaped candles at Goodwill. They're just under 1 1/2" high. Despite being a bit larger, I still thought they'd be cool to use as wall decorations. Maybe a couple on shelves, maybe a couple on "poles." We'll see how it looks.
I also found these faux tropical drinks in my stash; they're for Polly Pocket but they might work on tables or on a shelf once I paint them.
So, lots of possibilities and it shows the direction I'm headed. Let's see how far I get. haa!
Come back soon (hopefully!) for some updates. Thanks again for visiting!
