A DeluxeVille Giveaway!

I love giveaways - who doesn't? One of the first blogs I found and followed, courtesy of the mother-of-them-all, Retro Renovation, was Welcome to DeluxeVille by the gorgeous MaryDeluxe. She has the most amazing home, and her collection of lamps is stunning! She is quite the handy-woman, too - she does everything herself around the house, and I'm so impressed. She even dresses vintage, from her fantastic collection of vintage clothing. That's something I've never quite managed, and I'm so envious of the girls who do!

So, in celebration of reaching over 100 followers, Mary has decided to give away this fantastic atomic clock. Isn't it just loverly?

If you would like to enter yourself into the giveaway, go here. But definitely check out DeluxeVille and become one of the loyal followers.

By the way, there are almost 100 followers of Atomic Tea Party, so I'm planning a little giveaway of my own. Hmmmm....what should it be?

In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room

My photos for this post are no great shakes, but I wanted to show off my tiki collection.

It's nowhere near as impressive or vintage as lots of collectors', but it's still a fun space in our house. I hope to actually start serving drinks from the bar at parties soon! Like most things in our house (we've lived here less than a year), it's a work in progress.



Nets and seashells deco from Big Lots (!)
Glass fishing globes from a Hawaiiana seller at the County Fair years ago.


Some of my framed art. The two little figures are made by Grandma Bee.
I think they are actually supposed to be Indian, but they look cute here anyway.
The curtains were made by my mom for our first house, and I'm glad I still have a place to use them! They have a palm tree and flamingo print.


My Derek Yaniger tiki mug set.


The mini tiki mugs I mentioned getting from RetroPlanet - I've already moved these to another room (pix to follow).


Fu Manchu tiki mug and two Hawaiian nene birds my parents brought back as souvenirs.


Masks and netting and more shells.


Big bamboo shelf unit I scored for free while we were living in Yucca Valley.
Lots of silk flowers, tiki party lights, and more shell necklaces.


I've got various Hawaiiana, such as this Arthur Lyman record, and vintage souvenir tin plate that I'd like to display better, but right now the rest of the room belongs to the kids, so here they stay.


My tiki books. I "loaned" my Book of Tiki by Sven Kirsten to a friend-of-a-friend. Never saw it again. Waaaaaahhhh!! They go for around $100 online now, so my only hope is to find one abandoned in a thrift store or library sale someday.


Miscellaneous mugs, wooden tikis and shark.


One of my latest thrift store tikis, and the amazing box given to me by my sister and her family for my 40th birthday. It's from Disneyland, and is a recreation of the tikis from the Tiki Room. It is really solid, heavy, well-made and beautiful. Hard to do it justice in a photo.


This light was a gift from my other sister many years ago. We like to put red lightbulbs in it - makes it look like a sunset on the beach.


Are there giraffes and elephants in Hawaii? No? Oh well, I just like the way they look with all my other stuff and don't really have another place in the house where they would "go".


Most of my mugs were from Target or some such place. I really don't have any true vintage collectible ones yet, but since I just like my tiki stuff for fun, and since I've got young kids running around, I really don't mind.


Stop by for a Mai Tai any time you'd like! Aloha!

The Living Room

Finally got the living room clean enough to photograph. This is from last night after
my sister Margaret spent the day helping me declutter, vacuum, and rearrange.
On the left is the piano that's been in my family since I was about 6 years old. My
siblings and I all learned to play on it, and now my daughters are enjoying it.
I would love to learn more about the furniture I acquired free (again, thanks to Margaret!). The sofa is not shown (yet), but the two brown chairs and the green lounge chair (minus its footstool, which is in the garage awaiting post-moving repairs) are part of this set. The story that came with them was that they were bought in Denmark in the 1960s by the owners of the mountain getaway cabin where I got them. I believe they have their original upholstery. The rocking chair was another freebie and is going to be spectacular someday when I can afford to get it reupholstered. The square table, standing in for a coffee table, is teak, I think. The rust-colored carpet is protecting the original hardwood floors, which we plan to uncover in the future. The small telephone table holding the lamp was my Grandma's. I have to get some close-ups of the various pieces of furniture and decorative items - that lamp is amazing (but you can't see it well here).

The fireplace by the front door. It has a built-in cabinet at a right angle, forming a sort of
entryway. We use it for shoes and outgoing items. The fireplace is gas/woodburning, brick with a black slate hearth. The tiles across the top are just perched there as an experiment to see if it would be a good idea to affix them permanently. More on them later. The clock and artwork deserve close-ups and details in another post.








Crewel-work by my Grandma, recently framed with an unused vintage frame I found for
50 cents at a thrift store. I got the wall sconce on ebay, and the aqua phone at an antique
store's parking lot sale in Yucca Valley for 8 bucks! Our fish live on the counter below.
I like how you can see the original phone number!