Tiki by BOSKO

Our atrium has a new addition. A big tiki… bigger than me. Here’s how and why it came to live in our house.
NOTE: There are zillion links in this post! Some to past blog posts, some to other websites… if you’re a link clicker, be prepared to spend a LOT of time surfing around. AND blogger is not being cooporative with the spacing at all, so this post looks all wonky! …sorry…

If you’ve read through our blog, you know we’re kind of into the whole tiki thing. In fact our visit to Tiki Oasis #8 was a great source of inspiration.

Our back yard has an amazing amount of potential. But we haven’t really put any of our “big ideas” to work out there yet. About the only things we’ve done are cut back ridiculously prolific wisteria plants and ivy (the links to the pictures seem to be messed up. I’ll try to fix it later. sorry!),

Covered a bunch of lattice with reed fencing,

Refinished the deck (part 1, part 2),

Cleaned up the waterfall and pond,

… and whipped the pool into shape with lots of cleaning and new tile (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7).

While that is kind of a lot, I consider most of that to be necessity and not just aesthetic (yes, even the lattice!).

Our ultimate plans are still in flux, but generally we want the immediate pool area to have a modern Palm Springs style look, the fire pit area will be rebuilt to be a raised bar/table/fire pit with covered area and chimney, the west side of the yard will be home to a small vegetable garden, barbecue area and parking area for our 1956 Airstream Safari. That leaves the east side of the house which currently consists of a side entrance to the yard from the street, a couple of planters, a side door to the master bath, a path to the pool house and slide, and finally… where the topic of this post will live someday… the pump house and small pond with waterfall.

This area will become our tiki/tropical paradise. We envision lush foliage (bamboo, palm trees, tropical plants), tiki torches, Martin Denny or jungle drums playing through some hidden speakers, and a nice quiet spot to sit and sip a beverage through my favorite Don The Beachcomber tiki mug. We are a loooooong way away from that, but there’s no time like the present to start accumulating needed materials. First on the list: a big tiki!

While in San Diego for Tiki Oasis 10, I was fortunate enough to meet tiki carver/artist extraordinaire BOSKO. I’ve been a fan of his work ever since Haley and I happened upon the now closed Taboo Cove at the Venetian in Las Vegas way back in ’05 or so. It was a beautiful place featuring paintings by Shag, framed exotica music record covers, lots of bamboo, and a number of decor pieces carved by BOSKO, including a large Maori tiki at the entrance (now presiding at the entrance to Don the Beachcomber in Long Beach, CA). BOSKO had a booth in the vender area and we wound up talking tiki (surprise!).
Turns out, he had a 75″ x 19″ dia Cedar Marquesan Head Hunter in his studio that was too heavy to ship via UPS.

Haley handled the negotiations and next thing we knew, it was the next morning and we had a 175-pound tiki in the back of the truck. (Note the turquoise patio furniture… that is a Fibrellia lounger and table/chair set… stay tuned…)

I think it will eventually wind up between the waterfall and the soon-to-be-tikified pump house (which will require sealing the ends and applying a few coats of varnish to the cedar). But for now, he looks great resting quietly in the atrium by the front door.