Continuing our home Tiki bar series we welcome you to The Enchanted Rum Barrel which is in the home of Julie Ann and Andrew Davis, the owners of Cats Like Us. You can take a guess that Julie Ann and Andrew are avid lovers of vintage and new vintage clothing (owning a retro clothing store is a dead givaway, hehe!), yet they are also self proclaimed Tikiphiles! They took their love of everything tropical and made a special place in their home where all things Tiki can be found!
Julie Ann and Andrew have always been drawn to mid century modern design, so it was pretty natural that they found an interest in the Tiki culture. Through friends and their own love of kitsch and appreciation of all things tacky they decided to take a space in their backroom to dedicate a place for a bar. This is a place to relax, sip on some rum and to display their constantly growing collection of Tiki mugs and Tiki related art.
Andrew and Julie Ann cleverly used the closet of their back room (which includes an addition that was added to the house) as the actual bar area. The back bar area was was once a closet space that was transformed to house their bar items and to display part of their very organized mug collection. Andrew has started to catalog the mugs and will put a slip of paper in the mug so that he can remember where and when the mug was acquired.
Julie Ann and Andrew love to be matchy-matchy in their vintage barkcloth honeymoon sets!
Another neat fact about the bar itself is that is a DIY project that consists of two book shelves as the base, a coffee table as the bar top and vintage barkcloth that was found to cover and decorate the front of the bar. Very resourceful and fits their needs and the space perfectly!
The bar's name, The Enchanted Rum Barrel, was inspired by Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, as they are big fans of Disney and celebrated their ten year wedding anniversary by staying at the Polynesian Resort and visiting the parks. "We dried out the lei's and hung them on the chandelier", Julie Ann tells me, "We got them when we stayed at The Polynesian Resort as an anniversary gift."
They have also started to collect ceramic birds that are hung throughout the room which are also an inspiration taken from the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disney. "We have found the birds at antique and vintage shops", Andrew shared, "We are always looking for more!".
Julie Ann and Andrew have found a lot of their personal collection while thrifting, scouring antique malls, or are souvenirs from the Tiki events and Tiki bars that they have visited. Their collection of monkeypod wooden cats and salt & pepper shakers are items that they always have an eye open for, as it's always fun to find a Tiki out in the 'wild'!
This corner has some Doug Horne pieces as well as tension pole lamp that was Julie Ann's late Grandmother's. Can't forget to point out that the Enchanted Rum Barrel is complete with (red) rum barrel chairs!
Close up of the awesome Doug Horne carved wood pieces.
I asked Andrew and Julie Ann if they were working on any projects and Andrew replied, "We need more shelves". Hahaha! Shelves are always something a collector needs for the ever-growing collection.
A big "Mahalo" to these two for letting all of us explore their little slice of tropical escapism, the Enchanting Rum Barrel!
(Complete with a signed photo of Richard Cheese!)
Alooooha!
-Meagan Kyla