A true "Suburban Swashbuckler", Joel Oates is a founding member of the Atlanta Parrot Head Club - the original, and therefore oldest, such Club in the country. Like many of us, Joel and his wife, Susan, love the beach and the trop rockin' lifestyle. But, being five hours from the nearest salt water - in the town of Duluth, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta - means they have had to carve out their own little slice of tropical heaven. I spoke to Joel recently and asked him how he built his "harbor surrounded by the city".
What did this house look like when you and Susan first moved in?
We bought the place in 2002. It was your basic suburban backyard, with a cyclone fence around it. It had a pool, a nice garden and flowers, a small deck, but something was missing."
What made you choose it over others you looked it?
As we went around looking at different houses, we would give each one a name, to help us remember it. There is a house Susan and I would rent when we went down to Key West called Fish Gardens. It's right behind Pepe's. Oddly enough, there were no fish at the Key West Fish Gardens, but we liked the name. When we looked at this house, it had a fish pond - stocked with Goldfish. So, this house became 'Fish Gardens'. When we wound up buying it, the name stuck. It's a piece of Key West we were able to bring to Georgia."
So, you buy this house in Duluth, Georgia and it needs a Parrot Head make over. What did you do first?
"We knew we wanted an 'I'm Living on an Island' feel (With a nod to Howard Livingston - Fred). As it turned out, one of the wedding presents Susan and I received was a palm tree. So, that was really the first thing to go in. We now had a pool and a palm tree. That made a statement. We started adding inexpensive little touches like Christmas lights, tiki torches, and some lawn art - pink flamingos. ..
You and Susan like to travel to tropical places. How did that help with the decorating?
"We do like to travel - the Keys, Caribbean. Our honeymoon was in St. Lucia. Now that we had this backyard, wherever we would go, we'd start picking things up we thought would look good; fish, turtles, lizards. Susan got into collecting flat sculptures made out of old steel drums. Little by little, we started adding more and more."
What next?
"I mentioned that the yard had some nice gardens, but we wanted more of a tropical feel. So, Susan started replacing the plants and flowers with ones she saw down in the Keys - that we knew would survive Atlanta winters but would add some color."
How about the deck?
"That was probably the biggest project and we waited almost five years to do that. The house had a small 10' x 10' deck when we moved in. But, we like to throw parties, invite alot of people over, so we knew we needed to expand it.I enlisted a contractor friend - who also happened to be a Parrot Head - and we told him what we were going for, that we wanted to go all out on. He got to work and built us a 500 square foot deck, five times the size of the original."
And the "Tiki Hut"?
"I had an area where I kept my grill. I started thinking it would be nice to have a shelter over it, to keep the rain off. I wanted it sturdy but also wanted more of an open feel, like a palapa. While the "pros" were building the deck, another couple of friends came over. We'd stand around drinking beer and talk about what we thought would work and what wouldn't."
Sounds like an episode of "King of The Hill", with Hank and his buddies...
"(Laughs) It was kind of like that. It took alot of trips to the hardware store - and alot of beer - but we got it done. Luckily, I live about a mile and a half from a Lowes! We put a cement slab under it, ran electricity to it, shingled the roof - it's actually built to code - but, to give it the island touch, covered it in thatch. Now, I've got my grill, a Big Green Egg smoker, and some other things under there. It's a real outdoor kitchen. I can cook a couple hundred pounds of meat at a time out there. "
Where did you find the thatch for the roof?
"On Ebay. It's real thatch - came in a roll we could cut to whatever size we needed. Nowadays they also make it out of plastic. It's more expensive, but it's practically permanent. I still prefer the 'real' stuff, though."
Anything else?
"The thing that really 'converted' the yard was when we covered up the hurricane fence with some bamboo we found on the internet. The bamboo came in rolls, is 6 feet high, and we attached it to the old metal fence with 12 gauge wire, so it's sturdy but still allows air and light to come through. And it looks alot better.
We also added outdoor speakers on the deck and pool area, so we could pipe Trop Rock from the house to the backyard".
How much in total would you say you spent to make your Parrot Head Paradise"?
"It's hard to say exactly how much, because we did it little by little over the years, and we're still adding to it. For instance, not too long ago someone gave us a 3' tiki totem statue, then I went out and found another one at Lowes. They cost about $150 each. Overall, the art cost anywhere from a couple of bucks to hundreds of dollars for each piece. Another few hundred in plants. The original palm tree died, so we had to get a new one of those. The tiki hut was about $600 - plus beer for the guys who helped, and the bamboo fence was about $400. The deck was by far the biggest expense."
What about maintenance?
"Other than the usual care and upkeep of a yard and pool? The thatch on the tiki hut needs to be replaced about every three years. I pressure wash the bamboo fence once a year. And, of course, the deck needs to be water proofed and re-stained every few years. That's pretty much it. We do alot more enjoying it than working on it!"
I hope this post inspires some of you to become a "Pirate in your own backyard" (or, as the Brent Burns song goes, put a "Beach In My Back Yard"). As Joel mentioned, he and his wife Susan like to entertain. Among the many parties they host at Fish Gardens is a yearly Conch Republic Independence Day Celebration, which I am very much looking forward to attending.
http://fishgardens.net/
http://atlantaparrotheadclub.org/
