Postcard Inn, St. Petersburg Florida 60s Surfer Style

            Postcard Inn, St. Pete Beach        photo via Travel & Leisure

After a bit of an extended break from blogging, and a wonderful and much needed vacation in Florida, I am back and ready to embrace my design life again.

Because I typically blog about fun things I've seen on my little mini vacations, I was hoping that Florida would show me some blog worthy art, architecture and ideas. Florida did not disappoint!  My honey and I visited the Dali museum, which restored my adolescent love for Dali and his crazified surrealism. If you ever are in the St. Petersburg area, visit this museum. Here's the link.
The outside of this museum is as much fun as the inside!

We also visited the Chihuly collection, which is a 10,000 square foot art installation by American glass artist Dale Chihuly. It's a little pricey but definitely worth the price of admission. The space is a little slice of visual heaven.
 
This was my favorite display, a 'Float Boat' filled with glass orbs that just glowed because everything is lit just perfectly. I never wanted to leave this area. But of course there is so much to see here, and photos were frowned on so  Here's a link to the museum.  

One evening, Mike and I very accidentally stumbled upon this hotel called "The Postcard Inn". It was adjacent to a restaurant where we were dining and we were both completely bemused by it's decor. 

On my way to the restroom, I spied this  :  sliding 'barn' doors, skateboards on the wall as art, a 'light fixture/hammock/netting' on the ceiling....I had to take a peek.

What a cool hotel lobby, and so completely unexpected!
Guests are invited an encouraged to choose a book from the library , and choose a chair from the collection of mis -matched ,Mid- century comfy spots. Climbing on the furniture is allowed, as are bare feet, cut offs and flip flops!

I had to pick the funkiest chair, not the coziest!
There were several places to sit and read, or have a snuggle.
So,  I have this gigantic sectional in my living room. It has at times seated as many as 16 people. My sectional has NOTHING on this one....

I soooo badly want to find a coffee table/bench like this one.  This area has so many inspiring ideas. The feature wall behind the sectional is 2x6s attached to the floor and ceiling, you know, just because.  The little end table made out of skateboards reminded me of my punk hippie friends. I bet skateboarding IS allowed in the house here!

How about some Moroccan lanterns over the 'coffee table'? Love this idea!

Mike and I have a couple of traditions when we travel. We always photograph our feet (in the sand, in fancy shoes,on a boat, etc)  and we seem to stumble on to a lot of working photo booths.  Of course we took our photos here (they turned out very cute). I am in love with those re-purposed Wing Back chairs with their new mismatched legs! 

Let me talk about the floor in this place for a moment. Apologies in advance that I only have a cell phone photo of it but it appeared that the floors had been stripped down to cement, (you could see remnants of former grout stains and carpet glue), stained and then stenciled willy- nilly. Um, HELLO! I am the QUEEN of willy- nilly stenciling! I think I just solved my own flooring problem in my house...could this be my summer project?

While we're on the subject of the floor, we may as well talk about the ceiling. Because the floor was kind of a 'solution to a problem', the ceiling is a total focal point. There were walkways to nowhere, gigantic industrial fans, and these cool tungsten bulb pendants everywhere. 

Always a fan of the chalkboard wall, I loved this one behind the registration desk.

I am guessing The Postcard Inn used to be a motel of sorts, built around an open Quad. Now the suites each have their own 'front yard' complete with hammock and a tiny patch of grass. The Quad offered plenty of cool- people -friendly activities too, like sitting around the fire pit, laying on a blanket under gigantic lantern filled trees, and sunbathing on elevated mattresses around the pool. Live music poured from the poolside bar. Their beachfront had sand volleyball and pedal buggies for renting, and of course a beautiful view of the pristine beach. This is where we will stay next time! For more on this Hotel and to see interior Suite photos, click here.