A Tropical Escape in Roseville

A Roseville couple transforms their 1956 home into a tropical-inspired jungle

Photos by Colin Houck

When you walk into Keona Tranby’s midcentury-modern home, you’ll find bright colors, lush plants, and whimsical décor pieces that lend themselves more to a vacation home in Hawaii rather than a ranch-style house in Roseville. But that’s exactly what Tranby knew she wanted to create when she and her fiancé, James Prokop, purchased the home last fall and discovered it had a built-in bar downstairs. “It was just the shell of a bar, with plywood on top,” Tranby explains. “I immediately envisioned turning it into a tiki bar, and that inspired the look of the whole house.”

The two began transforming their new abode into their very own tropical getaway, consulting with friends and experts on how to create an authentic tropical aesthetic and carrying out all the remodeling updates themselves. The bar now features a grass thatch roof, pineapple string lights, bamboo barstools, and a vintage rattan bar cart Tranby painstakingly hand-painted herself. A nearby lounge and poker room add extra areas to kick back with a fruity cocktail or two, and a vibrant toucan mural adorning the wall of a spare room creates a festive backdrop for photo ops.

Upstairs, floor-to-ceiling windows, skylights, and glass patio doors flood the great room with natural light, making it the perfect place for the couple’s indoor jungle of more than 55 houseplants to prosper. One of Tranby’s personal favorites? A rare monstera albo variegata she received as a cutting. “That was a big risk to take on because I had to propagate it, but now it has six leaves and is thriving,” she says proudly. Additional plants can be found in the bathroom, where the house’s original glossy pink square tiles perfectly complement the colorful theme, especially when paired with playful palm leaf wallpaper and contrasted with a chic black vanity.

Future plans include painting the exterior of the house and adding tropical tile around the perimeter of the pool, says Tranby, who encourages visitors to use what has been dubbed the “Tiki Jungle House” for photo and video shoots. “I would love if creative people used it,” she says. “I think being in this fun, tropical party house is such a welcome experience in the Midwest, especially during the frozen tundra we experience for so much of the year.”

Learn more at tikijunglehouse.com.

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