The Velvet Monkey Room
Company
My basement
The Brief
Chicago winters are no joke. After enough of them, you stop waiting for summer and start building your own escape.
The basement was raw … unfinished, unloved, full of potential and not much else. I had a vision for something specific: a true tiki bar. Not Hawaii. Not hula. Tiki - the real thing. Mid-century Americana, tropical maximalism, the kind of place that feels like it has a history even though you built it yourself. Dark, layered, warm, a little wild. Somewhere to drink craft cocktails, play records, and forget that it's February in Illinois.
The Making Of
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The name came from a blue crushed velvet monkey statue my sister found - the kind of object that looks like it escaped directly from Elvis's Jungle Room at Graceland. It lives above the bar now. It gave the room its name: The Velvet Monkey Room.
The focal point is a 1950s original bamboo bar, thrifted and anchored like it was always meant to be there. The barstools are new frames. I reupholstered them myself in leopard print, naturally. Behind the bar, a ship's masthead maiden watches over everything. A velvet Elvis presides from the wall. Because of course he does.
Every surface has a story. Every object was chosen, hunted, or made.
The mural was designed and painted by me - no artist hired, no interior designer consulted. The room took about six months of spare time to build and has been evolving ever since. My husband and I are obsessive thrifters. The Velvet Monkey Room is a living, breathing thing. We're always adding to it. -
My husband has his father's old record player down there and a speaker system that does it justice. There's always music, good drinks and great company. There are details hidden in every corner that people are still finding after their third visit … a sign, a figure, a found object that makes someone point and say "wait, what is that?"
His friends call it “The Lab.” Because it's where they come to practice their karaoke chops.
The first time people walk in, they start taking pictures. Every time. -
Concept, creative direction, and aesthetic vision
Mural design and execution - designed and painted by hand
Space planning and environmental design
Furniture sourcing, thrifting, and curation
Reupholstering - barstools recovered in leopard print
Prop and object styling throughout
Ongoing curation - the room is never finished!
What This Basement Taught Me
This room exists because I couldn't not build it. No client, no brief, no budget beyond whatever we could thrift and make ourselves. Just a vision, a half empty basement, and a crazy creative obsession.
I didn’t learn experiential design in college or at any company. It’s been all about the VIBES. Layering texture, building atmosphere, making people feel something the moment they walk through a door.
Bu the real lesson in all of this? Life’s too short to worry about resale value.