The Beach at Home

The essence of the Home Beach Experience is shutting out the cold, cruel summer weather and constructing a synthetic indoor tropical getaway. It's like your very own Bahamas on the Bay! And, hey, if you can afford a weekend in Cabo, what the hell are you doing here? The ideas below may not be earth-shattering, but after 40 days of rain, we figured everyone could use a refresher course in low-cost hipster fun. Why not? Through meticulous (and perhaps somewhat inebriated) planning, you can create an environment in which everything is hot, hot, hot — kind of like the dot-com years, minus the feather boas. Here's how.