Pink Flamingos add Miami touch

Let’s get one thing straight: If you’re going to decorate your lawn with pink plaster flamingos, you’d better do it with the right tongue-in-cheek style. Otherwise, actress Deborah Harmon, whose own tongue-in-cheek style can be seen in Christopher Durang’s “Baby With the Bathwater,” will find some way to rescue them from you.

“I’ve always had this great affinity for pink flamingos--ever since I saw the movie,” says Harmon, who has about 15 of the ornamental birds placed strategically around her Sherman Oaks backyard. “They were acquired from people who didn’t use them with the right sense of humor.”

Harmon has put a lot of effort into bringing out the full possibilities of her ‘50s era home, which has a pool area reminiscent of an old Miami Beach motel. The actress collects ‘50s wrought-iron lawn furniture and floor-to-ceiling pole lamps, which her husband repaints in trendy colors.

There are probably a lot of San Fernando Valley houses that would lend themselves to this trendy treatment. You can sometimes find these tropical birds in the back of garden stores. But don’t go overboard. Despite Harmon’s fondness for theatrical decor, she still doesn’t welcome plaster Santas, reindeer or jockeys into her yard. “But I always thought flamingos were more than just kitsch,” she explains. “They’re elegant.”