Yes, that title is correct. We came to India for the food. But who knew that this love for Indian food would be what gave us the richest cultural and interpersonal experiences in India? My first taste of my favorite type of food was all thanks to my women’s rugby team in England. I was 19 (just a young lil' thing!) and studying abroad in England. One day after practice, our uber-social-butterfly team captain announced…
On our way from Africa, we did some "island hopping" between Madagascar, Reunion Island, and finally Mauritius for one final week before India. It was a good thing we did this, because we were still recovering from the "Mystery Jungle Virus" we got our last week in Madagascar! And Mauritius was the perfect laid-back place to do that. But first we had a stopover in Reunion Island... which was lovely! Going from a super-remote spot…
"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." During a conversation with my daughter about our post on Madagascar, this is what I laughingly suggested should be the intro for this post. Why? Madagascar has some of the most fun memories and quite possibly our worst memory from our two years of living abroad and out of suitcases.😅 But first things first...let's talk about why we decided to visit Madagascar after…
Since we had expected to be exhausted after our prior months traveling through East Africa (from Rwanda to Namibia, you can see those HERE)... ...we planned ahead and rented a place outside of Cape Town (South Africa) to rest, recoup, and leisurely just "live" for a good long while! Growing up, whenever I saw pictures of this area of South Africa (usually with The Twelve Apostles mountain range or Table Mountain in the background!), I…
For some reason, I suspected we’d really like Namibia (hence the reason I added it to our several months of Africa travels)...and that suspicion proved true! All I'd seen years ago was some photographs of some sand and dunes in the interior of Namibia, and that's all it took. Why? Because it looked unique. IF I am going to traipse around the world (esp with children in tow) exploring new areas, there had better be…
Today I've scoured the internet for you while analyzing whether to do white wood paneling—from plank ceilings and wall planks!—for our beach house design! As always, I'm analyzing the smartest way to go about this! I've narrowed it down to 7 ceiling & wall examples to show you! With all the client project work lately, it's a treat to work on my own personal design project. As much as I enjoy helping other people design…
If we could do it all over again, would we choose a white kitchen with dark wood floors? Grab our fast Design Mini-guide HERE! When it became painfully clear that we had an Emergency Kitchen Demo on our hands, I had to suddenly start thinking about the new kitchen we had to put in...fast. Rocking a six-month-old infant to sleep on my lap, I turned to the only design sounding board I had at the time…
Looking for smart laundry room shelf ideas? You're in the perfect place! I'm a professional designer (and laundry room fanatic😆)! Avoid this all-too-common mistake: When you have a laundry space, getting a laundry room shelf seems to be the #1 thing people start looking for. However, DON'T BUY THAT SHELF until you can answer the following questions!😆 Is it just one shelf you want (or more than one)? Do you know what depth is ideal…
Later today, I'll be convincing one of our clients that she needs arched bookshelves... ...and I feel ECSTATIC about it because it's so the right thing to do in so many homes! Including yours, perhaps? ;) I'll share with you 15 of my recommended designs, but in the end you can only choose one! (Unless you're doing it in multiple rooms/various uses but that's another topic about designing with variety and depth!) Take a look…
Even though we're technically booked through 2025, if you could immediately transport Matt and I to your house TODAY to help you design your new kitchen, or help you squeeze every inch of organization & functionality out of your current kitchen, would you take us up on it? See our 5 Genius Reasons You Need Kitchen Drawers Instead of Cabinets! Tap to see Our Kitchen Remodel: The Complete List! Our lack of time is now…
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