NAFASI THE BLOG

In these last winding weeks until I leave my work-in-progress home to go to the US for a month to prep for our wedding and visit with friends and family, I felt the urge to get everything as completed as possible. This included painting our curtains in a mud cloth print... Straight lines! Paint shirt Paint on fabric? Yes! Dying! Yasssss! There they are in the kitchen! (Hung the art too!) Painting our cabinetry navy blue... So good Dry faster! Making paint touch-ups on all the door and window frames to get straighter lines... A thankless job. Incredibly tedious and difficult. Plus it ruined my manicure. ;) And painting our boring doorway into such a cool archway that enhances the nice ceiling height.  Not entirely sure about the cross. I may paint over it. What do you think? Our house is so bright and colorful and getting more and more character. It is really exciting!! I can't believe my visualization boa...

I was extremely ecstatic to get our floors painted, and I cannot believe how good they look, and how unique our home now is. :) Once they were sufficiently dried, we were able to bring all of our stuff back in and set up our home!  While we were gone waiting for the floors to dry with our things on the front deck and hoping for draught, the rest of our larger furniture also arrived from Kigali! ...and sat on our deck outside for a weekend... BUT! We got it! Here is how the house is looking... Our Island! With the modern black metal stools! And shiny black floors! And Patrick using it just as intended :)  Our extra long, extra deep, extra big sofa (at Patrick's request!) It does smell a bit like skunk maybe from being outside that whole time... Anyone know how to get that out? Anyone know if there are skunks in Rwanda?  A few weeks prior Patrick and I went to Kigali to talk with Gervais, the carpenter who made our sofa, island, apothecary, and bathroom...

These are by NO means final pictures, BUT I've been getting requests to see how it has turned out! So right now this is the state of our bathroom which is a temple :) We received the apothecary from Gervais! We're still waiting on label handles from the US :) Really happy with how the floors turned out!!! We have candles all over and take spa showers!  That towel ladder is my #1 fav. Thank you again Jean Baptiste! Still have to get the right light fixture moved to the left!!  The retiled shower! We also have big plans to turn that partition wall into a live wall with plants growing down it! And there will be a chandelier from the US hanging right in the center.  The bathroom is so close! It feels pretty done and luxurious already though. :) Just for old time's sake, let's check out how it used to look... (Or see it on this blog post, "Our Bathroom Is Like A Temple." ) Don't miss it! Love, Teri

I have despised the cracking dirty red cement floors in our house since moving in. So you cannot believe how EXCITED I was to Finally get them painted! What color? Well high gloss black of course! :) I love how the floors turned out. It really changes the whole place so dramatically and just smoothes over all the mess that lies underneath it! It feels like a fresh start. But of course, this was no quick and easy task. Watch how we did it. First I wanted to paint the base boards from black to white. This will keep the walls looking taller with a nice separation to the striking black floor. Also, it is a little more customary back in the US to have the baseboards white, yet in Rwanda, they usually are black. I keep trying to bring "new" ideas here, or just add some American flavor to a home that is otherwise very clearly Rwandan. First coat, Second coat! Now for the good stuff! When painting the floor, nothing can stay in the house. Nothing.  It l...

Jean Baptiste! You can tell he's cool, right? :) This is him greeting me at his workshop when I went to go visit. Jean Baptiste has had a lot of special requests by me with my weird American designs and painted wood which was thought to be kinda crazy. He has done a great job and installs everything for us at our house. It's been wonderful working with him! The workshop is a really cool place where there are tons of carpenters and seamstresses all working in the same government run spot called Gakiriro.  A lot is happening!  This wood is all going to be my furniture. I got the tour of the rest of the place as well. Here is all the big wood working machines.  This is the storage area where finished pieces live. This is actually a good representation of the general furniture aesthetic in Rwanda. Curved lines, stained wood, very ornate pieces. Wasn't really what I was going for in my house unfortunately!  Then...