NAFASI THE BLOG

Well, we're here! What a wild ride. For the past month and a half Patrick and I have been preparing in all the ways we know how to put closure to our DC lives & livelihoods, and pack as much as we could into farewell parties, closing projects, and 7 overweight suitcases. All the while we have been planning our wedding in September too! I think that April was probably the busiest I've felt since the start of NAFASI when I would spend 12 hour work days figuring everything out. It is funny looking back at our DC April right now from my bed at 11:00 in the morning while leisurely writing a blog update and staring across rolling hills at Lake Kivu. The birds singing, cows mooing, nice breeze. I just started Party of Five season 1 on Netflix. ;) It sounds nice doesn't it? It's all I dreamed of while pulling my hair out trying to get work done last month! Yeah, I wish it were that easy. I worked straight through until the Friday that we got on the plane to l...

  I love salvaged wood pieces. Shopping at Restoration Hardware however was NOT in our budget. I was driving back home to Rochester, NY for Memorial Day weekend, and I had an idea SET that I. Would. Find. Wood... Old wood... Side of the road, distressed, water damaged beautiful old wood! And I did. :) It was pretty fun actually driving through Amish country in PA and weird small towns, talking to people and asking around. I ended up finding a towing company that was selling firewood by the road, but they had wood planks in the pile. So I asked, and turns out the owner's brother makes big shipping crates, and he had a whole barn-full of old wood from his brother! He gave it to me for free, and even cut it down for me so it would fit in my car. Check it out!

Once our design plan was set, we wanted to change practically everything about the old space, so we got creative. Take a look at all of the DIY projects we completed in just the Living Room alone to get rid of all the girly cooties from before! ;) I can blog about each of them separately after the reveal to give away some more insider tips! First project- Get RID of the glass shelves! I could not wait, and this project was on my mind since I had first moved in 3 years ago. Instead of a display case, I wanted it to be more of an open pantry with black inside walls and rustic wood shelves. It turned out great! Next was painting! We spent a weekend with lots of trips to Home Depot, lots blue tape, and lots of beer. It was actually really fun, and we started to feel like we were really moving in together as we were building our own new home together!! (The picture I snapped of Pats in his undies, painting on the tiny stool is one of my all-time favorites of him btw.) ;) ...