Happy Sunday, Bon Dimanche!

Like I promised in the last post, I’m beginning to reveal spaces as they finish themselves. Although, sometimes I feel like it’ll never be “done,” or that it will never be until we leave and I start all over again in the next place.

It also sometimes feels like my home is never lived in. Only maybe 2 or 3 rooms because ultimately, we have a larger house than we need, but because of Covid and the lengths it takes to get here, well, guests just are not lining up at the gate to be let in.

I feel that.

Right now we’re the only couple here that doesn’t know our next assignment. Maybe that is a good thing, I can “enjoy” life here in the interim, but I think knowing where we are going next will make me appreciate and accept it more. It’s nice to hear people talk about their next post though, like what life will be like, how much nicer it’ll be, more convenient.

I want to dream too.

Hopefully sooner than we think.

Lomé, while great, in many aspects isn’t necessarily the number one choice of most people in this lifestyle. As friends begin to pack up and head to Europe, or Asia, or Latin America, I think about how much “easier life will be,” or how much cooler it would be for guests to want to come visit us.

We’ll see. Because if you can’t love us at our worst, should you really get to love us at our best?

Just kidding, but maybe only a little… 🙂

Back to the point, a vignette of a room that doesn’t get much time. It became a dumping ground of bulky dressers (4 to be exact) and nightstands shoved into the closets. It has a lovely view of the backyard and pool, but it has two twin beds, and well, we don’t have children. We’re actually the only couple here that doesn’t. It’s weird.

But nonetheless, if we needed two beds, or hosted enough people to fill the home, they would be ready.

The vision for this room really didn’t exist until I got here. And saw the most peculiar set of chairs.

Like what. What is this gold, burgundy, sage, orange, blue striped chair??? Again, I’ve seen this on The Crown. Ethan Allen, why, just why.

They were originally in the living room. That was going to be an absolute no for me. I moved an equally not my style, but less offensive version into the living room instead, and they just had to move into the Elephant Graveyard version of the house.

If I begin to use a lot of The Lion King references, it really began with the fact that our wifi name is Pride Rock. It snowballs from there. And no, there are no lions in Togo.

So my mind began spinning, how can I make this room a dumping ground, but also still beautiful in its own way, and make it functional?

Well, it began with changing the curtains to white and full length, and also finding fabric to ground my ideas for bed linens, and man, there is zero shortage of vibrant fabric in Togo….

The beds originally came with a dark brown headboard. I immediately wanted to cover them up, bring some life into the room! We went to a market one day to find our original fabric lady, she wasn’t there unfortunately, and so we stopped by another stand, found some fabrics there, but something about them still didn’t feel right. And the last stand we stopped at…I found it. The fabric. It was muted (shock), but shiny and still patterned. I knew I had a rug arriving with similar shapes and the tone of pink was the same. It pulled the gold and green from the chair, I was and am still obsessed.

Next came the sheets and bed linens. I mean, shouldn’t a theoretical kids room be fun? I picked these cheetah sheets to pull the orange, a light green cotton blanket, and a cream fuzzy blanket at the end of the bed.

I know, puffy beds are super in and all the vibes right now. But trust me, the last thing you want here is a full on comforter. IT IS HOT, EVEN WITH AC! But I can also guarantee that if we go somewhere with seasons next…I’ll have a puffy bed.

The rug is a rug I picked up from Ruggable. It’s washable, and has a very subtle geometric design in a rose gold color that is also picked up in the headboard fabric. The texture of the rug also makes it pretty neutral even if it’s *technically* pink.

Some things about this room I couldn’t change. Some of the dark furniture had to stay, unfortunately. Luckily, for such a vibrant room, the lamp lent itself towards that vibe, and sits perfectly in-between the two beds. A sight that makes this room vibrant, but also serene.

Ultimately, these are no indication of my personal style, but I’m glad all this color is pushing me to think past my neutral boundaries.

The next guest room though? It may just be my ultimate favorite…so much so, and while it may not mean much, but West Elm liked my photo on instagram and it was one of the happiest days of my aesthetic life. I can’t wait to share with you.

Enjoy your Sunday, live vibrantly.

Oh, and here was the before….How did I do?

Until next time,

Carrie