Thrifty Dining Room Update

Our new apartment is awesome.  It has lots of vintage charm, beautiful architectural details, and it's spacious (and yes, the dining room even came with that awesome chandelier!).  We are loving finding the perfect spots for all of our furniture and art, but still have a few areas that are looking a little sparse.  On a med school student's budget, we've had to resort to Ikea, thriftiness, and lots of DIY-ing to get our place looking the way we want it.

This weekend, we gave our dining room a little makeover with some inexpensive DIY wall art. The problem with our dining room is that it's huge with lots of wall space.  We hung a large mirror at one end of the room, but still had a huge expanse of wall space that needed something (or some things) big.  We have some large pieces of art, but already hung them elsewhere in our apartment.  

We didn't want to spend money on more art or frames, so we tried this simple DIY that we found on Little Green Notebook: Huge prints for only $4.  Jenny Komenda has amazing ideas, and I love her style!  I was so excited to finally have the chance to try one of her projects.

How to make it happen:

1. Find some photos.  
2. Make them black and white.  
3. Save them on a flash drive and print them as large format architectural prints at FedEx Kinkos (around $4 each).  (You can call or check out the website before you go for info on sizing and how to save your files.  We saved them as grayscale images and converted them to PDFs.) 
4. Buy some large pieces of foam core. (We found huge pieces at Dollar Tree.)
5. You will probably need to cut the foam core to the size of your images.  Our photos ended up being 20"x26" and the foam core was 20"x28."  Use an exacto knife and a straight edge. 
6. You can paint the sides of the foam core first (I painted ours peach).  
7. After we cut the board and painted the sides, we trimmed the white borders off the photos (the easiest thing to do is to trim them using the large paper cutters at Kinkos after you have your photos printed).
8. Use double stick tape to mount your photos to the foam core.  So easy.  
9. Use 3M sticky velcro picture hangers to attach the foam core mounted photos to the wall.  

This was seriously so cheap and so easy! The entire project cost around $30, and we love the way that it brought some life to our dining room!

We have so many amazing photos from our adventures in the Caribbean over the past few years, and we were so excited to find a great way to put some of them on display.  I am pretty proud of the fact that we took all of these photos ourselves! 

1. Kaieteur Falls, Guyana, South America
2. Valley of Desolation, Dominica, West Indies
3. Snake Steps, Dominica, West Indies
4. Aba Wavine, Dominica, West Indies

*Advice for the Kinko's printing part:  

Print one image first to make sure it looks good. The photos came out really dark and streaky the first time (I think the printer needed new ink?). The guy who was helping me was really nice and lightened the photos and printed them on the extra large paper, which got rid of the streaks on the edges. I think he was supposed to charge me $7/each for the larger paper, but he was nice and didn't). Asking the guy if he could lighten the images and get rid of the streaks made such a difference, so definitely print one copy first to see what you think, and ask if they can help you make any adjustments if you aren't happy with the first print. This made all the difference! 

Also, these prints are not the highest quality and the paper is thin copy paper (not photo paper), but it is a great option if you want something inexpensive and dramatic. All this being said, we really do love how they turned out!

Font used: Amatic | Typekeys 
Arrow Photoshop Brushes from Creature Comforts
Inspiration for this project from Little Green Notebook

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W

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Fruit & Dog Treats

Here's another Caribbean fruit that I've had once in Dominica (when I helped teach art classes at the Women's Center we were paid in fruit each week and one week it was these!), but I can't remember what they called them here.  Possibly cashew pear, like they call them in Guyana?

In Guyana, we bought a few of these from the market. The following day a friend of Frannie's brought over a huge bag filled with cashew pears.  We had so many the Frannie, Charlie, and I (and even Papaya) feasted on these fruits all week long!  Papaya loved them - they make perfect dog treats! 


Fonts used:
Ribeye
Ribeye Marrow

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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Have you ever tried these?

In Dominica, kenips (keh-neeps) are a favorite sweet, summertime treat.  Vendors sell them all along the roadside, and buses will often stop on the street for passengers to pick up a bunch for just 1 EC.

In Guyana, many of the fruits and veggies readily available were similar to what we have here.  Frannie greeted us at the airport with a bunch of kenips, which we learned were called genips (with a G instead of a K) in Guyana.  How interesting! 

Fonts used: 
AW Conqueror Inline
Brannboll Fet

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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Transition

Transition mode.  I feel like it's the story of our life!  We have one and a half weeks left in beautiful Dominica and how am I spending them?  Sorting through our possessions and selling and donating our clothing and household items.  It is exhausting. 

 Luckily, reading The Happiness Project and Lauren's Conquering Your Closet post has given me a little in inspiration.  I'm also finding that splurging and blasting the AC for three hours straight (#onlyinDominica) and jamming out to my Nicki Minaj Pandora station (thank you Tunnel Bear!) are helping move the process along.  And, with a new shipment of real milk fresh on the shelves at the grocery store along with another splurge, real Oreos (most definitely overpriced), (another #onlyinDominca moment), I've been enjoying a treat or two (or fifteen) as I pack. 

It's strange condensing two years of your life into 1 suitcase and carry on... crazy business! 

✽     ✽      ✽

On a different note, my cute, elderly landlady (LL) just stopped by the apartment as I was typing and here's how that interaction went -

LL: (outside our door, in a loud voice) "Good afternoon... Hello? Good afternoon?"

So I open the door and say hello and good afternoon.

LL: "You have signal by you?"

Me: "Ummm.... What?"

LL: "Signal.  You have signal?" 

Me: "Signal?"  

LL:  "Yes.  Signal.  Television signal."

Ohhhhh, is the cable working.  Too funny.  #onlyinDominica

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

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Adventures: Boiling Lake

Last Wednesday, we finally did it: we hiked Boiling Lake.  It's a five hour long hike through the mountains, up and down, through the Valley of Desolation, to the world's second largest boiling lake, formed in a volcanic crater.  It was intense and amazing, and we've spend the remainder of the week let our ridiculously sore legs recover.

We survived Boiling Lake!

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

Adventures: Snake Steps

Font used: Penn Avenue from dafont.com
Photos by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W

Lately.

It's not every day you find a little island shack that matches your blog design... 

Hi friends!

Sorry I've been a stranger this week, but lately it's been crazy here with lots of sad goodbyes and lots of fun trips. Basically, it's been a roller coaster of emotions. I said goodbye to two of my best friends, said goodbye to some students I've taught, visited the Carib Territory and hiked the Snake Steps, hiked Boiling Lake (a major item on our Dominica bucket list!), swam in Titou Gorge, visited Syndicate Falls, and ate the best chicken wings on the island. 

Now, we're exhausted and packing for our week-long adventure in South America tomorrow. We'll be spending the week in Guyana visiting my sister, Frannie, who's serving in the Peace Corps there. 

While I'm gone I've scheduled a few short posts with some island photos for you to check out while we're off in the jungle with monkeys and anacondas, eating curried iguana! Have a great weekend!

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

Only in Dominica...

...will you find this sign beside the airport. 

...does the water turn brown when it rains. 

...can you choose from 3 types of snake infused rum. 

...can you live in the fanciful London House apartments. 

...are the sayings on the backs of trucks this awesome. 

...do plastic drawers serve this purpose. 

...will you see a political slogan like this. 

...is this sign on display at the local credit union. 

...can you shop from a junk shop on wheels. 

...does your hairbrush grow mold. 

...is this sign displayed in your kitchen. 

...is this sign is displayed in your classroom. 

...is your friend's neighbor's house this scary. 

...is this sign on your college campus. 

...is this my favorite car.  Don't hate. 

Anyone foreigner who has spent time living in Dominica has probably come to know and love the "only in Dominica" moments. Katie put together a great post today sharing some of her favorites only in Dominica moments, so I thought I'd join her. Be sure to check out Katie's awesome post as well!

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W

Art to Inspiration: Lara Harwood

Can I tell you how much I love this month's Art to Inspiration piece by Lara Harwood? It's heaven! The bright colors, the loose brush strokes, the composition and landscape, and the tropical feel... this is my kind of art!

I couldn't help but immediately draw parallels to Dominica. The lush, tropical landscape in the painting immediately reminded me of a recent boat trip taken down Dominica's beautiful and wild Indian River.

Fonts used:
Stiletto Skinny
Cedarville Cursive

Watercolor painting by Lara Harwood.
All other images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W.

Vlog 2: Bucket List

I was planning on recording this vlog for Wednesday like I was supposed to, but the past two weeks have been insanely busy, filled with trips, adventures, and final outings as friends slowly (and sadly) start leaving the island as their time here comes to a close.  I woke up today feeling ready to vlog, so I got dressed from the waist up (I may or may not still be wearing my pajamas from the waist down...) and sat on my porch to record this two minute video.  Better late than never, right?

Thanks for listening to what's in my bucket. List. I am aware that it's what's on your bucket list and not what's in your bucket list, but I was flustered. Forgive me.  Also, please excuse the weird lighting.  I was outside and my face was shadowy, so I changed the exposure which looked fine in iMovie but now it's pink and grainy.  Whatever. 

A huge thank you to all of these fun ladies for organizing this! 

Hope Squared // Becoming What I Always Was // Punky and the City // Life as a Young Mom // The Way I Am // Thoughts By a Petite Brunette

 

Adventures: Canyoning

Another amazing adventure that Charlie and I were fortunate enough to experience recently was a trip canyoning down waterfalls in the rainforest here in Dominica.  We suited up in wetsuits, helmets, and lifejackets (we felt like ninja turtles), took a short training session to master our rappelling skills, and then headed off into the jungle.  After a short hike, our descent began...

It was one of the coolest things we've ever done!  So cool, in fact, that canyoning in Dominica was featured in National Geographic's 20 best trips of 2011.  How neat is that? 

Venture into the rugged landscape Spiderman-style on an Extreme Dominica canyoneering tour, which takes visitors rappelling down pristine waterfalls, deep gorges, and volcanic bedrock canyons.          -National Geographic

Canyoning was every bit as incredible as it looks and sounds!  Thanks, Extreme Dominica, for a fantastic adventure! 

Font used: Penn Avenue from dafont.com
Photos by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W

Living Simply

Earlier this week, when I shared my thoughts about living with less, images of these colorful little houses all over the island kept popping into my mind.  People live happily and simply here in Dominica.  Their homes are nothing fancy, but they paint them bright colors and care for them as well as their yards and gardens with pride.

What do you think?

Images by Clare Wilkinson for C Squared W