Out of sight, out of mind. 

I have been watching a lot of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix and I remember one of the passages in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing , "By eliminating excess visual information  that doesn't inspire joy, you can make your space much more peaceful and comfortable."    

One way is to remove the bottle labels but in this case, the fastest way and more aesthetic solution to me would be to apply a frosted glass film sticker to the existing glass panels on the overhead kitchen cupboard.

Spending more time at home nowadays is the trend.  What about catching up on home decorating projects  with existing home accessories in your storage room?

You'll be noticing an avalanche of places in Dubai this week in the hopes of seeing as much as we can before we leave. Plane tickets have been booked today. We are ready to depart on Sunday evening. Let the countdown begin.  

When driving along Al Wasl Road right after Safa Park, you will notice cargo containers that are artistically positioned and used to create an urban retail district that is called "BOXPARK"  Recently opened as one of the latest projects of Meraas Holdings.  

I am extremely excited to share this beautiful home here. Owned by a dear friend, Monique whom you might have met and read here.  She's an expat who has been living in Dubai for more than ten years, working as a Design Manager for a prestigious mall in this energetic city. I am truly inspired by what she has accomplished as she completed one of her goals, construction of her family home in the Philippines.

Source

Today, I'm choosing a touchy topic. Some may not agree with me but I'm putting myself out there.  If I were to go back to architecture and design school, if there was one thing I wish was part of our curriculum, it would be : to learn how to sell.  Yes, sales.  Why?

Today, I'll try to hit two birds with one croissant.  I'll share a story about what I really do and why I do it. After that, I will show a fun apartment we did.

You will notice that Travel Gourmande will start featuring Interior Design more and more. I have given up my first blog, Design Gourmande in order to focus all of my energies here. 

As a tribute to our life in Dubai, I would like to re-post an apartment makeover. Here are some before and after shots of my friend, Christine's One- Bedroom apartment.  Some of the furniture are existing when we moved in the flat, provided by the company she's working for particularly the sofa set. One of the rules in the building is to never remove the chandelier (heartbreaking, I know).