Creativity Out of Nothing.

When we moved into the villa, we quickly realized that there were no places to purchase decor or furniture.

We knew we wanted this bali-style villa to reflect the natural beauty of zanzibar: the beautiful mango trees, the natural woods, the seashells, the dhow sail boats, etc.

I found a fundi (mechanic/technician), Mussa, who made furniture from recycled pieces of dhow sailboats. I thought this was so funky. Mussa is from mainland (go figure) and has an eye for design. I would simply show him photos of furniture I liked back home in the states, and he made it come to life. He took pieces from an old dhow sail and installed them as shelves in the bathroom. He made me decor and even made me bowls carved from the dhow sail boats wood to put my shell collections in! I loved the mango forest in the center of the island, so I had Mussa keep a look out for ones that may have fallen or ordered to be removed, for cuttings. He was very particular on his cuttings and although it took some time, He brought us the most stunning tables. It took a solid team of men to bring these tables in!

Some of Mussas creations seen here: stools, tables...

Bowls made from recycle dhow sailboats, for my shell collections

I noticed in stonetown when we would go shopping, most of the items to buy were small trinkets for tourists to pack in their suitcases, so I decided to make my own wall hangings from what I had available.

We mostly concentrated on the gardens. Since the villa was mostly glass, it was like a reverse green house: A glass house but all the plants on the outside. We focused on getting the garden planted first; we wanted it to grow into a jungle basically! The plants were so incredibly cheap, 80 cents for a Frangipani tree, a dollar for a large banana tree, 50 cents for a papaya tree. This made it all the more enjoyable to garden!

I really wanted an outdoor shower, so we got a quote from the developer. (We planned to do it ourselves but we didn't have the tools). He tried quoting us $6,000! (Reminder: we were one of the ONLY villa owners out of 20 trying to stay supportive of him). We said fuck it and figured it out on our own. Ryan spoke with our friend Evance and the 2 of them worked tirelessly on this shower for 3 days! Costing us about $230.

And it is SO much more unique than what the developer would have done. I LOVE the Zanzibar doors, so we were able to buy a frame of one and have it delivered. We decided to fill the back wall with tanga stone.

Ryan + Evance with their Completed Project

Shell showered installed!