Hello, Wanderlust...Do You Deliver?

Pure white walls, stretching wide and clean in every direction.

Substantial shelves placed here and there, creating interesting partnerships with the tables and chairs, but allowing plenty of room for humans to move.

Dazzling sunbeams filling the space with light.

During my mornings in Vietnam, as I sat in Wanderlust Cafe and sipped my blended mango smoothies for breakfast, my mind and soul found peace and contentment in this refreshing room.

If I can't take this room home with me, what can I do, I puzzled, to capture this feeling in my own dining room?

The vision came to me in a flash. 

So once I got home, with a bit of furniture reshuffling and some carpentry work from my husband, my dream became reality.

 ^ Out with the big red cupboard that once stood in this corner, and in with a new shadow box.

^ Crafted from odds and ends of pine lumber that have been squirreled away in the garage, and finished with an old can of light walnut stain, we managed to capture the rustic feel that I had in mind.

^ Wide enough to house at least small pots of cacti and succulents, the lower shelf perfectly suited for an endless stream of mini-garlands.

^ And the top shelf offers limitless options for plate propping.

^ Best of all, when I sit at my table now, I feel the same sense of spaciousness and light that I enjoyed so much at Wanderlust Cafe.

^ If I could only get someone to bring me a glass of fresh blended mango, my life would be pretty much perfect.