Making a house a home: Devil masks, Art, & Flowers

We made several "home" additions to our house this trip. 

BORUCA INDIAN DEVIL MASKS

 These devil masks were hand carved and painted by the Boruca Indians that live on a reservation 30 minutes south from us.  This was our first time to visit them and we went back a few days later to their annual Danza de los Diablitos ceremony (that story and more information about the Boruca Indians to come).

Paul's is the bottom and mine is the top.

They're meant to wear so they have eye and mouth slots carved out.

They add so much color to our home.  I literally prayed over them and added the cross by our door just to make sure they didn't bring anything with them. 

JUNGLE WOOD

You might already know the story behind this piece of wood on Paul's blog (click here for story).  

It fills the space perfectly and I love that it was literally picked out of the jungle and hung on the wall.  The wholes are made from large beetles over time.

*Correction:  Paul wanted me to declare his three hours of hand scrubbing with a barilla pad and painting a clear coat, instead of me saying we just hung it.  There you go Paul.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT BENCHES

Two trips ago I told Paul that I wanted a bench that I could put all my extra things in and sure enough he had Billy make me exactly what I wanted.

Paul also had him make a bench for putting on shoes by our front door.  He also made us new bedside tables but I totally forgot to take pictures of them.  Oops.

PAULS COVETED BOWL

Paul's been wanting this bowl above the refrigerator for two years now.  It's considered art and had a price tag to prove it.  Paul would go see if it was still at the store almost every trip and like always it was.  We came up with a plan to negotiate them down in price but ended up failing and figured we spent enough time talking about it to pay for it by now.  So there you go.  There's Pauls precious bowl above the refrigerator. 

TORTUGA PAUL

Here's another Paul want.  He spotted this guy in Dominical before I flew in and then showed it to me later on in our trip.  He thought it would look cool hanging out in the baño and I think he was right.

FLOWERS

I love the flowers in Costa Rica and our land produces some of the most beautiful.  José and Marta surprised us by putting flowers in our vases when we're away for the day.

So precious and changes the entire rooms vibe.

Costa Rica is starting to feel more our home than Dallas this trip and I think our additions have added to the feeling.

Love, Sarah