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Travel blogger Jewels is a first time home buyer who bought a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath house in Decatur, Georgia. She talks us through the joys and challenges that come with homeownership. Inspired by her travels each room is dedicated to a place that she has visited and enjoyed. Watch to see if living in Decatur is truly greater.

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High rent, small spaces, nosy neighbors — we put up with A LOT of things to live where we love. In Sweet Digs, Refinery29 gets a peek inside the homes of the coolest people we know, from tiny studios to sprawling houses, and ask the real questions like, "Wait, how much is your rent?"

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Transcript
00:01Hi, I'm Jules and welcome to My Sweet Digs. I've been living in my home for a
00:07year and a half now. My mortgage is $1,868 a month. So this is my living room
00:14and I love it because it's open which is great because I love hosting and one of
00:18the things that immediately caught my eye when I first found the house was this
00:23wood panel wall. I just like how it is warm and inviting. I'm a travel blogger
00:29and travel is infused all throughout my house. So this is my travel scrapbook of
00:35some of my favorite travels over the years. I will describe my home style as
00:41like global zen because it like has a bunch of travel stuff but also like it
00:47cultivates this inner peace. It was by fate that I found this house. I was actually
00:52looking at the house across the street so I look up and I see my house which has
00:57really nice curb appeal. My real estate called the agent, the listing agent, was
01:01able to get us access inside the house and at the time it wasn't ready yet. It was
01:06far from being ready but I saw the potential of where the renovations were
01:10going and I'm like okay this is my house. So this is my kitchen. During my travels I
01:15like to bring back different things. So in my kitchen I have some alcohol. I just got
01:20back from Ecuador. I brought back some liquor from there and my friend she got me
01:25some rum from Barbados so I like to have an international ballot as well.
01:31Prior to moving here I was in New York City living with family for two years to
01:35save up for this for this house and in terms of the first few months here it was
01:40a bit dramatic. It seems like everything that could go wrong went wrong. I have
01:46flooding issues, I have leaks in the in the basement but now a year and a half later I
01:52feel like I'm finally at a place where I'm enjoying my home because I just
01:56basically fixed everything that should have been fixed before I bought it.
02:00Okay we're entering the dining room, watch your step. My dining room is inspired by
02:06Africa and my like love for Africa and traveling throughout the continent. In terms
02:11of the aesthetic, the overall feel, I wanted this to feel like warm and just neutral with little pops of
02:17color. So that's why I love this like wood, this wooden table and this like natural accents because
02:23when I think of Africa I just think of such beauty and such natural beauty. And then I have a
02:28few masks
02:29over here from my travel. So um this one is from Morocco and this one is from Ghana as well
02:36and the fan is
02:37from Ghana so I love it. And I recently added this bistro table here because I just wanted additional
02:44um hosting space and yeah it's I like it over here feels like a little pub. So this is my
02:52little
02:52tribute corner to South Africa which I put the spark because it was the first international country I've
02:59ever traveled to so I studied abroad there when I was a junior in college and then in grad school
03:04I also
03:04did an internship over there as well so it's really special to me. This is my my guest bedroom. I'm
03:12really proud of this room because I'm the hostess with the Moses. My guests have to have a top tier
03:16experience so I wanted it to feel like a luxury boutique hotel. That's why I got this velvet bed and
03:24yeah people love it. It's like the first thing they that stands out when they come in the room. My
03:29most
03:29exciting like expensive purchase for the home was the the green velvet headboard in my guest bedroom
03:36is giving like all the luxury vibes and I actually actually sleep here a lot because the bed is just
03:42so comfortable. I love this piece because it reminds me of my friends and I like we're just carefree on
03:48island living the soft life. So one of the most sentimental pieces in my home is my decorative pillow in
03:55the guest bedroom. It's the fabric from my grandmother who passed away a few years ago and I asked my
04:02mom
04:02to create a pillowcase and now my grandmother is forever a part of me. Welcome to my office this is
04:09where all the creative magic happens. Also a tribute to my travels I created this travel gallery wall
04:16and I have different trinkets from my travels. Here is my kind of motivation shelf so I have
04:25different things that like I'm really proud of and just remind me of my past my present and like where
04:32I'm going. I like to just look at this this shelf and be reminded of like all the good things.
04:38I spent
04:39a lot of time just yeah working from home and I wanted my office to be feel a little bit
04:45bolder so
04:46I wanted this to have boldness so that it's more like energy in here and not relaxing because I gotta
04:52get
04:52some stuff done. I work in public health which has always been my world. Growing up in Harlem and this
05:00personally in my family I witnessed so many health issues but more most importantly like I know this
05:07like health disparity racial and ethnic health disparities so I've always been passionate about
05:12helping to eliminate them and most of my career has been working on interventions um in HIV colon cancer
05:20and chronic diseases but I'm also a travel and wellness influencer and the way I got into it was
05:26um after grad school I actually struggled to find a job and after applying to like over 50 jobs I'm
05:33like
05:33okay if the world is not going to give me a job I'm going to create an opportunity for myself
05:37and I've
05:38always been known as like the travel friend and I've been encouraged to start a blog but it wasn't
05:44until like literally there was nothing else for me to do that I'm like you know what let me get
05:48this
05:48blogging idea a try and um that was almost six years ago now so welcome to my wellness room and
05:56this is by
05:57far the my most favorite room in the house I'm here every morning um doing yoga and meditation
06:04is inspired by a lot of different things the pillows I just wanted it so it reminds me of
06:09Morocco and I just wanted a relaxing place I take a lot of great naps right there and the plants
06:15are
06:15just like it just makes me feel so at peace here like I I just feel so blessed to have
06:21this dedicated
06:22space because I my just my mental health is so important to me so I just really wanted to cultivate
06:31that
06:31that piece and and to be able to have like a dedicated space where I'm like okay I could just
06:36come in here and just like let everything go so I have a few um DIY projects in the house
06:43including um
06:44this wood slate panel wall um behind me that was recently completed now we're gonna head down to my
06:52master suite so this is my master suite and honestly this is like the most space I've ever had in
06:59my life
06:59in a room so far and it's inspired by bali that has a lot of bohemian vibes so this is
07:08where all the
07:10magic happens where I get you know pretty and stuff and this is an essential item this is a dehumidifier
07:18so
07:18if you ever have a finished basement it's important to have a dehumidifier because it gets um really
07:25humid and then that could lead to mold and stuff so that's something that I got early on this is
07:30a king bed and I'm not ever going back to non-king life because I can't I have to like
07:37I enjoy even
07:37though I really only sleep in the corner it's nice to know that I have a whole like full size
07:43bed all to
07:44myself so I love my bed so much okay I'm about to show y'all the best part of the
07:50house my closet
07:54so this is the first time in my life that like I could actually like do a soap train line
07:59like in
07:59my closet that's so cool to me this is my my master bathroom and honestly this is what all my
08:06self-care
08:06dreams are made of I'm in this tub every Sunday soaking in epsom salt um that bubble bath and lighting
08:14a candle and I meditate and I just love it it's just it's something I look forward to all the
08:20time
08:21I just want everyone who walks into the house of this feel peaceful and at ease
08:26and usually I get that compliment when people walk into the house
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