Jamaica Part I

Montego Bay, Jamaica

The front of Star Apple, our home for 10 days. In November, Jamaica was hit by Hurricane Matthew, which would explain the cedar slabs ontop of the roof.

My family and I decided to ditch Christmas this year and head for somewhere warm - Jamaica. Prior to planning our trip, I had read about Kid & Coe on Emily Henderson's blog. Kid & Coe is an Airbnb type service, but is catered more towards kids (even though we have no "kids" in the family). They have homes all around the world that are not only oozing with character, but are huge, most likely with a pool, and reasonably priced. After searching on several different sites and exploring the idea of staying at a resort, I found Star Apple, a lovely Jamaican home nestled in the mountains overlooking Montego Bay. Trust me, it’s as great as it sounds. Take a look:

I loved this colorful bookcase filled with Jamaican knick knacks, cds, pictures, and lots of books.

This was the living room where we spent most evenings and even covered that table in a puzzle that we unfortunately never completed. I'm standing on the back porch taking this picture so you can see how small the living room was and also how the front door is directly inline with the back.

Architecturally this house was brilliant. We often nerd out and analyze the houses, gardens, and grounds in which we stay in while traveling. I'm the photographer, my two brothers are architects, and my dad is a real-estate agent, passionate gardener, and has an eye for interior design like you wouldn't believe so you could say we have an artistic family.

The layout of the house centered around the living room and the back porch, where we spent most of our time. Thus, the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen flanked the sides of the house. It was an open-air concept, meaning doors and windows were meant to be open all the time for cross-ventilation, a natural system used in warmer climates to circulate air. And that they were. They were open all the time, which was a good thing and definitely a bad thing (BUGS!). The hallway leading from the living room to our bedrooms was designed with a latticed type wall that was completely open and covered by a thin mesh sheet. If there was no furniture in the living room, you could walk from the front of the house to the back in about 6 steps all while seeing the ocean directly in front of you. The way the house's structure directs your eye from the front door all the way to back was meticulously planned while building. I also was find the way houses are built in certain climates and parts of the world so interesting.

One of the cool things about Star Apple (and most other Kid & Coe properties) is the in-home chef and butler. Our chef, Pansy, and our butler, Michael, and later Junior, were waiting for us upon our arrival to Star Apple. Michael takes care of the house and the grounds around it while no one is there (the owner lives in the UK) and Pansy comes a few times a week to prepare for visitors and do some cleaning. I have to say it was hard to get used to. I am certainly not one that likes to be waited on and cooking is one of my favorite things to do, but these people were so friendly and taught us so much about their lives and the history of the house. 

Our chef, Pansy, cooked up amazing Jamaican food. Her specialty was chicken. Junior came to us halfway through the week to fill in for Michael. He was such a sweet guy who used to work on cruise ships. He taught us how to fold napkins into several different shapes. 

Since we arrived at the Louisville airport at 4:45am we were both starving and exhausted so Pansy whipped us up an amazing homemade Jamaican lunch - jerk chicken. I'll tell you this right now, Jamaicans freaking love chicken. The KFCs in the country have lines out the door and wrapped around the building on the reg. Its cray. 

OK LUNCH:

Our table was always set so beautifully by Michael, with fresh flowers, different placemats, and cool napkin shapes.

Jerk chicken, pasta, and steamed veggies for lunch.

After lunch, I spent like wayyyy too long walking around taking pictures. The Star Apple was so undeniably picture perfect. The best part yet? There were so many plants. 

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Petra

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The rest of Christmas Eve was spent making the week's plans, lounging around the house and heading to bed early. We did start our day around 3:45am after all. I still have hundreds of pictures to go through and am looking forward to sharing all of the things we did in Jamaica.

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