21 About me


Howdy stranger! My name is Clara, and in another life I graduated and was employed as an industrial designer. Then I decided to leave my career for something entirely different; today I enjoy my new life as a work-from-home mom and part-time housewife. I am also the webmistress(?) at award-winning CocinaDominicana.com and DominicanCooking.com and co-author of the popular Dominican cookbook Aunt Clara's Dominican Cookbook.

In the last 10 years our family has moved five times and between my husband and I, we have bought, and furnished 5 homes. In 2008, after decades of living in a large city we had enough, and decided to relocate over 200 miles from our home to a new town. Behind we left chaos, pollution, stress, and a hectic lifestyle bound to kill us well before our sell-by date. But with the move we also left behind modern conveniences, shopping choices, and our beautiful, spacious apartment. It was still worth it.

Now I live in PuntaCana, Dominican Republic with my husband Bo and our little girl Nadia. A place where our daughter can walk/bike to school, where crime is not a problem and traffic is non-existent. We breathe fresh air and it takes us all of five minutes to be in an spectacular white-sand beach, 6 minutes to my husband's golf club, or 7 mins to a lovely natural reserve with cold-water springs. Life is good, even the bad days.

This blog chronicles our life in this Caribbean outpost and our journey turning this nondescript, brand-new concrete box into a home.  Since we are so far away from most shops, and we strive to live a frugal life, I have to resort to craftiness, my sewing machines, lots of glue and power tools to whip this place into a semblance of acceptable home life. :)

To contact me, please write clara (at) thehomeinparadise (dot) com.


Welcome to our home. Come on in, mi casa es tu casa.

21 comments:

  1. Hi Clara: I am so glad to have discovered your great blog! I just began blogging and I appreciate [now, more than ever] beautiful blogs with great content. Now, moving on past the flattery----I just had to ask a silly question---the little etched glass that looks like branches and leaves are great---but, how did you get the color for the branches? Perhaps applying paint after the etching?? Thank you for your answer in advance and I think the DR is absolutely breathtaking! :)
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  2. Hi Rebecca, thanks for the nice words. I have two websites that are almost 10 years old, but I am new to blogging myself, just like you.

    There is no color in the leaves, the yellow thing you see is the puffy paint I used to mask the part of the glass I don't want etched. I hope that was the question. Let me know if I misunderstood you.
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  3. Hi Clara!i've scrolled your blog which is fantastic and beautiful;so much ideas and DIY...whaow!thanks for sharing!
    i'm about to become a great fan!
    PS:i almost feel the sun from Punta Cana through my screen!(so nice!i live in the great north of France,lol!)
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  4. Hola Clara, he llegado aquí desde el blog de Sonia http://www.decoralia.es/ y realmente estoy impresionada con lo poco que me ha dado tiempo a ver. Felicidades por este blog tan bonito y tan lleno de buenas idas. Seguiré investigando. Un beso, Ana
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  5. Hola Clara,

    I write you from New York. I love the color of your daughters room! Could you tell me what brand and color it is? Pleeease? Also because I love your style I wanted to ask. I am moving and my son's nursery will be tiny. The apt is also dark, but I don't want him to have a white room. Do you think the blue will brighten up the space and make it look bigger or just make it look smaller?
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  6. Hi Kenia.

    That paint is a local brand. The color is Sky Blue, and I doubt it's going to help you knowing that. It's a very light blue, with a hint of gray. It keeps the blue from becoming too pastel.

    If you paint with a very light blue, one with just a hint of gray, it won't make the room dark, white does not work well in too-dark a room, at least in my opinion.
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  7. Hi Clara,

    I just found your site via YoungHouseLove and I'm so happy I did. What a beautiful place (your blog, but I know Punta Cana is too as I've been there) to visit. I am so looking forward to browsing through old posts, hoping to soak up some of your talent and inspiration. And if I can't, I can assure you I'll be just as happy to read and view what you accomplish. Thanks for all your postings and hard work!
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  8. What an awesome blog you have here. I have spent most of my morning browsing all your posts:) I was wondering if you can tell me what buyer on EBAY you bought the wall lamps in your daughers room. They turned out so whimsical.
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  9. @BTLover2: Cool, when did you come to PC?

    @ Anonymous: The name of the vendor is upgradelights, a quick perusal of the store does not show these lamps in stock. Maybe you can contact them about it. This is the post about changing the shades: http://www.thehomeinparadise.com/2010/03/shady-deals.html
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  10. Hi Clara,
    You have no idea how excited I am to have found a dominican design-crafty-type blogger!!! I haven't perused through all your stuff yet, I just discovered your, but I did see the house and it's B U T FULLLLL...
    I love it!!!! Aww, I wish I could be there..
    Great blog! I can already tell I'll be addicted to it :)
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  11. @ Iraida,

    I am also glad you found me. Stick around, we'll have fun. :)
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  12. Hi Clara,

    In response to your question (sorry it took me so long to get back to you), my husband and I vacationed in PC back in 2008. We didn't venture out from our all-inclusive, but I can see why anyone would want to live there permanently. It's just stunning!
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  13. Clara,

    Una amiga me recomendó tu blog, y--qué casualidad--reconozco a tu hija del colegio. (Mi hijo está en el otro curso del mismo grado.) ¡Me encantaría conocerte! Un día de estos, me presentaré a ti, aunque ya hablamos un día de la cantidad de niños en el curso que tienen "2 ojos". ¡Qué coincidencia! ;)
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  14. Hola Deborah, por supuesto que te reconozco. Me da mucho gusto de oir de ti. Ya te envío un email.
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  15. Hola Clara, me gusta muchissimo tu blog, y me gusta muchissimo tambien la Republica Dominicana (trabajé por un año en Bayahibe!).
    Un fuerte abrazo desde Italia!
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  16. hola, me encanta leerte
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  17. Beautiful web site, Clara! I have a dream of living the simple life by the sea... perhaps one day.
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  18. Hi, Clara!
    I love your blogs!
    Vivo en Florida con mi esposo pero tengo familia en la capital de RD, aunque no soy dominicana.
    Mi esposo y yo trabajamos online todo el tiempo, como profesores y hemos estado pensando en una segunda vivienda en la República Dominicana.
    Tenemos algunas dudas para tomar la decisión (capital versus playa)y me encantaría poder contar con el consejo de alguien que vive allí.
    Nuestras mayores dudas son:
    ¿hay mercados para comprar comida cerca del area residencial?
    ¿Hay estabilidad en el acceso a Internet, puesto que es vital para nosotros?
    ¿Cómo se comporta el problema de los apagones?
    Agradecería en grado extremo cualquier opinión acerca de estos asuntos.
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  19. Violeta, lamento no haber visto tu comentario antes.

    PuntaCana es bastante independiente del país (mis amigos y yo le llamamos la Republica Independiente de PuntaCana). Nuestra experiencia no es la norma.

    Te aconsejo que visites www.dr1.com, es un sitio que te puede ayudar mucho con tus preguntas.
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  20. Muchas gracias por tu respuesta, Clara. Ahora mismo voy a buscar el sitio que me sugieres.
    ¡Buen fin de semana!
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  21. I See there is lot of people that love your writting , I am gonna to try to read you.
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