Emily Walker is the founder of Next Dinner Party Designs, a business dedicated to helping the foreign service community create beautiful spaces abroad.

Before the Foreign Service, she was a journalist covering healthcare in Washington, D.C., but her first tour move to Yemen sparked her interest in the unique experiences of Americans living in foreign countries and eventually led her to write a book set in the expat community there.

Living abroad led her to build on her love of transforming her own spaces and eventually transition to interior design. During a posting in Algeria she renovated a community center as a project manager and decided to make the switch full time.

You'll hear Emily describe her process of working remotely with clients, using 3D models and shared Pinterest boards to exchange design ideas. She highlights the importance of reflecting a client's personality in their space and shares examples of common mistakes people make when designing their homes abroad.

Emily also provides practical tips for improving living spaces abroad, such as replacing dingy drapes, anchoring rooms with large rugs, and considering paint colors to set the right mood.

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Emily Walker is the founder of Next Dinner Party Designs, a virtual interior design company aimed at helping Foreign Service folks create comfy, stylish, and vibrant spaces brimming with personality. Living in Yemen, Spain, Jerusalem, Morocco, and Algeria has helped her develop a colorful and patternful Global Eclectic style that seeks to spice up the often bland government digs diplomats move into abroad.

She's also an avid home cook, cocktail mixer, dinner party host, and writer. She's written about her overseas adventures, design projects, marriage, and cultural differences since 2012 on her blog, The Next Dinner Party. She's also written an (as yet unpublished) novel set in her first post, Yemen.

Podcast listeners can reference code "AvailableWorldwide2023" and receive 10% off a Next Dinner Party Designs Special. https://nextdinnerpartydesigns.com/services/

-Next Dinner Party Designs https://nextdinnerpartydesigns.com/

-The Next Dinner Party blog https://thenextdinnerparty.com/

-Instagram: @nextdinnerparty