All that talk on the way here about how awesome this house was, and my choice of shirt and belt had more esthetic than the living room. He seemed so proud of it and he had paid a huge amount of money for that internal design and I wasn’t in the business of dishing out disillusionment, so as usual I kept my thoughts to myself.

“Great house” I said

“Yeah I know” he replied with a lot of excitement in his voice.

He had gone through some rough patches in his life. Worse than most people. He lost both his parents at a young age, never completed high school but at least he knew how to play football and he had recently signed a huge deal with an overseas club. I was genuinely happy for him. He deserved it. What he didn’t deserve was this whack interior design he had going at his place. Just looking at it hurt my eyes. It made me feel like I was on DMT every time I closed and opened my eyes.Who knew there was colour combination you could never get used to?

I wondered if he liked it because he spent so much money on it, or if he just had no sense of style. I hoped it was the former. Because even if a blind person walked in here, he will know something isn’t right, and nothing was in this house when it came to the design. He walked me around the house showing me each room, and you wouldn’t believe it, but it did get worse. I thought it was just the living room but the rest of the house was filled with lazy workmanship. We finished the tour of his 7 bedrooms 9 bathrooms 3 dining rooms 1 kitchen and living room house. Honestly, who needs this many rooms in their house? I guess it doesn’t really matter when you have the money for it.

“Do you like it?” he asked with a smile.

“Do you want the right answer or the good one? “I asked back

“Just tell me what you honestly think man”

This Guy just asked me to tell him what I really think; I guess there is no holding back now.

“Dude, we’ve been friends for a very long time, brothers even.So believe me when I tell you, what I’m about to say comes from a place of love.My eyes have never gone through this amount of visual torture. This place sucks. The house is great. But the interior design needs a whole lot of improvement, and that’s even an understatement. My little 5 year old cousin would do a better job with a pack of crayons and cardboard paper”

If he was sad, shocked or annoyed by what I said, he didn’t show it. Kudos on the poker face.

He pondered on it for a while, then said “I knew something wasn’t right”

<No shit?> I thought.

“I mean I paid these guys 800 000CFA to design this interior. The guy who did it said it was contemporary interior design, that I will get it with time”

“Brother, there is not enough time in this life to make this look like art” I told him. “And if real contemporary interior design is what you want, then I know just the right guys for you”

“Really?”  He asked.

”Yes, really” I replied. “Jongo studio’s style of interior design focuses on the deliberate use of texture, and clean lines. Their interior design tends to showcase space rather than things and you have a lot of good space here my friend. By focusing on colour, space, and shape, Jongo studios interior design is genuinely sleek and fresh. In other words, it’s 100 times better than whatever you have going on here”

“Wow” He said “I haven’t understood half the words you used, but I’m already impressed. How do I get to them?”

“Easy. Just go to their website www.JongoStudios.Com and place your order. The website is really user friendly. You’ll easily find your way around. Or if you prefer you could go to their office in Molyko, before checkpoint. You’ll see their sign”

Excitedly he tells me “I’m going there right now, let me just make sure I have enough money to pay them.”

“I saved the best for last.” I said.  “You my friend, got ripped off. Jongo studios will do it for at least a quarter of what you paid”

….