About Me

Hey there!! I am Anika Gandhi.

I am the creative force behind Anika’s DIY Life.

I am love to inspire you to create a home filled with your unique personality by empowering you with ideas, tools, and skills you need!

I want to show you that if I, having NO experience with DIY, can do this, YOU totally can too!

Come join me and learn with me!

My Story

I have always been crafty – the handmade card and little crafts kind of person – not the hammer and saw wielding DIYer.

In fact, I had not even used a power drill until about 6 years ago!

Then 6 years ago, on a quest for some cute furniture for my daughter, I stumbled on to the world of DIY blogs! I learned to build furniture – thanks to my biggest inspiration Ana White! This is the very first table I ever built and it is still one of my favorites!

For a while, I designed and built furniture for kids on the side while working full time. That business and hence the blog was called Little Free Monkeys. I rebranded in August 2016 but you might see “Little Free Monkeys” across the blog in older posts and pictures.

More about me

I am a physicist and electrical engineer by training but 4 years ago, I quit my full-time engineering job to spend time with my then newborn boy and 3 yr old girl. At the same time, we relocated across the state to a new town, moving from our beautiful first home to a small rental. It was the perfect excuse for me to start my blog!

I live in Southern California – outside of Los Angeles with my amazing husband who I met in grad school and 2 kids aged 9 and 5. I love colors and infuse them in fun unexpected ways in my decor.

A few fun facts!

Now that you have a formal introduction, here are a few fun facts about me –

1. I am quite scared of touching anything non-human. Although, I have become quite brave recently since I have to encourage my kids to interact with animals… the things we do for kids! A Fish is probably the only pet I am willing to have in the house. As I type this out, my daughter brought home Silkworms from her school to take care of for the summer… let’s see how that goes.
2. I have serious nausea towards tea! I could not even drink it to save my life! NOT KIDDING!! This is a big problem in social situations given that I am from India! I am not a big fan of coffee either (My friends (including my husband) wonder how I got  through grad school and Ph.D. without drinking caffeine!)
3. I am a trained Indian classical dancer (in Bharatnatyam). I have also learned Jazz and Modern and I love all things dance and music!
4. I am a “psuedo” vegetarian… I prefer vegetarian food any day but then buffalo wings are my weakness 😉
5. I absolutely love jewelry – especially earrings – the bigger, the blingier, the better!!

Features

Work with me

If you would like to work with me, check out the Work with me page.

Write to me!

I absolutely love hearing from my readers! Send me pictures of your projects, questions, feedback or a note just because! Email me at anika{at}anikasdiylife{dot}com

Or you could write to me the old fashioned way (which I love by the way!) –

P.O. Box 974

Cypress, CA 90630