diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0a94ece..bff61b2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Homelab
 
-A production-grade homelab running on bare-metal Proxmox, with a 17-node Kubernetes cluster managed entirely through GitOps.
+17-node Kubernetes cluster on five bare-metal Proxmox hosts, provisioned with Terraform and Ansible, managed through ArgoCD GitOps. Runs my home automation, media stack, photo backup, documents, and a few side projects.
 
 ![k3s](https://img.shields.io/badge/k3s-v1.34-orange?logo=kubernetes)
 ![nodes](https://img.shields.io/badge/nodes-17-blue)
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ graph TB
 | VM | `docker-lb` | Caddy reverse proxy (LAN only) | 1 vCPU · 2 GB RAM |
 | VPS | `mii` | Edge node (Netcup) | WireGuard · Traefik · Pangolin |
 
-All VMs run **Debian 12** on `virtio` network bridges, provisioned from cloud-init templates via **Terraform + Ansible**.
+All VMs run Debian 12 on `virtio` network bridges, provisioned from cloud-init templates via Terraform + Ansible.
 
 ---
 
@@ -133,38 +133,38 @@ All VMs run **Debian 12** on `virtio` network bridges, provisioned from cloud-in
 
 ---
 
-## Key Design Decisions
+## Design notes
 
-**GitOps end-to-end.** Every cluster resource is declared in Git and applied by ArgoCD. Nothing is `kubectl apply`'d by hand. ArgoCD Image Updater closes the loop by writing image tag updates back to Git automatically.
+Everything goes through Git. ArgoCD owns the cluster state; nothing gets `kubectl apply`'d directly. ArgoCD Image Updater handles the image update loop: when a new tag appears in the registry, it commits the change back to Git and ArgoCD picks it up from there.
 
-**Secrets in Git, safely.** Sealed Secrets lets encrypted `SealedSecret` manifests live in the same repo as everything else. Only the in-cluster controller can decrypt them.
+Secrets are committed to Git too, encrypted via Sealed Secrets. Only the in-cluster controller holds the decryption key.
 
-**No cloud dependency for ingress.** MetalLB + Traefik handles all internal load balancing. External access goes through Cloudflare tunnels or a WireGuard VPN — no ports open on the home router.
+No ports are open on the home router. Internal load balancing goes through MetalLB + Traefik. External access uses Cloudflare tunnels or a WireGuard VPN routed through the edge VPS.
 
-**Distributed storage without a SAN.** Longhorn replicates volumes across all 14 agent nodes. NFS on a dedicated bare-metal host serves the media library to Jellyfin with low latency.
+Longhorn handles block storage by replicating volumes across all 14 agent nodes. The media library lives on a dedicated NFS host instead — latency matters when Jellyfin is reading large video files, and NFS is simpler for that.
 
-**Observability from day one.** Prometheus + Grafana for metrics, Elastic Stack (via ECK operator) for logs and fleet management. Elastic Agents run as a DaemonSet across the whole cluster.
+Metrics go to Prometheus + Grafana. Logs and fleet management go to Elastic Stack via the ECK operator, with Elastic Agents running as a DaemonSet so every node is covered.
 
-**Provisioning is reproducible.** Proxmox VMs are created via Terraform (Proxmox provider), then configured by Ansible roles — from base OS hardening to k3s installation and kubeconfig management.
+All VMs are provisioned with Terraform and configured by Ansible. Rebuilding from scratch doesn't require remembering anything.
 
 ---
 
-## Repository Layout
+## Repo layout
 
 ```
-ansible-homelab/          # Ansible roles + playbooks for all VM provisioning
+ansible-homelab/
 ├── roles/
-│   ├── common/           # Base OS config, SSH hardening, node-exporter
-│   ├── k3s_server/       # HA control plane install + taint config
-│   ├── k3s_agent/        # Worker node install
-│   ├── kube_vip/         # HA VIP (kube-vip DaemonSet on control plane nodes)
-│   ├── docker_host/      # Docker + GPU passthrough
-│   ├── proxmox/          # Proxmox node config
-│   └── edge_vps/         # VPS services (WireGuard, Traefik, Pangolin)
-└── playbooks/            # Top-level playbooks per host group
+│   ├── common/           # base OS config, SSH hardening, node-exporter
+│   ├── k3s_server/       # control plane install + NoSchedule taint
+│   ├── k3s_agent/        # worker node install
+│   ├── kube_vip/         # kube-vip DaemonSet + TLS SAN config
+│   ├── docker_host/      # Docker + Intel QuickSync GPU passthrough
+│   ├── proxmox/          # Proxmox node setup
+│   └── edge_vps/         # VPS: WireGuard, Traefik, Pangolin, Elastic Agent
+└── playbooks/
 
-argocd-homelab/           # All Kubernetes manifests (ArgoCD App-of-Apps)
-├── infrastructure/       # Platform: MetalLB, Longhorn, Cert-Manager, ECK, …
-├── services/             # Applications: Immich, Vaultwarden, arr-stack, …
-└── cluster-apps/         # ArgoCD ApplicationSets + root app
+argocd-homelab/
+├── infrastructure/       # MetalLB, Longhorn, Cert-Manager, ECK, Istio, ...
+├── services/             # Immich, Vaultwarden, arr-stack, Home Assistant, ...
+└── cluster-apps/         # ArgoCD App-of-Apps root + ApplicationSets
 ```