Room for Inspiration — by Guest Mom Leslie
Second only to the beach, a clean, quiet, sparsely-furnished and well-appointed room is the most relaxing place for me to be. Since I have three young children at home, these rooms are hard to come by in my own house. I try my best to keep an orderly home, but sometimes I find myself wishing all the toys away! (But not the kids.) When I started my blog, I thought of the lines from the song "Wouldn't it Be Loverly?" from My Fair Lady. "All I want is a room somewhere, Far away from the cold night air, With one enormous chair, Oh wouldn't it be loverly?" (Of course, lots of chocolates and someone's head resting on my knee wouldn't be so bad, either!) I think all moms long for a quiet place every so often.
I really enjoy putting together little dream rooms in my head and on my blog. I've never been trained in design; I'm just a girl who likes a pretty space. I collect images of places I can dream about inhabiting and ideas I can realistically incorporate into my own house.
I've found it hard to pinpoint my "style," since, like most people's, I think it is constantly evolving. I know that I like a vintage piece here and there, bright light, linen and natural fabrics, symmetry, texture, original artwork, and clean lines. Below is a pretty little assortment of my favorite rooms that I've come across as a result of my beautiful image-collecting habit.
I recently came across a fabulous blog for room-collecting, Desire to Inspire, where they feature incredible rooms by designers around the world. Rooms like the beauty pictured at the top and this one:
Have you been able to create rooms you love in your home? Where do you find inspiration?
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Monday, January 14, 2008
19 Comments:
I can totally relate to your post and the conflict between wanting a well designed and peaceful place, yet having your home be kid friendly as well. I also turn to the internet to enjoy photos and inspiration from other designers creations to get my fix. Then I try to incorporate what I can into my own home, but when it comes down to it, it is all about the kids. It is still fun to dream though...
This is was very serendipitous for my to come across as, my husband and I are finally in the process of transforming a hidden jewel that we neglected and abused... a small quiet space in the back of our house, behind a hidden door beond the fireplace.
I can't wait to really see what we unearth and see all that we want the room to "feel" come to life in how it looks.
I love the first photo! It reminds me of the decorating style I've tried to incorporate in my home. Like every other home with kids- it never looks the way I want it to unless I'm having a party! Then-it is perfect just long enough gor for my first guest to arrive... As long as one person got to see it that way, I'm pleased.
muy bonita! i too love that website ... its definately a daily read!
another favorite of mine for getting inspiration :
http://thepeakofchic.blogspot.com/
I love minimalism with personality and comfort. I lay in bed at night fantasizing about what I would do in my new little home if money were no object and if my small town offered the furnishing options of say, Seattle or Austin. I gather magazine clippings...
i'm glad to see i'm not the only dreamer! ;) and thanks, alyssa, for that link. bookmark complete!
i have always devoured architectural digest (i know more architectural than design, but?) since I was a wee little one. otherwise I get ideas from your funky fresh trendsetting site. you've always been ahead of the curve leslie.
Like your style, Leslie!
So true! In our front two rooms which are mostly empty (living & dining) I have had grandiose ideas about the expensive furniture I long to fill them with. But as we haven't won the lottery, I have gotten accustomed to the space, I quite enjoy it. Plus the kids don't play in those rooms. So, the sparse living room has become my new favorite phone-talking retreat :) As soon as I get my one enormous chair, it will be just right!
Leslie I always leave your blog feeling inspired to create a little beauty wherever I can, thankyou!
The biggest problem I have is incorporating ALL of the things I love into my living spaces. It seems that if I try to make it too "magazine-y" I hate it after a few weeks and want to rearrange and change everthing all over again! So I guess I am still in search of my own personal style.
leslie... you may not be professionally trained, but you definitely have a wonderful eye. i definitely agree that it is so important to create wonderful, beautiful, yet live-able living spaces. thanks for all your inspiration!
My husband and I live in an apartment during our 2 year contract stay that is being paid for and furnished by his company. Most of the furniture I hate but their are a few gems here!
We have a spare bedroom that has an old, pretty, wooden wardrobe that I love and we've managed to add a few details to that room like some art prints, clean white bedspread, lots of big comfy pillow, and Chinese paper lanterns and have turned it into our "pretty room". I love being in there...it is always clean, always comfortable, and has a beautiful view of the Black Forest. It's still eclectic but so so pretty and comfortable...my favorite room!
Beautiful and inspiriing rooms for sure!
Nearly a year ago now Design Mom was gracious enough to feature my home on one of her posts. I am inspried by france, by elegant comfort- the kind that looks great but lives well with children!
I love to feel uplifted, romantic, happy in my spaces- so I am often led by emotions in my initial design ideas. I also live in COLOR. I love to feel the color evolve throughout my home. It flows with only certain splashes of color finding thier way into each and every room, creating the harmony- yet allowing other colors to take center stage.
I am redoing my room right now and I was looking up designer rooms, and I kept noticing how the chrisp contemorary white wall look is really in. I think it is cute but it would be totally hard to keep it clean. I really like the look but in order for it to work it would have to be immaculate. Any suggestions(i was thiking of painting my room either red or sage or really light baby yellow)
Oh and by the way Gabby this blog is GREAT! I am so impressesd.
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wow! what a great link - thanks for the tip, i love that site!
While the first one is beautiful from an artistic standpoint, the last thing I think of when I see it is "relaxing" or "home." It's too stark and hard. Beautiful but far from relaxing. Aesthetically pleasing, but that's where it stops for me. But I do think there is a way to have both.
At this point, with four boys and lots of company always coming through, I have a user friendly home. It's pretty but not magazine worthy by any stretch. But that's okay, that's what makes it home to me. :^D
Great photos Leslie, I have been trying to kick my shelter magazine habit, I think I got it done to like 9 subscriptions this year, but images like that sure suck me back in. Wish I could be satisfied with computer images, but there is just something for me about actually taking the effort to rip out a page that keeps the image in my mind better for recall at later consultations.
Rsabey, I have found that with wall color the line between crisp and stark can be a little tricky. Whites are harder to get right then seem like they should be. I am pretty sure that the “whites” you often see in photographs aren’t nearly as “white” as you might think. Also with pale colors, the reflected light from nearby objects – sometimes even outside the room can often impact the overall effect dramatically. Such finely tuned color selection (read- many large samples or complete repaints) may not sound fun to you – and it wouldn’t for most people. I sure love getting colors nailed just right. I actually tried to answer your question but it turned into several paragraphs and I suppose it would be rude? to leave such an long comment, or actually comment response on someone else's,(not sure of the etiquette) so I actually do answer your question (I think I did anyway -let me know)over on my blog
if anyone else has additional questions or needs helpful painting tips let me know i will try to answer them with as little rambling as possible - maybe it will even give me some direction.
Great guest blogger.
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