Organizing My Inspiration

Is it possible to have to much inspiration?  NO WAY!  But it is possible to have to much clutter of inspiration!  I gather my design inspiration from catalogues, magazines, websites, blogs, pictures...all different kinds of media.  I tear them out, cut them out and print them out and then pile them up.  And this is where the clutter of inspiration starts to develop. 

I stick all this stuff in a drawer where it hides away and has become forgotten.  But what good is inspiration if it is forgotten?!?!?  NONE if you ask me!  So I decided it is time to unforget my inspiration and display it in a place I will see everyday.  Here is a sneak peek...

Now I have been using "My Room" a good amount.  I have all my craft items and doodads in there.  And it is a great spot to work on a project that isn't going to get done right away because I can leave everything right where it is, close the door and walk away...bliss.  But I have not gotten around to decorating or furnishing it at all.  It still looks likes this...

(Wow, I'm a little embarrassed that I just showed that to the world!)

But none the less it is the perfect place to display my inspiration.  In my daughter's first room I bought this great mobile and filled it with pictures of family and elephant cutouts.  (Her first room was elephant themed.)  Here is a pic from the store where I bought it and click above for the link.  It is only $10!



It is so fun and totally personal!  But it isn't perfect in her new space so it has gone unused...until now because it is the perfect way to display all my inspiration.  Organization and art all in one!

The clips work great with paper, fabric, pictures, ribbon, anything you could think of.  And it is so easy to switch things out that I can continue to rotate the display as the feeling grabs me.  I hung it right in front of the window so the light catches the colors and shows them off beautifully.

And once I get some color on the walls, furniture in the room, um maybe even a chair to sit on it will look even better!  The two pieces of fabric you see in the top picture (bottom left and along the top) are the jumping off point for the design.  I have a long list of to-do's before I even think about this room, but someday it will look beautiful and serene...exactly what a mom room should be!

Blues and Teals

I have been swooning over the amazing teals that are hitting the decor pages these days.  Look at some of these wonderful spaces...








So when we were discussing what color to paint the Grand Piano Room (which others may call a living room, but oh no...not us!) I enthusiastically suggested teal.  I thought my argument was pretty convincing.  It even included pictures and accessory ideas and even some batting of my eyelashes.  But my husband has become a professional at resisting my adorableness so even my best attempts did not convince him.  So to the paint isle we went. 

The plan was to split up and each grab color cards we liked, which I saw as the perfect opportunity to once again plead my case and this time win for sure.  I bounced around picking out every type of teal I saw...giving him options was the key.  I skipped my way back toward my him thinking I had this one in the bag.  Being the wonderful husband he is he humored me for a few minutes looking at the colors and pretending to consider them.  But in the end I lost, well kind of lost.  We picked a great blue for the living room, not teal, but a bright vibrant blue that I love none the less.  Check it out...

We thought choosing a bold color like this would really make the room pop and bring in enough color to cancel out the cream walls in the family room and kitchen.  It will also go great with the white molding!

AND, yes there is an "and" thank goodness, we compromised that I could do the teal in our bedroom!  Yippee!  To make me feel even better I got to pick out the teal, buy it and race home and put a sample on the wall.  Now it looks a little similar to the Grand Piano Room blue in this pic but it is not.  It is very different!  And SO PRETTY...



So the plan is to paint the Gran Piano Room this beautiful blue both above and below the chair rail.  We already have great furniture and accessories in this room so then we will be done in there.  (Yeah right.  I can't even say that with a straight face.)  And then we will paint the wall behind the bed in the Master teal and the other walls white to brighten up the space and tone down some of the yellow glow the carpet creates.  We will accessorize the bedroom with oranges and tans to compliment the teal.  Did I already say SO PRETTY! I can't wait!  Grand Piano Room first then on to the Master Bedroom.