Magazines Inspiration

                                     
                                                       http://www.elledecor.com/
Elle Decor is sort of chic and old fashioned at the same time. It has some of the most inspirational examples of interior decorating and also some good tips.

                                          
                                     http://www.magazine-agent.com/cottage-living/magazine
Cottage Living is just super cute!

                               
                                             http://www.homeanddesign.com/
This is one that i've never really looked at but just cae across it doing some research and it seemed pretty interesting to me.

                           
                             
                                                  http://www.traditionalhome.com/

                      
                                                    http://www.housebeautiful.com/

This furniture is very inspirational to me. It's all pretty simple and clean cut but still has a very modern design to it.



               

                                 

Career Spotlight

    I think what i really would like to do is commercial design. Combine the fields of art, business, and engineering to design the products people use every day such as restaurants, offices, retail stores and clubs. These designers are responsible for the style, function, quality, and safety of almost every manufactured good. Here are some pictures of some really nicely designed commercial spaces:

          

              

       

                              

           

                              

Inspirational Design

     Over the Thanksgiving holiday i went to a small town near South Padre to visit family and noticed there was an old church that was interesting to me. Many of the homes there have been lived in for a very long time but some of the nicer ones have an adobe style to them, much like the old church but with more of a modern twist. I thought they looked very nice! I don't have any actual pictures but here are some similar to what i saw :

                            



      
                                     

                      

  

Project Spotlight

     My house is pretty small so i've really become obsessed with the idea of making little spaces appear larger. So, that is my current personal project. My bathroom has no windows, my closet is extremely small, the kitchen barely has enough room for a dining table! Everything that i could use to open up a space has been limited. I'm not going to post any pictures of the rooms in my house because it's pretty much all under construction at the moment. But i do have some creative 'before and after' ideas that helped inspire me.


                                                                      BEFORE:
          

                                                                             AFTER:
           

                                                                     BEFORE:
            

                                                                     AFTER:
             
                        (white really helps open up a room!you don't want too many dark colors)

                                                                              BEFORE:
                                                

                                                                             AFTER:
                                            
                           (I love this! The blue gives it a cool effect and allows light to come in.)

A few other tips i've learned:
       - Mirrors make a room seem larger by reflecting any natural light.
       - Only keep the essentials. Anything you don't use is just taking up space.
       - Keep window covering sheer to allow more light to come in.
       - Use paint combinations that reflect light. Anything but dark colors.
       - Chose furniture that doubles as storage.
       - Make sure furniture is the proper scale for the space it is in.
       - Use vertical stripes on walls or cabinets for easy decorating.

Could have been better!

Take a look at this room... 


      

I think it really was going in the right direction but seemed to have taken a turn for the worst when choosing the color scheme. Yellow and purple...come on! Maybe as small accent colors, yes. Not big purple couchs and yellow chairs and lamps though. Ew. Also, the walls are too plain. The architecture is great in my opinion with lots of windows for natural light. But what's a nicely structured home without good interior to match?

My inspiration for the week

         My neices were my inspiration this week. I took them to a place called the art barn studio where you can paint ceramics and make lots of different types of crafts. My youngest neice who is 2 and had no idea what she was doing painted a cute little tooth shaped box for when the tooth fairy comes. She used soft colors like light blue, purple and pink. Much like these rooms:

                                                  

                

                                                         

(i love this room!)

My other neice who is 6 had a little bit better handle on her painting. She used a ceramic unicorn and painted it with different shades of blues, browns and some green. Sort of like these rooms:

                                                                   

                

                                      

Designer's Inspiration

I used to think that the modern theme was the most appealing type of interior design to me. I didn't like anything rustic or old fashioned. But the more i look into different styles the more i am really starting to like this look!

                                    

                                      I love these bathtubs!

                                  

                          

Most of the stuff with this style in paricular is all based on very neutral colors. It looks very earthy and brings a calming feeling and a lot of light into the rooms.

                       

      A lot of these pictures are from Cottage Living, they are so cute and cozy looking!

Bloggy Inspiration

Some designer's blogs that i really enjoy:

http://www.designspongeonline.com/

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

http://materialgirlsblog.com/

http://blog.addicted2decorating.com/

http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/

http://insideavenue.blogspot.com/

http://www.cococozy.com/

Design Legend: Elsie De Wolfe

                                     

          "I was an ugly child and I lived in an ugly age." These were the words written by Elsie in her memoirs. She believed that she lacked in her aesthetic appeal and eventually used it to her advantage. Else did not have traditional beauty so she made it her goal to make the world more beautiful. And she did just that. Elsie quit her acting career after 40 years and left the stage to be an interior decorator. She grew up in the victorian era and used this as the center of her decorating themes. With a distinctive style, lavish materials, goddy paterns and light colors it was still kept simple and practical, letting as much light in the rooms as possible. She quickly became known as one of the first female interior decorators and brought light to this as a career. Then in 1926 she married a man known as Sir Charles Mendl and was then after referred to as Lady Mendl. After becoming quite successful in her journey, elsie wrote a book called, 'A House in Good Taste' that was published in 1935. Her book entailed a mixture of her interior decorating kowledge and excerpts about her personal life. Elsie was not only creative in the home decorating aspect but in her fashion sense as well. She was famous for always wearing three strands of pearls and was named one of the best dressed women in the world in 1935 by Paris experts. And though Elsie De Wolfe has been dead for half a century she still remains remarkably known for her style to this day.