Lately, I’ve received a lot of messages in my inbox asking how you can achieve the look you envision for your home. Most of the time, the phrases “I just don’t have the eye for that” or “I’m not sure I could do that” are included somewhere in the message.
What is it about layouts we see in magazines, the room designs we see on television, or the warm decor we see in model homes that make us think that our own homes can’t look like that? Do we think it will cost to much? Do we think our kids/husbands/pets will destroy it? Do we think that we just simply couldn’t pull that “look” together?
Regardless of what our issues may be, I’m ready to pull us all out of that mindset (including myself). Today, I’m beginning a weekly series called, “Making Your Dream Room a Reality.” I’m going to take us step by step through the process of seeing an idea you love and turning it into a room you love.
Are you ready?
Once you’ve decided that you are ready to make your dream room a reality, it’s time to identify your inspiration. What is it that inspires you? When I talk about inspiration in a home, I’m talking about things that make you smile, make you feel warm and cozy, and make your heart skip a beat whenever you see them.
Inspiration can be found all around us. It could be a layout in a home decor magazine that just came in the mail. Maybe it’s the seashells you collected on your family’s beach vacation last summer. Perhaps there’s a scene in a movie that features the most wonderful kitchen you’ve ever seen. Whatever your inspiration, it’s important that you identify it.
Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott’s former bedroom from Luxist. Y’all are going to grow so tired of seeing this room.
If you are anything like me, you have tons of inspiration images saved on your computer that you’ve found online and mountains of magazines with dog-eared pages. As I begin to refocus my decorating efforts on the master bedroom, I needed to put all of that inspiration in one place so I can see everything at once. I’m a very visual person, as I bet you are, too, if you are interested in beautifying your home.
This weekend, I set up a Flickr photostream for my inspiration photos. I’ve been adding my photos there and labeling them with different tags to help me locate them (i.e. bedroom, blue, DIY, etc). I have been scanning magazine pages into digital files as time allows, so I will be able to house everything in one place.
I’m also hoping that my Flickr photostream will help you when you are looking for a little inspiration. Feel free to search the photos with keywords, comment on the photos you like (or dislike even) and save the ones you love. I have also set up a Flickr group so that you can add your photos if you would like. It will inspire me to see what inspires you! The link to both my Flickr photostream and the Flickr group will always be over in the sidebar, so you can visit it anytime you like. I’ll be updating the pictures almost daily.
Flickr is quick, easy, and free to use, so online resources like this are perfect housing our inspiration “files.” However you decide to organize your inspiration, spend some time this week pulling it all together in one place. I don’t want any “I love this but could never do it” thoughts in your mind at this time. Let’s just find photos and images of what we love and get them organized.
Next Monday, we’ll move on to Part Two of Making Your Dream Room a Reality and start working with those inspiration photos. I hope you’ll join me!
This is a great idea for a series, looking forward to next week…
Lindsay, I'm so excited for this series. 🙂 I have tons of pages torn out of magazines, and I've begun to save pages from blogs on my "Favorites" file online. I guess I should figure out which room I want to be my dream room, huh? 😉
I am SO happy you're doing this!! I'm looking over your flickr photos right now and I'll definitely be joining your group!
I LOVE Tori and Dean's bedroom. It's my inspiration for a future Master Bedroom re-do. Thanks for sharing!
I have the pictures all set aside just don't know how to put it all together. A little at a time I guess.
I did just transform my daughter's room. I put pics on my blog.
Thanks for all the great ideas you share.
Ruth
I am so excited for next week! This is great! I was just asking myself this Exact same question. Thank you! Can't wait!
Oh man, this will give me GREAT ideas! You are fabulous for doing this. Thank you!
Thanks for posting this. I am looking forward to this series.
I'm excited for this series – can't wait to see what you have to teach us.
This is such a timely post for me! Yay!!
I have been slowly coming to realize that the decor in our home(while tasteful and nice looking) is just not 'me' and I really want to do something about it!!! I am getting that whistful feeling when seeing other interiors that I used to get back before I got married and dreamed of "some day" I'll decorate like…..
Well, somehow in the midst of parenting small children while my husband pursues a PhD I've gotten stuck in this rut of making do with what we have and STILL feeling like I'm in that waiting mode of 'someday' – until just recently.
I've been so inspired by lovely blog ladies like you and a hand full of others that I've come to discover this summer – I'm ready to not just make do' but DO 'do it myself' that is! I am so excited that I don't have to spend a TON of money to get to where I'd like to be. AND even if it is just a little something added or a project completed one at a time, at least I'm getting somewhere TODAY!
If you like, you can read about how I like to house my inspiration photos here:
http://1wonderwomanwannabe.blogspot.com/2009/07/live-your-dreams.html