Is this light fixture ooh-la-la worthy or what? Jared took this photo last weekend in Kansas City. The Starbucks at Country Club Plaza is looking pretty slick these days after a mini-makeover that happened sometime in the past six months since we were last there. They’ve added a cool inside/outside fireplace, some cushy leather chairs and a super sleek oversized worktable that could easily accommodate a half dozen college kids on the night before finals. But this light fixture (made of little more than twisted metal and wiring, as far as we could tell) was the real gem of the bunch. We love how it feels one-of-a-kind and so simple at the same time. Is anyone out there handy with a welder? We’d like one of these, stat!
I think one of the greatest things about home design/decorating is that ideas are floating all around us. Maybe you pore over the pages of decorating magazines or spend hours with catalogs from your favorite stores (Pottery Barn has me drooling on a bi-weekly basis). Whatever your method might be, the good news is there’s no shortfall of inspiration to be found — the trick comes in knowing where to look.
When I’m in the market for inspiration, here are a few tips I try to keep in mind:
1. Shop ’til you drop: Wait a minute, pals. This doesn’t mean buy, buy, buy (where did that *NSYNC music come from?) until your credit card cries. Perhaps a better tagline would be “Window shop ’til you drop.” Break out of your shell a bit, and periodically take a peek in stores that you might not usually visit. For at least two months, Jared and I were in mega search mode for a shower curtain for our guest bathroom (something simple, graphic, with at least a splash of purple), and our reliable haunts like Pottery Barn, Target and Crate and Barrel weren’t pulling their weight. It took a trip to JCPenney, which we hadn’t been to in more than a year, to finally strike shower curtain gold. If you’re willing to do some digging, you can find some great department store treasures (not to mention things are almost always on sale. Score!).
So jump outside your comfort zone. The more you expand your shopping horizons, the more you’ll know what’s out there. And the more you know what’s out there, the more likely you’ll be to find something you love.
2. Take a cue from stores, restaurants and your favorite hangouts: Odds are, if you like spending time there, something about the decor makes you feel happy, homey or just plain comfortable. Next time you’re hanging out at Starbucks or your favorite local restaurant, take note of the design elements you’re particularly drawn to. Maybe it’s the paint scheme, the furniture or lighting. How can those elements translate into your space?
I’m completely gaga for the dressing rooms at Aerie. It’s not my favorite store on the planet, but I love going in just to see the design (think white wainscoting; super dark, wide-plank hardwood floors; gray-blue walls; and crystal accents — swoon!). Unfortunately I couldn’t go full-on copycat and start ripping out our apartment-grade carpet, but we did settle on a similar wall color for our bedroom. We paired that with white furniture to create a loosely Aerie-inspired look (minus the walls of pajamas, of course).
3. Take a trip down memory lane: It’s easy to get stuck in that must-decorate-like-an-adult mode, where you forget everything you loved as a kid, teen or even in college and start paving your grown-up design path with neutral tones and sensible purchases. But where’s the fun in that?
Before Jared and I were married, my apartment decor was black, white and pink — lots of pink. Somewhere in that first year of marriage, while struggling to stifle my pinkness and adapt to “grown-up” decorating, I managed to push out every hint of fun and color from our shared living space. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good neutral, but without punches of color to jazz it up, our place was feeling pretty blah.
Purple, anyone? I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but when it’s kept in small doses, I’m a purple fan to the max. And as long as I keep it on the dark, rich side and not the light, pastel-y side, Jared’s totally on board. It’s a blast from the past for me and a blast of pizzazz for the living room. Woot!
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So what about you? What inspiration do you find from your favorite shops, restaurants or decorating styles gone by? Where do you go when you’re fresh out of ideas?
XO,
Katrina
I love the idea of rich purple! Our upstairs has wonderful, bright blue accents and downstairs has dark red. I find inspiration in our favorite local coffee shop and in fun pieces. The closest Target is 2.5 hours away, but a local antique-y shop is great for things like old mason jars. I enjoy World Market (also 2.5 hours away!), but shipping has been a challenge. They won’t ship to PO Boxes, but they also don’t tell you the shipping option they use is sent by UPS to your local Post Office. So if you have a super rural address like ours, the Post Office says it’s undeliverable! I eventually got my curtains despite the hiccups, and they’re great!
Your place sounds lovely, Beth! I haven’t been to a World Market in ages, but now that you mention it, I can’t wait to go back! So glad you were able to get your curtains home where they belong.