Inspired in October

By Kate Riley October 14, 2010

Sunday mornings I get up early before church, make a big pot of coffee, and go blog hopping, often visiting sites that I haven’t had time to visit during the week, or blogs that are new to me.  It’s my own ‘choose your own adventure’ excursion, and I just let links take me boldly where I’ve never been before.

Often I stumble upon the most delightful images that inspire me to remodel, revamp, rethink, or just simply dream.  Here are some of the images I’ve savored in the last month, with corresponding random thoughts:

Someday soon I shall rent a buff floor sander to remove the varnish on my natural oak floors so that I can stain them darker so they look just like this.

dark wood floors via simply seleta   via Simply Seleta

 

If only my pantry looked like this and not the exact opposite.

beadboard pantry boston bash flickrFlickr

  

It’s official.  My office needs a credenza and an inspiration board above it.  Sofa, you shall be moved to the living room.

hgtv emily design star officeStyle by Emily Henderson 

 

Sometimes I wonder what color I should paint something.  When in doubt, I shall paint it primer gray.   Not to dark, not to light.  Just right.

gray paint

via Houzz and La Dolce Vita

  

It wasn’t a dream!  My fantasy dining room actually exists.

alexandra rae dining room

Alexandra Rae via House of Turquoise

 

These bookcases have me rethinking my first inclination to paint everything white.

black lacquer bookshelves via lgn Nuevo Estilo via Little Green Notebook

   

As does Celerie Kemble’s dressing room.  *sigh*

celerie kemble dressing room lonny  Lonny

 

What can I say about this space beyond the gray velvet, sparkling silver, and deep blue gloss, other than it is just so me.

windsor smith chair via plush palate via Plush Palate

 

I have found two kitchen backsplashes that I would choose over the standard white brick pattern tile.

arabesque tileMission Stone Tile

 

this old house backsplash This Old House

 

I would die to soak in this tub and gaze at the perfection that is floor to ceiling spa blue glass tile.  My only hesitation with free standing soaking tubs like this one is where oh where to set my glass of bubbly.

hamptons cottages and gardens 2006 via hoturq Hamptons Cottages & Gardens via House of Turquoise

 

I am now convinced that a loggia may be the key to pure bliss.

TB_173_013.tif

house beautiful loggia radiant heat floors

via Kathryn Ireland and House Beautiful

 

Remember how I mentioned the other day that we should all be preparing for the holidays?  Someone needs to start making paper chains and stringing marshmallows right now, and I mean today  to be ready for Christmas so your house can look like these windows from Anthropologie.  Volunteers?

anthro links via shelter

anthro marshmallows via shelter

via Shelter

 

That’s all for today, thanks for reading. Anything design related inspiring you this month?  No doubt, you save images in your inspiration files too!  What’s your latest fixation?

 

.

63 comments

  1. I loved every inch of this post. Every picture. Every color. Perfection. Thanks for giving me something to daydream about all day!

  2. I love every.single.one of your images…so, so inspiring. I, too, love gray painted furniture as of late…esp. paired with yellows and pinks! Thanks for the eye candy.

  3. Oh my gosh the Anthropologie pics are amazing! :-) I’ve always been partial to grey for as long as I can remember, never been a real big fan of white, I’m too clumsy to have so much white in my house & will be bound to stain every inch of it :-)

  4. Great inspiration for back splashes, we’ve been looking for new ideas!
    In love with the Anthropologie window, afraid my girls would have that striped in no time!

  5. I officially saved the dining room picture as “THE DINING ROOM”. I am so glad you found that, I love it. And, I also love everything else. The black bookcases-man do I wish I could pull that off!

  6. Love the loggia pictures, makes me longing for a long hot summer. Our house has a small loggia, but the Dutch summer was so disappointing this year that we did not spend enough time there.

  7. Kate, I thank you for finding MY bathroom. I’ve been looking for inspiration for what feels like forever now. You have my heart a pitter-pattering. Oh, and those marshmallows? Dreamy.

  8. The floor idea sounds like it will have a gorgeous outcome and what is up with Anthropologie, I would LOVE to hang a zillion marshmallows like this in a room. Festive!! Janell

  9. The dining room looks like it is already in your house. It is just so perfectly your taste and style. I love it too. It’s so inviting!! And that first picture of the loggia, is so me! Dreamy!

  10. I love the idea of an inspiration board. I’m always trying to carve out a little place for me in our small home. That might just be the ticket. As long as I can keep bills and schoolwork from being tacked up there too (those DO NOT inspire me). Beautiful pictures, I really enjoyed this post.

  11. Gorgeous images! I’m jealous that you have such a cohesive style, even in your inspiration photos. I think I suffer from design style multiple personality disorder!!

  12. Glad you like my backsplash, it is still a joy everyday to look at it. (It’s the beveled arabesque one from Mission Stone). Someone commented that it looks like a quilted patent leather Chanel purse, it really does! Love all your inspiration rooms pictured.

  13. Great pictures! I had to save several of THOSE for my inspiration folders for upcoming projects… (I can say upcoming if my husband’s general timeline is “sometime before the 3 year old graduates high school” right???)

  14. These images have me itching to call in sick for work and start working on projects! I’m currently obsessed with finding a way to brighten my built-in china cabinet – the search for the perfect wallpaper continues!

  15. Thanks for the eye candy on this rainy Thursday morning in VA. I loooove the Mission Stone Tile. Gorgeous! And, I just found out how Anthro does their windows. They have a “stylist” who is given ideas from corporate with a small budget, but they have to find all of the materials on their own and do the installation with just a few helpers. I think that is amazing that they aren’t given the materials. So they scour flea markets, antique shows, etc. looking for all of that amazing “art”. What a cool job!

  16. Awesome! It always amazed me how when I see photos that are truly inspiring, I actually feel something physically in my chest. Like, love or lust or envy or something. These pictures make me want to tear something up make it beautiful.

  17. Wouldn’t those paper chains look amazing in shiny silver paper?!? And I think you’ll have to set your champagne glass on the windowsill, it looks like you’d be able to reach… And might I add that the white mission tile is the backsplash I’ve been looking for all my (adult) life!

  18. Thanks for sharing! Having an inspiration board helps keep you focused I think. It gives me a clear picture of what I want, so that when I see lampshades on sale for $3 that are not cohesive with my style I can just walk away….;) I am loving Rue mag for inspiration these days. Love the eclectic, boho, modern flair!

  19. I so wish I had enough pantry space to make some of it pretty like that. And I’m loving that white Mission Stone Tile. I’ve been trying to figure out what I want in my kitchen and could really go for something like that. Thanks for the inspiration today!

  20. I agree, you need a loggia. We’ve seen the exterior of your home in bits and pieces and so I can only estimate this, but being that you’re in wine country, I think you could totally pull it off! ; )

  21. I really like that table painted primer gray!! If I could JUST get T on board with making any changes, that’s the look I’d use for our old country-ish kitchen table. :) Great photos!

  22. I love dark floors, too. And have big plans to darken them along with all the other woodwork in our house once my boys are older.

  23. I’m about to start a new inspiration book, so thank you for the photos! I really love those long black bookshelves. They seem so luxurious. (Can you tell I’m a reader? ;) )

  24. love all of those, especially the tub (I think your bubby could rest on the windowsill?) and the MARSHMALLOWS…wow!

  25. Oh MY … those MARSHMALLOWS are beautiful!!! Storing that on my desktop for inspiration as well…. one of these days I will categorize everything… for now its all saved on the desktop .. heehee… your blog is bliss!

  26. i have a similar program before church… if i’m not begged for pancakes from the hubs :) and btw, thanks for the word of the day: {loggia} a new word creates a new lust…

  27. Love ALL the photos, but the first and last photos are my FAVORITE!

    Off to buy some marshmallows….

    Layla :-)

  28. These are so wonderful… I’m about to have a new home, so I’m loving all of the inspiration. And Anthropologie windows RAWK!

  29. Oh what gorgeous photos! Those dark floors are beautiful, that chandelier is stunning above the dining room table and that gray velvet tufted chair is fabulous. Actually I love it all! Great inspiration.

  30. What great inspiration! I love the blue chair in the office…and the bath, mmmmm…perfection. I’d probably place a small table next to the tub on which to set my drink. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Loribeth

  31. Everything is beautiful! It seems like we have the same style! (: Since starting my blog, I’ve also started an inspiration folder on my computer. There’s so many great ideas. I took the dining room off your post. I would die for that chandelier!

  32. Wonderful inspiration! I’ve been looking at kitchen backsplashes, so now I have 2 new places to check. Unbelievely, last night I scanned that exact same HB loggia from the “Patina” article into my “Outdoor Rooms” favorite file! Love the gray velvet chair from Plush Palate!

  33. Those strung Marshmallows are divine! I’ll definately enlist my Son to help. He doesn’t like marshmallows, so I won’t have to worry about the troops eating up the supplies.

  34. I just stumbled upon your blog (one that is being saved to my favorites right now!!) What can I say – your transformations are STUNNING!! You have amazing taste, as it is much like my own! HA!! I’m also fixated with painting everything white. I’m definitely going to be using your transformations as inspirations for my own diy projects. Next on my list is recreating that awesome buffet and hutch – I’m heading out to scour the thrift stores now!! Thank you so much for this great blog!

  35. Love the glass doors on the wardrobes and hanging marshmallows this way is cute too! How to put them together??

  36. Thank you for these great images. My Sunday mornings are very similar. Thanks for keeping the “hopping” to a minimum, Centsational Girl only. Have a good one.

  37. Marshmallows? Sorry, you lost me there. Sometimes Anthropologie just gets weird for weird’s sake. I guess to each his own. Love the loggias!

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