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.
via Simply Seleta
If only my pantry looked like this and not the exact opposite.
It’s official. My office needs a credenza and an inspiration board above it. Sofa, you shall be moved to the living room.
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.
via Houzz and La Dolce Vita
It wasn’t a dream! My fantasy dining room actually exists.
Alexandra Rae via House of Turquoise
These bookcases have me rethinking my first inclination to paint everything white.
Nuevo Estilo via Little Green Notebook
As does Celerie Kemble’s dressing room. *sigh*
What can I say about this space beyond the gray velvet, sparkling silver, and deep blue gloss, other than it is just so me.
via Plush Palate
I have found two kitchen backsplashes that I would choose over the standard white brick pattern tile.
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 & Gardens via House of Turquoise
I am now convinced that a loggia may be the key to pure bliss.
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?
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?
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I love all the rooms too! Maybe that is the key, just keep looking at them like we live there.
I loved every inch of this post. Every picture. Every color. Perfection. Thanks for giving me something to daydream about all day!
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.
Very cool rooms!!! I am following you. I invite you to follow back if you want!
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 :-)
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!
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!
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.
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.
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
gorgeous!! i want marshmallow snow as per the anthropologie picture!!
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!
Oh my! That silver tub…I…I…I’m speechless!
*swoon*
Love the primer gray idea. Perfect! (And, WANT that dressing room, everything about it.) Thanks for the inspiration!
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.
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!!
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.
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???)
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!
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!
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.
Ughhh, that tub is *to die for*. I just wanna dive in. And I think I might have to copy that marsmallow idea!
I sent you an e-mail, but your headboard projects inspired me! Go check them out at One Fine Wire
http://www.finewire.blogspot.com
Thanks!
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!
Gorgeous images. I am loving gray too…..
And a loggia? Most deinitely the key to bliss. :)
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!
Black bookcases are totally where it’s at!
Loving your inspiration today, Kate….those Anthro windows were amazing.
I want a Loggia…only in Montana, well, I could use it maybe 2 months out of the year!
Very cool rooms! I really love the black bookcases.
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!
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! ; )
All beautiful images. I am with you on the dark wood floors. I really wish I could redo mine. By the time I can afford it/get around to it, I’ll probably want something else. haha
Well, I do believe I fell into your dream…Head first!
Great inspiration pictures! I am especially loving the white tile…very unique.
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!
Wow! I love that dining and the office. Thanks for sharing =)
That moroccan mission stone tile backsplash is just stunning!! I love your dream dining room too-gorgeous! Great inspiration photos!
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.
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? ;) )
I’ve seen trays that one can lay across the width of a bathtub like that, so that a glass, a candle, the soap, whatever, is within easy reach.
Beautiful inspiration! Oh, and those marshamallows! So cool.
love all of those, especially the tub (I think your bubby could rest on the windowsill?) and the MARSHMALLOWS…wow!
You are my blog I check daily… :)
I like the grey a lot..
thanks for the great pictures.
Thanks for eye candy! I’m loving primer gray and that amazing bathroom.
P.S. I like to use small tray tables next to freestanding tubs.
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!
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…
Love ALL the photos, but the first and last photos are my FAVORITE!
Off to buy some marshmallows….
Layla :-)
Love the soaking tub!
And I’m feeling the paper links right now – I made them recently for a party and I plan to decorate with them for a baby shower next month.
Check out my paper links here:
http://firsthomemakeover.blogspot.com/2010/10/practice-makes-perfect.html
These are so wonderful… I’m about to have a new home, so I’m loving all of the inspiration. And Anthropologie windows RAWK!
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.
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
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!
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!
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.
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!
Love the glass doors on the wardrobes and hanging marshmallows this way is cute too! How to put them together??
That dining room with the dark floors and blue-gray walls is my inspiration source as well. Love it. Doing it.
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.
That dining room is To. Die. For.
One day, it will be mine :)
Thanks for the shout out on the beveled arabesque tile! It’s one of our favorites!
Let us know if you ever need any samples!
Marshmallows? Sorry, you lost me there. Sometimes Anthropologie just gets weird for weird’s sake. I guess to each his own. Love the loggias!