Finding Inspiration In Your Decorating

For some, decorating style comes easy and for others they know what they like but they have to find their inspiration in other places. When you love styles like Pottery Barn, West Elm or Anthropologie, it's easy to pop open their catalogs or hit their websites and find styles you like and try to replicate them. I still do that very often. For instance, I've always LOVED quilts but the look of them reminded me of Little House on the Prarie or and old lady's home, which I didn't aspire to emulate. I've had a quilt on my bed now for about 2 years and my husband and I cannot part with it. It's a solid color quilt but as I've really fallen in love with farm house decor, I am seeing the appeal and the style in quilts of all patterns and styles and enjoying the way they can shape the decor of a room.

I found a new site called Dot & Bo and they feature all different decorating styles ... the urban dweller, bohemian, urban cowboy, you name it, they have it. I am a person that loves to mix old with new. I like a craftsman style home with retro farmhouse accents and a little modern thrown in. I like to mix them and create my own kind of style. My bathroom is a great example of this. I have half beadboard walls, a modern stone tile floor, eclectic lighting and a clawfoot tub. In addition, I have an ultra modern shower stall with a floor to ceiling glass door. I adore my bathroom. I am getting ready to refresh it by painting it a bold gray modern color.

In thumbing through the Dot & Bo catalog, I came across a brightly painted hot pink Buddah ...... very similar to the one I found a few weeks ago at Salvation Army for $2.99 and re-painted a bright aqua to match my living room (although I think mine was much cuter). Remember him? They are selling something similar on their site for $36.99! My Buddah re-do instantly became more rewarding!

My point? Don't try to re-create the catalogs. Find your style and own it. You might surprise yourself how hip your ideas and style really are and you might find someone emulating you!