Every so often I am asked about what inspires me while decorating.  My immediate answer is fabrics and color, which I adore.  It’s the easy answer because the real answer takes some explaining.

My inspiration is intangible, it is the feeling I get when I go to a beautiful New England beach. The combination of sounds, smells, textures and colors generates a serenity I haven’t felt anywhere else.  So I want to surround myself with that feeling whenever I can.

(Beach doesn’t mean starfish and sailboats to me.)

 Take a look at the two rooms below.

This is soothing, warm and filled with textures.

 

This room is serene and soothing to me.

To me, the rooms pictured above are easy to live with over time.

You might look at the rooms I love and think they don’t have enough color or are boring.

The great thing about decorating from inspiration is that there is no right or wrong.  My inspiration comes from a feeling I get from a particular place.

Your inspiration will be different.

 

So what inspires you?

Maybe it is something intangible like the way I feel about the beach. The feeling you get at church, walking through a riot of wildflowers or traveling.

Maybe it’s tangible. A piece of art that you have or have seen, a quilt from your childhood, or even the flowering lilac bush outside your back door.

You can use your inspiration in a way that reflects you.

 

Perhaps it’s as easy as painting a room.

Or maybe it is creating a  bright, happy room with no lilac to be found, but feels like spring to you.

 

Collections of things are also a wonderful way to articulate your passion and/or inspiration.

Perhaps it’s antique books, or blue and white chinoiserie as shown in the photos below. It could be anything from maps or small boxes to spoons. If you love it use it.

 

 

 

You can display the books that you have collected and let that be the focal point of your room.

Or you can take the essence of the books and use that antique book “feeling” you get from them.

 

 

 

 

These rooms use the blue and white chinoiserie as a jumping off point.

 

 

 

Another way to convey your inspiration or passion is through paint color, fabric choice or accessories.

Find a fabric you love.  Like this one.

And then build a room around it.  Sometimes your inspiration fabric is very busy or expensive.  Use it subtly on an ottoman or for pillows.

 

Remember it is your inspiration, your jumping off point.  You don’t have to go crazy with a fabric or color.  What joy a jolt of orange brings.  Use it as inspiration to brighten up a ho-hum room.

Tangerine is Pantone’s color of 2012.

 

 

 

 

Finally, look through design magazines, websites and books.

Collect pictures of rooms to which you are drawn. There may be something specific you like in a particular photo or it may be the feeling the room generates for you. After some time you will begin to see a pattern in your choices.

You can also talk to a professional, his/her job is to articulate your vision and bring it to life for you.

If you develop a room that you love it will outlast the current trends. The room will be about you and what makes you happy.

So to find your inspiration, look anywhere and everywhere.

 

 

Do you have the basic pieces for your room but the room still feels unfinished?  Perhaps you want a new look but don’t want to invest in new furniture right now.

Accessorizing is a great way to update or finish a current room in your house.  Adding lamps (instead of using the overhead lights all the time) adds warmth to a room.  Artwork and mirrors anchor a space and give it visual interest.  Pillows add color and texture.  Books, picture frames, plants, bowls, candlesticks and/or boxes add personality and intimacy.

Adding a few new elements can change a room you once dreaded  into one of your favorite spots in the house.

If you already have a rug, use that as a jumping off point for color and style.  If you don’t have a rug, check out an earlier blog post here about choosing one and its impact on a room.

The wonderful thing about accessorizing is that you can use what you already have and add what you don’t have over time.  Do you have a favorite print or oil painting in the hall?  Move it over your sofa and give it new life.  I’m sure you have family photos in a box somewhere, buy some new frames and arrange them on your end table.

Different colors and accessories give a room its own personality.

In the following photos you will see how adding different accessories to the same space can alter the feeling of a room.

So take a look.  Hunt through your house for some inspiration and begin the process of transforming your space into something you love.

 

 

An unfinished space waiting for love.

 

By starting with this oil painting in a brushed gold frame you add a touch of formality to your room. Add brass accents, floor lamps and fresh fun pillows you get an updated, tradtional room that exudes warmth.

 

Using cooler colors, blues and silvers, gives the same furniture grouping a completely different feel. The mercury glass lamps and graphic picture combined with greek key pillows and simple table accessories makes this room a little more transitional and great for a beach or river home.

 

 

I love it, but what do I do with it?

Perhaps you have a beautiful console from your grandmother. You love it but can’t imagine how to incorporate it into a space in your room. It looks lonely and awkward by itself.

 

Add prints, a lamp, an occasional chair and some books and you have transformed a lonely corner into an inviting and warm reading area.

 

Or, instead of a set of prints and a table lamp, use a mirror and a floor lamp. This vignette would be equally at home in a foyer.

 

If you are in need of inspiration or advice, stop by The Kellogg Collection.  We would love to help you fill in the holes to make your room the room of your dreams.

And, our Semi-Annual sale runs through the end of the month, so everything you might need  is discounted!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Have you ever started decorating a room from scratch and ended up with pieces that you like but just don’t gel together?  Most people tend to shop first for what they need the most which tends to be functional pieces like sofas and chairs.  This may make sense at first but you will end up making the process harder on yourself down the road.  The selection of rugs is limited compared to the endless possibilities of fabrics for your furniture – so make it easier on yourself and start with a rug!

      The rug sets the foundation of the room, which is important when starting from scratch.  It will determine the color scheme of a room and the color scheme will influence every other aspect: wall color, upholstery, pillows, artwork, and accessories! The rug even has the ability to guide the furniture layout of a space.  When trying to figure out the correct rug size for your space, a good rule of thumb is to go as big as the room allows.  Using a larger rug that fits the entire room will allow you to utilize the entire space.  With all of these design factors that rely on the rug, you can understand that if you start the decorating process with the rug, everything else will fall into place.  Here are some examples of how a rug can set the foundation of a room:

 

 

 

When designing the scenes in our stores, we always start with the rug which we display on the wall so you can see how much of an impact it can have on the rest of the furniture in the space.  Here are some examples from our store scenes:

 

 

 

If you already have a room of furniture and are finding it difficult to find a rug that matches your current color scheme there is always the option of going neutral on the floor with a neutral colored rug as shown here:

 

If you are in search of a new rug, take advantage of sale prices at The Kellogg Collection through February 27th during our semi-annual sale, and again March 9-24 during our rug sale!