Archive for November, 2011
Decorating our homes is a bit like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. Before you begin, you must take time organizing the pieces. Decorating is a reflection of our personal sense of style, taste, and our experiences.
What inspires you, what captures your heart and mind, what do you wish you could do in your home?
Design books, blogs, websites, movies, people, art, nature – all of these things inspire me. How do they inspire me?
Sometimes it’s the turn of a phrase that inspires me to make a change in my living space. Or perhaps make a change in my life. Recently in one of the books I was reading, the French phrase Joie de Vivre (exuberant enjoyment of life), jumped off the page, and I immediately knew that this phrase exactly captured how I feel about my life, my home, my work, my family – everything! And to embrace the power these simple words have for me, I decided to paint them on the wall of my office! Now, whenever I’m sitting at my desk all I have to do is look up and see Joie de Vivre, and my personal life affirmation is affirmed.
Sometimes my inspiration comes from a beautiful image, colors or room design and I’m inspired me to redo a part of my home. I was reading a new design book last weekend and it inspired me to add a lovely shade of cobalt blue to several areas of my home. This is completely new for me as I tend to be more of a green girl than a blue girl, but the robust richness of this color absolutely captivated me and inspired me! Now I can’t wait to begin the process.
Yummy cobalt blue!
Sometimes it’s the beauty in nature, colors, texture, variety that inspires me to incorporate a bit more nature into my home environment. Bringing nature into your home can be as easy as fresh flowers, a new plant or even rearranging my furnishings to take advantage of a beautiful view from my windows.
Anything can be an inspiration, all you have to do is see it and then act on it.
Making our living spaces more beautiful improves the quality of our environments and when the quality of our environment improves, so does the quality of our lives.
The next time you’re watching HGTV, or looking through the latest design book, or taking a walk outside, open your mind to the possibilities, the opportunities that inspire you. You don’t need a decorating plan to create a home filled with warmth, personality and comfort. What you do need is a connection to your inner self, your personal sense of balance and beauty and then trust yourself as you begin the process. And it is a process – trial and error – your spaces constantly evolving just as you are.
“There is no such thing as “wrong” taste or styling, as long as it comes from an authentic place and is ultimately portrayed with confidence.” – Lili Diallo
We all have the ability to create what we love; we just have to believe we can.
© 2011 Harmony Life®, LLC by Laurie Bornstein
Feng Shui Lifestyle™ articles, tips and conversation http://www.fengshuilifeandstyle.com
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I’ve got a confession to make, before today I have never looked at design blogs.
It’s true! I’ve never even searched online for one. But today my life has changed, I fell down the rabbit hole. I Googled design blogs and was amazed at the fantastic variety of information, tips, suggestions, and imagery that’s out there.
Everything you could possibly want to know about design or decorating or redecorating or even undecorating is available to you online! Design blogs can provide you with the perfect ideas and inspiration to use as you create your Feng Shui Home!
Fabulous product for windows and mirrored closet doors!
(for more visit http://www.decor8.com – one of my new favorite design blogs!)
Up until now researching different design and decorating ideas meant buying design books, magazines or going to stores and while all of those options are still viable; you also have, at your fingertips, a wealth of information online. You have online shops, websites and design blogs - it’s a plethora of information.
Too much information you ask? Never! You can never have too much information.
This is the perfect time to create your own mood board or design journal. (A design journal is a binder or notebook filled with images representing things you like for various rooms of your home.) Print or tear out images out of books or magazines, take pictures of what you see in stores, pull color samples, fabric samples, pieces of wallpaper, photos, trim samples anything that inspires you. And then put those images, those items into your design journal. Arrange them by room.
An example of a mood board I created for a client.
As you play with your journal rooms you’ll find a theme, a mood, a feeling begins to take shape and you’ll begin to become aware of your authentic self, who you are, what inspires you, what energizes you, what makes you feel like home. And from that feeling, that awareness you’ll be able to create your perfect spaces, in fact, your perfectly unperfect spaces!
The second of today’s favorite design blogs, http://www.designpublic.com
Your living spaces should continue to evolve just as you continue to evolve. Your home is a reflection of you, your inner world is reflected in your outer world.
A featured apartment from http://www.freshome.com
another fabulous design blog!
Embrace change. I think you’ll be happy you did.
Right now, I’m going back online and doing more research! Don’t forget to add Feng Shui Life and Style to your favorites.
© 2011 Harmony Life®, LLC by Laurie Bornstein
Feng Shui Lifestyle™ articles, tips and conversation http://www.fengshuilifeandstyle.com
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the copyright and link above.
