Monday Inspiration: Offices

Here's an entire post from Design*Sponge chock full of gorgeous office inspiration! The picture above is my favorite--cool colors, inspiration board, and a place for everything (with a nice helping of vintage charm, of course!).

Great Idea: Drip Paint

This is great mod inspiration when you just don't know what to do with that old piece of college furniture or that fab thrift store find. The fun in this is that you're supposed to make a mess!

Great Site: The CSI Project

Here's a great site for the craft-loving, but unfocused, like myself: The CSI Project. CSI stands for craft, share, inspire--and it does just that, with crafting challenges and nifty, inexpensive ideas for the home--you can even win prizes!

Monday Inspiration: Sunset Garden

As you can imagine, I'm drooling over this western garden...it looks so lush and effortless--it must have taken a lot of work!

Monday Inspiration: Retro Bathroom Remodel

Talk about inspiration! This great post from Retro Renovation shows a great bathroom remodel in keeping with the retro style of the house.

Monday Inspiration: Before and After

I'm loving the before and afters on My Domicile Style--it's always inspirational to see before and after pictures that have been accomplished by folks like me. Okay, folks with a bit more style than me.

Monday Inspiration: Dining in Color

This great combo from design*sponge is a cheery and fresh combination of vintage modern elements--the teak chairs and the white table, coupled with the tree stencils in the background, are a perfect vignette for dining.

Monday Inspiration: Vintage Office Storage

I love any creative use of vintage storage solutions, so this office is a no-brainer! The gooseneck lighting and the wall mounted storage provides full use of the workspace below.

Monday Inspiration: The Landing Strip

Today starts another week of the home cure, centered around the creation of a landing strip--an area where you can leave the clutter of the day (such as mail, coats, shoes and bags) so it doesn't invade the home. I had previously set a space for "landing" when I arrive at home, but over time things began to build up and...over. So, today this image will be my inspiration for a pure, clean landing strip, complete with an area to hang that pesky laptop bag.

Great Resource: Design in a Bag

from Apartment Therapy

This is a great idea for the indecisive amongst us, like myself. Design in a Bag will send you material samples, resource lists and renderings of your complete kitchen or bath project. At only $109 for a bag, it's certainly cheaper than hiring a full-time designer, and the site itself is a source for inspiration.

Monday Inspiration: Vintage Bathroom Tile

Love this vintage bathroom! I wish more of these aqua and black tiled beauties were still alive today, instead of gutted and replaced with cultured marble sometime in the late 70s. Someday, maybe my bathroom will look like this again...

Monday Inspiration: Vintage, Nothing Like It!

The fantastic thing about vintage home decor is that you can be pretty sure that whatever combination of items you come up with, no one else's will be quite like it. I love that about fellow Etsy-er Dear Golden's home, featured on Design*Sponge (kitty-proof furniture...I am jealous). See the rest here!

Monday Inspiration: Cozy Kitchen

I love the element of the large table and comfortable chairs in this kitchen--too often we separate the cooking and eating areas, and require a separate dining space--but this kitchen's cozy feel emanates from the feeling that you can sit a spell, and have anything from a cup of coffee to a full meal.

Monday Inspiration: Turquoise!

Turquoise has always been one of my favorite colors, especially the way it's being used to tie together the modern and classical lines of this room (oh, and love the chandelier--if only my ceilings could be a few feet higher...). The rounded couch is right at home with the styled chairs and modern glass table.

Friday Finds: Wall Collections

I love the use of vintage here to create a large and inexpensive wall design--these vintage flash cards are fun, and you can play with position and pattern.

Here are a few other ideas for flexible and inexpensive wall coverings from Etsy:

From top to bottom:

Vintage Dennison SPECIAL SALE Hand Tags from Sushipot (Parts)

34 Vintage Assorted Accounting Ledger Book Pages from sweet twee lab

My Childhood Friends from Sweet Memories For You!

From A to Z MINI Vintage Alphabet Cards from 30 one

Vintage Bingo Cards from Jambo Chameleon

Monday Inspiration: Comfy Office

I love the mild sage green in this room combined with the pops of orange from the chaise and accessories on the desk. This looks like the perfect office to work and relax!

Monday Inspiration: Old and New

I love this combination of the old and the new--the classic wood floor and intricate molding combined with the modern bench and ghost chair--I long for the skill to effortlessly make things look this way, but I have a feeling that making it effortless takes work!

Christmastime is Here!

There's always something about Christmas--even when we're grown and know that Santa won't be coming down the chimney, there's always a spark of happiness in the air, that gives us an excuse to hang sparkly lights to our heart's content.

With that in mind, here are a few inspirational pics to get us in the mood:

All Souls' Day (a.k.a. Day of the Dead)

In Catholic tradition, today's the day when we remember our loved ones, and pray for their happiness in the next life--in Mexico and the southwest, they take this a bit further and invite the souls of the departed to join them, so these souls can hear the well-wishes being given to them on earth. This vibrant celebration, the visiting of graves, and the building of alters, has inspired many an artist's creativity. Here are a few inspirational examples from fellow Etsy-ites.

This print from acageybee (above) really captures the spirit of the Day of the Dead

A great print from leopoldrose

"La Muerta" from watercolourstain

A great little ornament from robnzak

Arizona Design Inspiration

I was browsing through design sites, as I do, and I came across this gem from Apartment Therapy: a design from Coco + Kelley called "Arizona"--a fresh take on the typical southwestern style that has, in the past, ended up with oh-so-many unfortunate peach and aquamarine sofas with faux Navajo designs.

I love the deep colors combos here, like the desert at sunset over a deep, blue lake. While the original intent here is the design of a study, I'm definitely keeping this as inspiration for our master bedroom!