Let's talk inspiration

As in I need some.

Progress is slow on the house hence my lack of home renovation posts, but hopefully things will pick up next week for two reasons. (1) We're working on obtaining the names and numbers of some trusted contractors, painters, framers, etc. and (2) more excitingly my mom is coming to town! Since she's is now in full retirement mode, I figured she must be bored out of her mind (haha!) and would LOVE to come help me sort through and organize all of our crap boxes on the second floor. (In order to have room to breath downstairs we hauled them all upstairs to a smaller, less orderly space). She may even get to paint and sew if she is lucky!

the current state of our 2nd floor

(sorry for the poor quality, there isn't any lighting in this part)

Since we've been scraping and fixing things rather than decorating and accessorizing, I steal away every now and again for some inspiration via my friend the internet. We'd like to keep with the traditional bungalow/cottage architecture of the house, with a contemporary twist on colors and textures. Think lots of white with wainscoting & built-ins and neutral walls with pops of color in the fabrics, wood, and accessories. Of course we realize this this isn't our forever dream home rather our starter dream home, so my dream inspiration rooms won't look exactly as pictured but they certainly channel the overall feeling we are aiming for. I'm mostly inspired by color palettes, so look there rather than to the actual objects in the room.

We've also recently decided to do something bold with the windows to showcase the architecture and tone down the white - we're going black. Let me explain. Below is a photo of what all of our windows currently look like. Tall with huge molding. The top half of all of the windows has 4 panes of glass. It's called 4 over 1. Genius, huh?


So once the dirty white faux wood blinds go (a must) and something else comes in on the lower half hopefully (to be determined), we'll still get lots of light plus be able to see the nice details. We think that we'll probably just paint the sash of the window black and leave the white molding and sill, but we'd like to discuss it with a painter. Here's the idea - sort of.


That brings us to the interior doors. They are awesome. Huge and solid wood with nice molding, but seriously in need of a paint job. We're going to stick with white to match the rest of the trim in the house, but I may decide to play with interior the front door and/or the french doors leading into the dining room. I honestly haven't given it much thought yet. I suppose the color schemes in the adjacent rooms will decide that for me.

So on with the inspiration. Remember just look at the colors.

Something where masculine meets feminine for the office.

Army green walls, white custom corner desk, cowhide rug, aqua accents.

Girly, but not overstated for the adjoining "project room", aka. my space.
Love those neutral gray walls and contrast of the green & teal accents.
Light and bright, but still fun.


Traditional with a twist in the downstairs bathroom.
I love the idea of navy instead of black. I might even be changing my plans for the clawfoot tub, painting the outside gray or navy instead of black I had planned.


It's a long ways off, but total serenity in the Master Suite.
And you know who, will look perfect at the foot of the bed!


It's a much smaller space, but I love the built-ins around the window for our upstairs den.
But I'm thinking more in a palette like this one.
{source}


And carrara marble in the bathroom.
But no pedestal sink.

The main living and dining area downstairs is where I get much more confused. I have specific elements that I like, but the colors haven't come to me yet. Since we'd one day love to knock down the wall between the dining room and kitchen making it all one open space, I feel the need to plan around that. I know exactly what kitchen look I want, but the rest is still fuzzy.

My dream kitchen...

with dark walls like this.

But remember the kitchen is a looooong way off.

A classic yet playful dining space with tall wainscoting...
definitely imperial trellis (in the form of wallpaper or drapes like these)...
A painted sideboard like this... (but not red. probably blue.)
{source}

& remember with this table....
and these chairs.



It's the living room that pains me the most of all.
I've got inspiration - just no cohesion!

I love this blue, black, green & white combo.

But I also love this blue & gray look.

There is something calming and comfy about this room, but I'd prefer more color.

Built-ins flanking the fireplace. Not exactly like this, but I like the glass.Our room layout is similar to this. I love those ottomans in front of the fire.

So what do you think? An I jumping the gun a bit? I personally believe it's never too early to have a vision, but it must remain flexible. By the time I'm actually at the point of rolling on paint and hanging the window treatments this whole dream could be long gone, replaced with something new. I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if you love interior decor as much as me!

PS: Most of these images have been hanging out in my hard drive for ages, so I don't have most of the sources, although I believe many have been seen on DecorPad. I listed the sources when known.