Where to find interiors inspiration
All images from Pinterest.
So, as promised in my latest video I’m going to be doing a little more on the interiors front (sorry fellow beauty junkies – promise part of it will cover beauty storage…!). Basically, now that spare funds/energy are no longer being directed towards a wedding, there’s a bit of a plan to give our flat a spruce up. Upgrading a couple of the pieces we bought when we first moved in together about six years ago. Many of them are perfectly fine, but were bought on a budget so have suffered more from wear and tear over the years. Some of the refresh will just come down to a lick of paint and a couple of pictures being hung – nice and cheap & easy! Others will involved moving chunky bits of furniture and replacing them with shiny new ones. So right now, we’re in the stage of planning it all out, getting ideas and working out what we can afford to do and what’s the priority (and trying to make the husband understand that a new TV is not top of the list…). So I’ve been browsing a few places – beyond some of the obvious ones and wanted to share for anyone else who is either getting into this sort of home stuff or just likes to oggle a bit of design goodness for fun. Here’s my little run down of where to find interiors inspiration.
Starting with the most obvious one – I’ve had a home inspiration board for a while but this was mostly filled with dream penthouse lofts or dreamy houses by the sea. I recently started dedicated boards for each of the rooms in the house to start pinning all sorts of ideas and colour schemes to use as more specific ‘mood boards’ for each room and discover a bit of consistency between each of them. You can take a look at my various boards HERE to get an idea of the sorts of inspiration I’m looking at. It’s also handy, beyond just searching – but to pin items from other websites you find and like so you can literally bookmark them related to the room you’re thinking of and find them again. I’ve been doing that with sofas from DFS and Loaf that I’m loving to remind myself to check them out in more detail.
Home Stores
A kinda obvious ones, but so many shops that sell home stuff are now offering an inspiration side as well as retail. With blogs of their own or just social channels showcasing what they’re offering – most of them will have a few snazzy images that might spark your imagination or just motivate you to head to store and take a closer look. Some of my current favourites are:
- Made.com – Full of super stylish pieces but at a fraction of the cost as if you were getting them from high-end designer stores. My current lust-item is THIS lamp for the spare room/office… My favourite bit is the Made Unboxed section where they have a load of customers showing off the pieces they bought when home and in place – inspiration galore.
- WestElm.co.uk – This store opened opposite my old work just before Christmas last year. I can’t even put in to words how excited I was for the opening – I went to the press launch and covered it on the Groupon City Guide blog (HERE). I now browse the website and have been meaning to pop back for a browse for ages as the store just brings all the stuff to life. Seriously, it’s pretty much exactly how I would design my entire flat given half a chance – think stylish but comfy grey sofas, ikat print cushions, cute metallic plant pots… all arranged ‘just so’ so they look casually thrown together but in a way that is just perfect. The site always has some rather fab discounts – and lots of pictures if you’re just on the look out for ideas.
- LomBok.co.uk – Another one that was close to my old work so I used to browse occasionally. Mostly looking and longing to be able to afford the items as they’re really gorgeous, but a bit of a price jump from the ‘Ikea’ level I’m used to. It’s the sort of place I’d go firstly for ideas, and secondly for pieces that are real stand-outs, and great quality. Like this brass stool or on of their amazing lamps.
Magazines
I have pretty much grown out of buying paper magazines – replacing them with the digital versions on my ipad. I use Zinio to download them and I love it – in amongst my usual beauty favourites (Allure, Self, Lucky…) I have now added a new favourite ‘Living Etc‘ – which I love for both the magazine, the website and the social channels. Yep, I’m obsessed. But they’re all great spots for ideas! Plus they have a huge blog roll you can browse through to discover more…
A little peruse of the homes section of Zinio also enlightened me to the fact there are entire magazines about organisation and storage. I won’t elaborate on this as it does somewhat make me sound like a total looser. But safe to say I have downloaded these and was a tad excited at the discovery.
Interiors Blogs
House of Turquoise – Combines my new love of interiors, with my older love of the colour turquoise (every shade you can imagine). Much inspiration to be had here, although I have been made to promise the husband that I won’t turn the *entire* flat into a white/grey/turquoise combination…
The Decorista - Full of inspiration from all over the place, from fashion to interiors to just pretty images on the Decorista Tumblr. Tons of pictures to get your creative-interior juices flowing… if that’s a thing?! Plus of course handy articles with advice and handy hints.
Gh0stParties & Nouvelle Daily – I mentioned Gh0stParties becoming a bit of a go-to for my interiors inspo. lately in my posts I’ve been loving lately. Well, with that in mind it would be wrong not to include both that and Nouvelle Daily (also the brainchild of Gh0stPartie’s Kate) as places I go for ideas. Recent favourites have been the handy printable art recommendations from Etsy and how to make-over your home on a budget. Nouvelle has a handy split between inspiration, ideas and helpful how-to posts. I may or may not have an amazon basked filled with Acrylic spray paint that I have to blame Kate for when it all goes horribly wrong…
So there we have a little run down. I’m now going to try and tear myself away from reading the post on ‘Caring for Cacti & Succulents‘ and head to Tottenham Court Road for some real-life interiors inspiration – if you’re in London on a homewear shopping mission it’s a good place to start. Has everything from the big chains to the smaller stores. Basically from Tottenham Court road to Warren Street it’s an almost endless row of home store after home store. Just leave your wallet at home if you’re just on the hunt for ideas…
Let me know if/where you look for ideas and inspiration for the home – do you have big dreams of grand ideas for your home?!
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