Interior Design Ideas and Inspiration

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Finding the Inspiration to Create Your Home Sanctuary

where to find interior design ideas and inspiration

It may sound cliched, but there is truth to the saying regarding your home being your castle. Not only is it your castle, though, but it’s also your safe place, the place where you can be yourself and recharge your batteries. Since your home is such an important environment, how do you come up with the design inspiration to create your perfect retreat?
 
A great starting place for the decorating inspiration process is to draw ideas from nature and the outdoors. Carve out some quiet time to think and to reminisce: where are the places that nurture your soul, feed your senses, and provide you with contentment? Now imagine further about the details that make up your unique places; can you define the colors, shapes, and patterns that are a part of these environments?
 
Once you have identified many of the pieces that contribute to your special places in nature, you can translate these into design ideas for your home that will resonate with your soul. For instance, if your special place in nature is by the seashore, you can evoke the same feeling in your home by incorporating nautical decor as interior design inspiration. Think model yachts, oars, porthole mirrors, and perhaps even a boat bookcase. Don’t forget to use color as design inspiration, too. If you choose the calming blues and greens of the ocean in combination with the tan hues of warm sand, this can effortlessly call up the feeling of being relaxed at the beach as you listen to the soothing sounds of the waves.
 
Perhaps your favorite places in nature lean more toward mountains and forests. If this speaks to you, consider incorporating the rich beauty of natural wood into your design ideas. Furniture carved from wood is a clear choice in this type of interior design, but take this a step further and use wood in the small details that make the room sing, such as decorative panels, brackets, and rosettes. Again, don’t neglect the impact that color adds; think vibrant deep greens, neutral shades of tan and brown, and the occasional sky blue accent, much like glimpsing the blue sky through the tops of tall evergreen trees.
 
What if your tastes run more toward the exotic, and you find your senses enlivened when you visit far-away locales with unique landscapes? You can evoke the sense of the exotic in your decorating inspiration by selecting furnishings and accessories that speak of distant lands and cultures, such as hand-painted Oriental jars and bowls, or perhaps a sparkling Venetian glass mirror is more to your taste.
 
You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much your home environment nurtures and refreshes you when you use the magnificence of nature and the out-of-doors for your interior design inspiration.