Where to Go to Find Interior Design Inspiration

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Are you looking for inspiration for your interior design project?

The good news is that the world is full of inspiration, but everywhere you look, there’s an even more perfect shade of blue or a perfect mid-century coffee table that will tie the room together. Or you may be at the very early stages of your project, wondering why kind of style your space, and your selections should have. Whether you have too many ideas or too few, the problem is still the same: You’re looking for that moment of pure inspiration!

Follow these tips for finding unique interior design inspiration. Who knows? It might just be where you least expect it.

Start With Your Space

Wide Plank Flooring In Modern Bedroom
Modern Bedroom from DiStefano & Associates, Photographed by Michael Penney Photography, featuring Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

When it comes to interior design, start developing a vision right in the room you will be decorating. Ideally, scale back the existing decor of your space, to make it as bare as possible. Once you have it stripped down, you can assess the natural architectural details of the room, and characteristics that impact how you will live, and decorate that space. For example, how does the light differ from morning to evening? This can help you develop a color palette for your room. If you don’t get a lot of natural light, or if you want to brighten up your room, you might want to use light floors like maple hardwood flooring.

You also want to understand how you will use the space, and how you will move through it. A space intended for a family room will inspire you differently than a room you are creating as a playroom. Every room has its own personality, and you want to match that personality in your design.

Go for a Walk

asian landscape
Asian Landscape by Napa Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Richard Kramer

When building a home, Frank Lloyd Wright would spend hours walking around a property before going to work on a design. He didn’t really see a huge difference between the interior and exterior world of a house. Just because they were separated by walls, didn’t mean that they didn’t coexist and harmonize. Interior designers today still take this lesson to heart and you should, too. Biomimicry is a design, architecture and engineered principle that finds, and uses inspiration from nature’s patterns and strategies for survival.

Take the time to walk around outside and take pictures of the little details that catch your eye to take an inventory of the colors and textures that speak to you, and thinking about the way these might translate to an indoor space.

Shades of red from the trees outside this Napa, California home could inspire a simple aesthetic with color infusions of red in a neutral palette.

Magazines & Internet

Dark Wood Floor In Transitional Living Room
Transitional Living Room by Stoddard Carpet & Flooring Carlisle Wide Plank Floors For more about letting nature inspire your interior design, visit Mother Earth Living.

There are hundreds of magazines dedicated to the craft of Interior Design; whether it is the iconic Architectural Digest; ocean inspired Coastal Living or modern living ideas from Dwell, you are sure to find a national, or local publication that speaks to your design vision. Find, tear out, and retain your favorite photographs to scrapbook your design ideas. This is especially helpful if you are working with a trade professional on your project so they can help you budget, and source those items.

You can supplement this with research on the web, which admittedly is an overwhelming place to find design ideas. But websites like Houzz.com and Home-Designing.com make it easy to find stunning photographs and in some cases the original floor plans and/or designer that worked on the project. In the Houzz platform, you can create projects and idea books to save, and refer to your favorite images, during the planning, and selection process.

Hire an Interior Designer

wide plank floor In contemporary Living Room
Contemporary Living Room from SixWalls featuring Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

If you are involved in a decorating project this is probably one of the few times you will do this in your life. Interior Designers do this all day, every day. They have idea books, resources, experience and design ideas to help you narrow down what you like.

They can also offer custom solutions for things like cabinets, fabric, wood floors if you are feeling limited by retail options that don’t speak to the unique nature of your space. Read more from JustLuxe.com to find out how an Interior Designer can help inspire your project.

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With proper planning, you can take all your ideas and turn them into a comprehensive interior design plan filled with timeless architectural details, and creative touches that you will enjoy for many years to come.
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