Mr. Blue Sky

Jun 23

Hey hey, so glad you are here today, because we are going talk about all the ways you can find inspiration and cool new ideas for your home, without getting overwhelmed. Staying inspired is pretty critical when it comes to creative endeavors, but its extra important if you’re working on a DIY project or in the midst of a renovation. If you’ve been through the renovation process or even just a few light upgrades, you know the experience can be challenging at times, and it’s not uncommon to want to give up, or lose interest, or swear you’ll never do another project again. You’re not alone in that, it’s totally normal to want to call it quits, especially when you’re in the midst of tough decisions and tight time lines. Having a clear vision, and being inspired from a soul or heart centered place can help you through the more difficult moments in a renovation because you can always look back at your original ideas and remember why you embarked on the journey in the first place. And hey, I don’t want to invalidate anyones experience, sometimes walking away is the right move, and only your gut can tell you that. But if you experiencing more of the everyday-don’t-want-to blues, I am here to give you resources to be inspired, stay in flow, keep moving and keep creating. Ya ready?

I remember being completely obsessed with design blogs in the mid to late aughts, which still feels like a weird word to say, “aughts” but twenty oh eight feels even stranger. I would check a list of maybe fifteen design blogs on a regular basis, endlessly hungry for the next new “it” trend, searching for cool details, and new ways of seeing the world. I was constantly buying design magazines like Metropolis, Elle Decoration, and Interior Design Magazine to see high end projects that had full photo shoots, showing every good angle in the perfect lighting. I even had a folder full of ripped out pages of images that made me feel inspired, and I was constantly rotating which images were pinned up on my bulletin board above the desk in my bedroom.

I was particularly obsessed with Kanye West’s blog which seems like an alternate reality that never actually exists but that blog was always posting boundary pushing ideas, cool art, exciting installations. If you know, you know - it was everything. Even in the midst of a national recession I was inspired and rearing to go.

But many blogs stopped being updated once we crossed the threshold into the twenty-tens, my theory is with the use of smart phones, apps became the media of choice and a lot blogs died off in the process. But surely this isn’t a completely dead medium? Where did all the bloggers go?

While some major powerhouses like Design Sponge closed up shop for good, other staples of the interiors blog land are still going strong - there’s Apartment Therapy, Coco Kelly, not to be confused with CocoCozy, Sweeten, Hunted Interior, and Old Brand New, and so many others. There is a really wide variety of styles and personalities when it comes to blogs so have fun searching through what’s out there. There’s a website called detailed.com that ranks 50 design blogs algorithmically so you can see which sites are getting the most buzz, and use that as an index to find ones that you love.

Those are all dedicated blogs, but most interior design and architecture firms have online portfolios and blogs that can serve as amazing sources of inspiration. Some of my favorites are Studio Dearborn, Kelly Wearstler, Amy Lau Design, Sasha Bikoff, Aero Studios, Justina Blakeney, Joy Moyler, and Eniea White - just to name a few. But a great way to find design portfolios for you to get excited about is to search for interior designers and architects in your local area and see what comes up. This is important because even though I love Kelly Wearstler, her style is pretty distinctly luxury California, so while her projects are compelling and there are definitely elements I love about her work, if you’re looking for specific ideas to implement right now in your space, it can more helpful to see what’s being done locally in your region, town, or even neighborhood.

Just as blogs seemed to die down at the beginning of the 2010’s, in the most synchronized fashion, we were gifted the ubiquitous website and app Pinterest. If you haven’t come across Pinterest or never used it - this website is unique in the sense that it allows users to create accounts which hold an endless amount of images for the express purpose of inspiration. These images can be organized into folders or what they call “boards”, shared with friends, and generate similar images that other users have pinned so once you start collecting images, the website’s algorithm gets to know your interests and provides an endless stream of like-minded images. When Pinterest first came around, I was obsessed. It was the perfect upgrade to my overflowing folder of images, I could neatly organize ideas, view everything in an endless scrollable grid, and best of all I could even see what my friends and co-workers were musing over.

While Pinterest seemed like an absolute god-send, it definitely has it’s defects. Firstly, because Pinterest is a free service, the site relies on ad revenue to keep it up and running. Which in theory is fine- at best it’s mildly annoying, but I particularly had an issue when Pinterest decided to start showing me underwear and bra ads on the regular - the problem being I often used Pinterest at work, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled to have lots of skin showing up on my computer screen while my 60 year old boss came over to see how the mood boards were going. I did email Pinterest about this multiple times and I wasn’t really happy with their response, they basically just told me I had to block the companies whose ads I didn’t want to see one-by-one. Which seemed fairly endless…Okay that may be more of a personal pet peeve for me, but then there’s the bigger issue of Pinterest’s ecosystem of images and the limitations of that ecosystem. Most people use Pinterest as an image bank resource in itself, meaning users find images and repin them, rather than uploading lots of unique content of their own. So the selections and suggestions that Pinterest gives you is limited to basically a loop of the same images over and over again. Anyone who is looking for modern kitchen inspiration will probably find the same ten images and after that your feed just gets clogged up with recipes and mason jar crafts. That’s not the end of the world, but another problem is that the images on Pinterest can be highly aspirational, which is good, but it can create some unrealistic expectations. Yes, the image of the very sleek hand carved wood dining table with nested chairs is spellbinding, but it’s a handmade piece by someone in the Netherlands and you’ve got your heart set on it now. A piece like that is going to cost you $20k to get in real life. There’s also the over simplification of DIY’s that look like a few easy steps but are actually missing key prep and execution points, leaving you with major fails.

My biggest complaint about the enter system - is it heightens the paradox of choice. If you search for wood night stand’s - you find wood night stands - you might even end up buying a wood night stand. Two weeks later, wood night stands are still showing up in your feed, and all of a sudden you’re seeing more options than you needed, and you’re second guessing the one your purchased. Pinterest is design to push more images your way that correlate to things you like, which in theory is great, unless you’re actually trying to make a decision about something, and in that case the more choices available, the harder making a selection and feeling confident about it can be. It’s easy to wind up with thousands of pins and no clear direction on what you want to do.

I challenge you -the next time you have a project, a party, a make up look, anything that you want to create - try using something other than Pinterest. Just see what other creative avenues you come up with. For interiors, I have some very good alternatives that will keep your inspiration buzzing for days.

This might seem obvious, but I think it’s something we all forget about now that we have the internet at our figure tips - and that’s magazines. The world of design magazines is vast - there’s something for everyone’s style and taste. I love going to the Barnes and Noble in Union Square and perusing the design magazine section - even though they say print is a dying medium, I think there’s something so satisfyingly tactile about magazines. Check out your local book store to see what kind of selection they have, and if you aren’t satisfied with what they have, you can order individual magazines from many publications online. Some of my favorites today are Domino, Dwell, Lonny, Vogue Living, Vogue Living Australia, Apartmento, Frankie, House Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens, and of course Martha Stewart Living.

There are a few other magazines that I won’t name, that I don’t recommend, simply because of their focus is almost solely on celebrity homes, which is a direction that’s gotten popular in the last ten years. And there’s nothing wrong with celebrities and their homes, I just find that when the “wattage” is the focus of the magazine, the design becomes an afterthought.

I am big proponent of tearing up my magazines to shreds - I remove pages, cutout images, and isolate only the images that really inspire me. You can keep them in a folder or create a vision board out of a piece of poster board or I even recycle sections of boxes for that exercise. This method has a few advantages. One - it exposes you to a different quality of images - most of what you’ll see published in magazines are completed projects that have been heavily reviewed by teams for quality, uniqueness, and innovation. Two - the images change in every issue, so that problem of recycling the same images over and over again goes away. Three - you get a better sense of when you have too many images and ideas - if your vision board is a whole wall in your room for one single space, you’ll feel like something is off. Four - creating a physical vision board for a project gives you a tangible artifact that you can go back to over and over again through out the project. You can hang it up in a visible place to help you keep your goals in mind, or tuck it away and review it every few weeks to check in around milestones.

One trick that designers often use for inspiration is to look directly at manufacturers’ marketing images. It helps to get inspired by something you can actually purchase for your home rather than a random editorial photoshoot, with the most rare curations of drool worthy items that you’ll have a hard time finding.

I love looking at Jonathan Adler, Ann Sacks, Interface Flor, Reform Casework, Talk Carpet, Dutton Brown, Flavor Paper, which are all pretty modern and bold. If you tend to be more fond of the traditional side, you can look at companies like Hunter Douglas, Schumacher, Kravet, or the High Point Market website.

You can also let this be a source of big pictures ideas by not limiting yourself to what the manufacturer is selling. You might see cabinets you love on a tile company’s website or a style of window covering that you adore on a furniture website. Most of these companies showcase completed projects where their products have been used, so you’re bound to see all kinds of interesting design work.

Of course, seeing images of spaces and places is fun, but nothing can compare to the experience of seeing something first hand. Travel allows us to engage with interior design using ALL five senses, and there really isn’t anything that compares to seeing great design works up close and personal. Keep in mind, this form of looking for inspiration does not require a passport - although if you have the means, it’s certainly worth it. But looking at spaces around you locally can be particularly inspiring. Staying local has the same advantage of looking at local architects and designers, you’ll see designs that are more tailored to your climate, culture, and demographics. It’s all about perspective. You have to put on your design explorers goggles and look everywhere you go - whether it’s local restaurants, bars, hotels, schools, theaters, places of worship, museums, clothing stores, coffee shops, friend’s homes. You’d be surprised how different the world looks when you commit to being on the hunt for drapery installation everywhere you go.

Another local activity that can be helpful is joining or starting a renovation meet-up. This is a group of people in your area who are in some phase of the renovation process, and you can meet weekly to discuss issues, ideas, common problems, trouble shooting.

The other method of staying inspired that I love is looking beyond the box of interiors themselves, and looking at objects you are drawn to. Here’s a fun exercise you can do for any project to help you get started in the visioning process. Give yourself a twenty minute time limit and look around your home - grab about 10 items that you absolutely love the look of - this could be a book, a pair of sunglasses, your favorite article of clothing or jewelry, a kitchen gadget, a piece of art, family pictures, beauty products, equipment from your hobby, your favorite plant. Don’t limit your imagination. Then lay everything together and give it a little critical analysis - what do all these items have in common, both aesthetically, intellectually, and emotionally to you? What are three words you’d use to describe the vibe you’ve created with this mini collection of items? These can be your building blocks for a space that is made from your essence - something that resonates deeply with you subconscious.

I hope you feel inspired by these ideas, if you are interested in any of the resources I’ve mentioned today you can find them in the show notes. If you are enjoying this podcast please consider giving it a five star rating in Apple Podcasts - you can leave a review too, or just click the five stars at the bottom of the screen - it helps so much and if you have given a review - thank you. You can also share this podcast with a friend or on social media. You’re support is so appreciated. I hope you have an amazing day, take such amazing care of yourself - and I’ll talk to you next time.

Resources mentioned in today’s episode:

Blogs

https://detailed.com/interior-design-blogs/

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com

https://cococozy.com

https://www.cocokelley.com

https://sweeten.com/blog/

https://huntedinterior.com

http://www.oldbrandnew.com/blog

Designers:

https://www.studiodearborn.com/blog/

https://www.kellywearstler.com/interiors-portal.html