From Inspiration to Reality

Back before there was ever such a thing as pintrest, I started saving inspiration in Evernote. Long before we found our little yellow house, we spent a full year looking at real estate, plus a whole year before that just dreaming about it. There was a lot of time spent planning and thinking about decorating our future home before we could actually do anything. A couple of weeks ago I was looking for some design inspiration and went through some of my old notes. I was really tickled by my old shopping lists and design inspiration for the rooms - a lot more of it became reality than I ever realized.

Sofa
These were the living room sofas I liked, though these were straight out of Room & Board and way out of our budget.

Our Crate & Barrel version is so similar, it’s uncanny. The best part is that the scale is way better than the inspiration for our room and the pricetag was much more affordable.


Lights
These are the lamps and hanging pendants I loved for “our future house” - I’m surprised by how many of these we ended up getting.

The yellow chandelier in our sunroom/playroom was purchased at a deep discount for another house that wasn’t meant to be. But I loved the chandelier so we kept it. Then there are the oil rubbed bronze swing arm lamps for our bedroom, from Crate & Barrel’s online outlet, almost half off. The 2 Crate & Barrel table lamps were a gift. And last but certainly not least, my all-time favorite, the Biella smoked pendant was also purchased at a deep discount from Rue La La and resides in our living room.

We considered a simple modern pendant light to replace our dining room chandelier, but since painting it oil rubbed bronze, I love it. And I think the colonial style of the chandelier goes better with the house.


Mirrors
I really wanted a tall floor-length mirror for a long time. I dreamt about leather wrapped splurges from Crate & Barrel, chunky wood ones from West Elm, beveled glass.

The one we have, from Ikea, is such a bargain compared to prices from C&B, Pottery Barn, etc. In this case, having the patience to wait for an Ikea knock-off was well worth the wait.


Glass doorknobs
This one was completely luck, getting a house full of original 1920s doors and 1920s glass knobs. I had plans to spend a boatload at Rejuvination on replicas in whatever house we ended up in, so it’s funny that wish came true with the purchase of the house.

Bedding
I have a thing for floral bedding. In our small bedroom I thought that we had to keep things simple with solid colors, but then our red and white dwell duvet cover changed my mind. Our newest summer-weight quilt has a similar romantic floral pattern that I’m so drawn too.

It's funny to think of how many things I loved 5 years ago I still love today. Hopefully this means I love classics and don't end up stuck in the past?