Where I get my home inspiration

I feel that I need to give a shout out to the places that I get home decorating ideas from. Before there was Pinterest, I was reading these awesome blogs by moms like me, who helped me realize what my taste was and colors and styles that I really liked. I am glad that this happened, because when I first started collecting all those paint chips for our house, I was in a swampy phase. As in dark browns and greens and what have you. Hey--everyone was doing it.

This post is what turned it all around from me. Centsational Girl's blog is still a daily read. She has impeccable taste and is an amazing DIY-er. I saw the way she turned her brown living room into something super serene, and I just went, "Ahhhhhh..." I would die to have those Pottery Barn couches. I love the blues and greens and the natural wood and wicker, and those window-like mirrors, too.

Actually, weirdly enough, what originally spiked my interest in so called "spa" colors was our stay at this SpringHill Suites hotel in Nevada on our way back from California back in 2010. I just loved the way they'd done the room and remember how refreshing and new those colors were. Then I saw Centsational Girl's living room a couple of months later.

 The Nester is an interior decorator, and she has made her mark on her rental home over the past few years. I blatantly stole this wall color from her front sitting room (Comfort Gray by Sherwin Williams) and used it to paint a wall in my living room and my whole laundry room. And I even bought a white shaggy rug, too.

And then I stole her wall color from her bedroom (Flagstone by Martha Stewart) and used it to paint a wall in my dining area (and soon to be master bathroom). I am in love with the striped drapes in her living room, too, and West Elm has a shower curtain just like it in gray that I desperately need.

My birthday is in 13 days, in case any of you are feeling generous. Haha.

 

 I've also been reading House of Smith's for a couple of years now, and when I finally chose a color for the main walls in our kitchen/dining/living room, they ended up being an almost exact match of the color Shelley used in hers. (Hers is Autumn Haze by Glidden and mine is Sandpiper by Martha Stewart). She built her house in the swampy/rustic phase that everyone was in and has done a major redo of everything. I love how light and airy it is now. Check it out here.

I think it's really helpful to have fellow bloggers sharing the insides of their homes. I've come to trust these ladies' judgment and it has made the transformation of my own house a little less intimidating. What are your favorite home decorating blogs?


*Random side note*
As I was searching through old posts for one of these pictures, I came across this post of mine from October 2008, when Madelyn was 3 1/2 (Luke's age now) and we were living in Albuquerque. People, if you think Luke is a tornado, meet version 1.0. I have a new found respect for myself and the fact that I have been able to accomplish anything at all during these last eight years that I've had children.