Where Do You Get Your Design Inspiration?

[Photos: Planete Deco]

This house in Sweden makes me swoon.

Bright white.
Pops of Color.
A Black Exterior.......I wanted to make the outside of our house black and everyone thought I was cra-zazy. With a capitol C.

I love when interior designers are asked the question "Where do you get your inspiration?".

There are often beautiful stories about growing up in houses where design was taken seriously and considered an important part of *life's* backdrop. Where color and shape and personal touches were artfully arranged in every room. These designers were raised to appreciate the virtues of a beautiful environment.

Conversely, there is a group of designers who report growing up in un-impressive homes. Homes with little soul or personality. They often longed to have parents who arranged flowers on Friday afternoons and re-painted walls on a whim. These stories are full of 12 year olds pouring over back issues of House and Home and paint chips belonging to their friends parents and cooky aunts.

I definitely fall into the latter category. My parents have recently built an absolutely beautiful home but until then they lived, very happily I might add, in a home that was never fully decorated. When we moved in, there was lime green carpet, avocado kitchen appliances and floral wall paper borders. Up until a few years before they moved out most of these features remained untouched.

Growing up I coveted the homes of my friends whose mothers decorated and redecorated. I dreamed of having my own space and when I was really young I painted and *decorated* my own room to the best of my ability.

My mum always jokes that she hasn't a design bone in her body. She has *no idea* where we all get our design motivation. Even my brother has a solid opinion on hanging art and paint colors. How did it happen?

Looking back now I see that, despite what my mother says, she had a real influence on my love of room design and aesthetic. Though she had no desire to paint walls or arrange flowers, my mother loved to rearrange rooms. On any given afternoon the two of us would lift and move the entire contents of a room.....sometimes several times, until we got it right. We would clean and de-clutter and re-invent the space.

I loved it.

We used what we had. We re-arranged and re-invented. We made our space feel completely new with no money spent and nothing wasted.

Does home design get much better than that?

Where do you get your design inspiration?
Were you raised in a design loving home? Or did you grow to love design?