As a teen, I was absolutely mesmerized by the
Christopher Lowell Show. His humor, his passion, excitement, and his McGyver like room designs.Oh how that man inspired me! The things he could make with pvc pipe! I just had never seen anything like it! I loved his step by step tutorials. Christopher Lowell was the teacher and I was his anxious pupil sitting there soaking every bit of it in. He taught me to not only think outside of the box but to do it with flair! I learned how to PAINT grass cloth, verdigris, leather, crackle and more. With his show, I lost my fear and began exercising the art.
I became a frequent flyer to a nearby paint and wallpaper store. I would go there just to look through their books. I started going so often, that I built a rapport with the store owners. Soon they were allowing me to borrow wallpaper catalogs, giving me carpet and blind samples, and were always so excited to tell me about their newest innovative products.
When I took the leap and decorated my first room (my teen bedroom), it was this store that happily supplied me with all I needed to get going on my project. They loved hearing about every step of the process. The owners laughed so hard when I told them that I had a Pizza Party for my friends and had them come over to help me sponge paint my bedroom. And when I stenciled my room with the moon and stars in a stripe pattern around the room, they were the first people with whom I shared that news. Their eyes had lit up as she gave me the supplies I needed and when I said I was using the stencil in the vertical not the horizontal they gave me a spray adhesive to use on the stencil that they said would make it easier to reposition.
You see, friends and family weren't really on board with my decorating endeavors. They figured I was wasting my time or I would get a 'well that's nice dear'. And there was an occasional 'well you can do anything if you put your mind to it, just don't expect to make any money with it.' So having this shop owner to share my ideas with and to encourage my process was incredibly helpful.
In later years, I discovered
Candice Olson. The real flame to my torch! She set me off. I was spiraling! Her designs were inspirational. The built in cabinetry, the lush fabrics, the gorgeous light fixtures. It was her show Divine Design that introduced me to the process. She would start by drawing out her design, then she would create a design basket with her choice of fabrics, flooring, wood finishes, types of moldings. It had never occurred to me that you don't just vomit your design idea all over the room, you PLAN it first. She introduced me to the concept of a team. She worked with seamstresses, carpenters, electricians. She didn't do all of the work herself. OH! Now that was an idea! Candice inspired me to get my first sewing machine and to start making curtains and even to attend design school. If I had any chance of ever being able to design, I knew I had to learn to draw a floor plan and how to communicate my vision to others.
Then there was
David Bromstad from Color Splash who challenged me to come even further out of the box. Of course, he is charismatic but the man had a spark and vision that were just beyond! David worked with bold color, unexpected finishes, and oversized unexpected lighting. He was all about the drama and the wow factor and I loved loved loved how he put his own personal touch in all of his designs (See the painting over the mantle? Yup that's a Bromstad original!) One of my favorite designs was a Twilight Inspired Room he designed where he actually cut up LOGS and he adhered the slices to the entire wall! Omg what a statement and so unexpected! I am not crazy about his overuse of the color white though. I find that many of his room designs have a huge punch of color that he drowns out with the color white. As if he is trying to justify the color or drown it out.
Imagine if he had used more rustic furnishings or warmer colors on the sofa and chairs how that log wall would have really blended and the room would have hugged you.
But, in his Zen office design, he really went for it and soaked the room in color just using white as an accent color instead. Not a bad office?! I think I could learn to love Zen if my office looked like the one in the video below!
Inspiration can come from many people, places and things. Some people even get inspired by feelings. What inspires you? What pulls you up off the sofa or out of your desk chair to go do what you dream of? Haven't found it yet? That's alright too. You can't force inspiration and you can't fake it either. So go with the flow and move when the spirit moves you.
And then when it moves you....GO WITH IT!
Have a great Saturday everyone! See you next time!
