Home Decorating - What Inspires You?

As you page through home decorating magazines, stroll past furniture store windows, and search for decorating ideas the internet, what actually inspires you to take action? When do you say, "That's the look I want"? What gets your attention and sticks in your mind until you must have the object of your attraction?

Product designers count on the latest introduction of colors to first catch your eye. A color you've never seen before or one resurrected from years ago may to your inspiration to redecorate. Colors are carefully planned to change throughout year. If this season's colors didn't grab you, perhaps the next array will do it. Eventually some hue in the seasonal rainbow will speak to you and you're off to the paint or furniture store.

Just as with the inevitable changes in fashion's hemlines and the width of men's ties, some colors keep reappearing every few years. The avocado green of thirty years ago is back with a different descriptive name, so it's now a fresh addition to a new color pallet for another generation.

Forms can also inspire. The alluring shape of a camelback sofa or the classic simplicity of a modern chair will set your mind to planning a whole new look for your room. May as well update those end tables and replace those tired lamps. Suddenly that lovely form that attracted you, that single impetus for change, has created a room transformation.

The shape of the beveled glass atop a dining table, the meandering curve of a sectional sofa, the off-beat lampshades on a chandelier are all examples of forms that attract and inspire a new way to see your home space.

A pattern will commonly inspire decorating action. The striking area rug festooned with a fabulous floral pattern inspires a new color scheme and becomes the centerpiece of the room. A richly colored rug with swirls cut deeply into the pile creates a pattern and flow to plan your room around.

The leopard print on a bedspread fabric may inspire you to create a bedroom jungle retreat. Spotting a drapery fabric covered with bouquets of blooming roses on chintz inspires an English cottage makeover. Patterns create pictures that inspire.

Art inspires the soul, but can also create a focus for your room's décor. Begin with a focal point piece of art, something you love such as the picturesque Venetian scene that reminds you of your travels. The colorful gondolas and buildings reflected in the canals inspire your color choices. Naturally you are drawn to Italianate carved wood furniture, rich tapestry fabrics and Venetian glass to accessorize your artistic inspiration.

We are certainly not immune to design trends. What makes a look so trend worthy is its ability to inspire our own home decorating. Consider the Southwestern design trend of a few years ago. Did you furnish your living room with weathered wooden tables, mammoth overstuffed upholstery, and accessorize with striped Navajo blankets and dried animal bones? That popular look inspired the trend to adopt the desert lifestyle.

Inspiration for your home decorating does not just appear in the predictable publication and mediums. Music, movies, cultures and travel can get your creative juices flowing.

Be open to ideas that appear in unexpected places to liven up your home's decor.