My pins over the year...

Hi! I'm back with a short update :-)

It's probably been more than a year since I joined Pinterest, and I was looking at my pins back then to see how my preference for decor has changed over the year. You know how when you keep a diary and read back to the days when you were younger, and thought, "really? I wrote that?"

Well, in this case, it would be, "really? I pinned that?"

Okay, my pins from last year were not bad at all. Let's take a look at a few of them, shall we?

Source here

I'm still into neutrals and blues and browns like in the photo above. This room is still pretty - clean and modern.

Elle Decor

I like the herringbone floor and again - clean and modern.

Rue

At the time, I was sourcing for inspiration to decorate my sister's bedroom. I like the image of this room. I particularly love the patterns on the bed sheet and the texture from the grey-blue velvet pillow.

Houzz

This is a nice dining room - and I've always loved lanterns. Loved and still love white upholstered dining chairs, too.

Source here

Another handsome living room made of greys, blues and browns - my favourite colours.

Though all photos above are beautiful in their own ways, I now find myself gravitating towards rooms that look less than perfect, lived-in and maybe a little under decorated?

Let me share with you some of my recent pins to show you what I mean.

Source here

This is what I call an effortlessly beautiful room. It just doesn't look decorated - the rumpled bedsheets, the aged wood of the side tables, the 'real' reading books in the niches and a cute personal photo of a baby. This could be anybody's room - and it just happens to be beautiful.

Source unknown

I love the relaxed look of this area. The patina on the frames of the two identical mirrors makes a beautiful contrast to the reflection of a more modern chandelier.

Taken from here

Another undecorated room - wouldn't you just love sitting here, doing mundane daily stuff, but it wouldn't be so mundane because everything around you is so pretty. The bookshelves are messy - but that's what brings character to the whole room. It looks like a real room.

Barefoot Contessa

The use of natural materials - the rug, the basket under the desk, the wooden stool and painted desk, brings the warmth into this little hallway. It looks so inviting, doesn't it?

From here

And this kitchen, although the cabinets are modern with no handles and a clean, streamlined look, the use of wooden countertops, antique trays and aged wooden beam just brings the kitchen back down to earth that I love.

So as you can see, after a year of collecting images on the internet, my preferences have changed from that clean, modern look to a more lived-in, undecorated look.

Have you found that your preferences have changed over the years? 

simple, elegant and beautiful

I found this photo on Pinterest that I fell in love with.

The designer is Alexandra Siebelink, and I visited her website and found beautiful photos. You can check them out here.

I love the look she creates - simple, clean and a wonderful mix of natural textures. Beautiful!

small gardens

So I have this really small garden in our new house and right now we've been so focused on renovating the house that I've never really thought about how I would like my garden to look like.

You see, I've never been the gardening type of girl... have always loved the decorating of the interiors of houses rather than the exterior.

But a lot of the blogs I read and the pinners I follow on Pinterest are garden lovers, and I cannot help but find myself inspired and repinning away of photos of beautiful small gardens. Something I can refer to when hopefully, one day, I get the time and spirit to spruce up our future garden.

Here are some of my inspiration photos of small gardens... or corners of bigger gardens. :-)

via Design Chic

I love topiary and a neat little garden like the one above. Okay, my garden / landscape vocab is a little rusty, so I'm not going to be narrating much here. I need my landscape architect friends to help me out.

Paul Bangay

A cute white bench to enjoy the greenery.

BHG

I would love to have a fountain in my garden. And I like the way the plants are encircled around this one.

Debora Carl Landscape Design

I love the idea of having a gravel laid path.

HGTV

And, if I could have flowers - surprise, surprise - I would want white flowers.

Shelterness

This adorable urban garden above would be more my style. Simple, a little bit modern, and low-maintenance.

via The Good Stuff

Our garden in our new home is a side garden, kind of like the one in the photo above. It's about 10 feet wide. I love how they've laid out the slabs in this diamond pattern.

via Downsize my space

I love this small garden with square blocks of different plants. Cute and contemporary.

unknown source

Black makes a great accent colour for seating, tables, chairs and planters in this photo. Note the gravel again.

Flickr

Succulents are always adorable.

House Beautiful - Chris Barrett

I love this little courtyard with the stone table stacked with green goodness.

So how would you decorate your garden? Hope you enjoyed my inspiration photos!

Have a great weekend!

my recent pins on pinterest...

When I'm feeling a little bit stressed, I like to indulge in some eye candy and the best place to go for that lately is Pinterest. Most of the time I'm repinning what other pinners are pinning so I can find inspiration on what I can write on this blog.

Just thought I'd share with you my 10 most recent pins on Pinterest and call this a post. Can I get away with that? :-)

via Cote de Texas - one of my favourite design blogs

I love those lovely blue lamps, all the textures used on the bedding and overstuffed pillows. Come on, don't tell me you haven't fallen in love yet?

msn real estate

I would love to have an outdoor room one day. And it would probably look like this. Loving blues, greens, browns and beiges. And those white fans. Where can I get those kind of fans here, huh? I want them for all my rooms.

via My French Country Home

My dream is to one day live on a farm and have a beautiful, big country kitchen. It wouldn't be so bad if it was in France, either I guess. I envy the owner of this kitchen.

via Boxwood Terrace

I love the clean look of this room. It has a modern feel to it, but the addition of that rustic coffee table keeps it grounded. Simply gorgeous.

Veranda - Interior Design by Richard Hallberg. Photograph by Miguel Flores-Vianna.

I love this kitchen. It's so clean and simple and modern without being cold. I love the use of textures on the wall of the stove and the ceiling. The ceiling is also curved, I love those arches.  I think I've overused the word 'love' here.

Country Home

White ironstone and fresh green herbs make a beautiful collaboration.

Skonahem

This is a beautiful boys' bedroom. Clean and simple. How cute are those flags, huh?

La Brocanteuse: L'Orangerie

Burlap and stripes on an antique chair. Pretty.

Veranda - Interior Design by Pamela Pierce. Photograph by Peter Vitale.

Another country kitchen that I love. Great big windows, raw brick walls, pebble stone floors and antique chairs. Lovely.

Phoebe Howard

And my collection of pins would not be complete without the work of Phoebe Howard who I have long admired. I love this part of this bedroom. So fresh and clean.

Hope you've enjoyed 10 of my pins today!

backsplash ideas

I've not decided on the backsplash design that we'll be using for our kitchen.

My first request was for my contractor to quote on white 4x4 inch tiles where this was my inspiration.

Pinterest

So when my contractor gave me the quotation, she instead quoted 2x2 inch tiles where it would look something like this (thanks, Google images - you're a lifesaver).

Susan Jablan

Which doesn't look bad at all, but not the look that I was going for.

Which also made me wonder, would my kitchen end up looking like a bathroom with all the tiles placed neatly side by side?

Unknown source

Maybe that's why the Americans love their signature subway tiles in their kitchens - tiles are stacked in a neat brick-like pattern instead.

BHG

But I was certain that I didn't want to go subway style because (dare I say), its too homey and traditional for me. And plus, I saw beautiful tiles in a Belgian kitchen before that was not subway.

Belgian Pearls

So my contractor explained to me that 2x2 inch tiles would cost less for installation as they come pre-installed as a mosaic of a bigger tile, stuck together with some mesh. Does that make sense to you? Well, it does in my head. But anyway, it's kind of like lots of tiles bound together to make one tile.

4x4 inch tiles would cost more as they would quote based on installation per tile - which I presume is smaller than the mosaic tile made of 2x2 tiles.

I'm not trying to give you all a high school math quiz, but in the end, I have to contemplate which one was worth the money.

So, I started googling up images of mosaic tiles so that I could convince myself to go for this option.

Here are some beautiful mosaic tiles used for kitchen backsplashes.

Decorpad

 Isn't it beautiful? The kitchen backsplash in the photo above uses mosaic linear glass tiles. It looks modern and sophisticated.

Decorpad

A mixture of grey and white mosaic tiles used here.

Decorpad

The use of glass linear mosaic tiles here is gorgeous as they are of different sizes.

Decorpad

This is the same kitchen from one of the photos above, but I love the whole kitchen, so I thought I'd just show it to you.

Eclectic Revisted

I've shown this photo on my blog before. But I just noticed that the bright ocean blue backsplash is actually mosaic. So pretty.

Houzz

Mosaic tiles can actually bring depth to a rustic-industrial inspired kitchen!

So, after this, I'm going to get my contractor to quote on linear glass mosaic tiles and will decide after that!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

don't skip breakfast!

Image taken from here

a look into seaside decor

I’ve never really been a fan of beach / seaside décor, but after collating photos on Pinterest, I find myself drawn to the qualities of how beach homes are decorated – casual, laid-back and elegant. Nautical has never been my thing, nor knick-knacks made of seashells and corrals, so I think this style, sans these two elements would be more appealing to me.

This is pretty though. Source

One thing in particular that I am drawn to is the palette of greens, blue, sandy whites and driftwood greys. 

Source

I have always loved rooms that look casual and effortlessly pretty with nothing too precious to touch. 

Via Decor de Provence

You don't need to worry about the kids ruining your furniture. 

Pinterest

Slipcovers are also useful - just whip them off to the laundry whenever they get dirty. 

Eclectic Revisited

I love the use of linens, seagrass rugs, the wooden driftwood table and coral as decoration. The palette of natural neutral hues is beautiful. 

Velvet & Linen

Of course, I couldn't resist putting up this picture again. The perfect palette with a casual, beachy feel to it! 

Eclectic Revisited

This breakfast nook is gorgeous too. The painting of the ocean is reflecting the view from the window across, I would guess. 

Eclectic Revisited

The adjacent kitchen with the ocean blue backsplash tiles is gorgeous. I love the stone floors too. 

via Kitchen Design Photos

This kitchen is beautiful too.


Lets see what a beach-themed bathroom would look like.

via By the Sea

via Delight by Design

And finally, a beach-themed bedroom to retreat to. 

via SW Design

Do you like the beach look? I love the elements of casual and elegance that it brings!