That said, I've been looking for inspiration from everywhere.
For the most part, it registered on my radar early because my best friend is part of its editorial staff. (To be honest, I'd say that's the best way to get wind of what's coming ashore. ^_~) It's not the first time I've picked up a magazine because she's part of the staff; though I'm still not a regular follower of Preview, it has become one of my favourite go-to magazines for fashion inspiration, and Cosmopolitan Philippines is my favourite "for my sanity" reading material. I have to admit I've been paying more attention to Good Housekeeping, Smart Parenting, and Real Living these days, albeit irregularly.
(Bet you didn't catch the shameless plugs. ^.^)
See, skulking about home organising stores like Japan Home Center, Howards Storage World, and the home and hardware areas of department stores isn't always enough. Though I'd once trained as an architect, I am no longer as up-to-date with trends, materials, and material sources. I'm also not so adept with creative and compact storage spaces which was why I decided to visit the Ethan Allen showroom a month or so back.
The plan was to pick up this first issue of the magazine primarily for "friend support" as I call it. It's the first issue after all and I always love a good interior design reference so I can plot and plan what I want to do with the house, but I'd always kind of felt that the magazine's sensibilities would be too luxe for my own sensibilities.
Note that I have nothing against luxe. The thing is that I do not have sole control over the training and disciplining of the pets in the house and the rest of my family spoils them rotten, resulting in furniture both expensive and inexpensive getting perhaps a quarter of their lifetime reduced in a matter of months. But I do love getting ideas and inspiration from all over--and the most amusing thing is that, upon reading the features noted on the cover, their first issue actually covers a great deal of things that fit my personal liking.
Blow by blow of my favourites--and no, this has absolutely nothing to do with who wrote or edited each article or section, I promise.
Our house actually has a very basic, no frills structure. Kind of boxy, typical of its age (it was built in the 80s), and, stripped of all furnishing and paint, can really be transformed into any typical or atypical design depending on the designer.
That said, it's easy to just keep building on what my mother already started, given that I do love the near rustic feel of the house with all its wood and rattan furnishings. Seeing the various features in the magazine, however, has encouraged me to attempt to liven up the house to ultimately make it mine.
Livening up the house in general with different wall colours isn't exactly an option although I must say that the combinations in the Flights of Fancy feature are very attractive. I've used the green and red combination before in playing The Sims 3, but normally detesting yellow, that particular palette doesn't naturally appeal to me but this made it look so good I want to try it. I'm actually making plans now to re-colour our kitchen into a lemon and lime motif.
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| I see what you did there... |
The Country bliss feature gave me something to kind of aspire to--just with a little more modern touch for our city home, and quite a lot of adjustment for our country one. I mentioned last time that I'm laying out plans to restore our old family home to its style period but while I'm going to stay faithful to the general look, I find no harm in getting inspiration from more modern interpretations, just to make it a little more current.
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