Friday, February 22, 2008

Inspirational Organization

I am a compulsive planner. Every house we have ever owned (which is only three), I had every room's decor planned far in advance. I blame it on too much HGTV when I was in elementary school. In our last house, I made foam idea boards for every room and clipped paint swatches, fabric samples, magazine pictures, and digital photos of things that inspired me. I was most certainly a little over the top with the new house we just built this summer- I planned every room down to using graphing paper and scale to shrink all of my furniture so that during the move I would know exactly where to put things. It made moving week much smoother, and the guys were thankful to move something right in and set it up. Everyone knew to follow the chart and read the labels. For two years, David and I drove through new construction and took photos of our favorite counter tops, fireplace mantles, bathroom cabinets, tile, and brick. Our architect was impressed when we lugged that album in and knew exactly what we wanted. Our first meeting lasted only an hour tops, and he was able to draw the first version of our house plan. I am always looking for better ways to organize, as I know you probably are too.

One of my favorite hobbies is to google decorating ideas. I currently keep an online album of pictures that I refer to for ideas. It may be a picture of a gorgeous throw pillow, or a kitchen island with a great butcher block top. I even save pictures from blogs that I fall in love with. Some of your pictures now have a permanent place in my hard drive! : ) Baby showers are always fun pictures that I love to save and keep a record of. It is a nice place to keep ideas for a rainy day when you have to put something together and you are looking for a little extra "umph". The biggest folder I have is of baby's rooms. I love nurseries, especially those that are really trendy and unique. Here are a few rooms that I have saved in the last week. I love them for different reasons. None of these are from blogs, or I would most certainly direct you their way. But, they are real nurseries in someones home right now. They are not show rooms, which is what impresses me. I hope you are as inspired as I am! : )

















49 comments:

  1. Oh wow! I love the first little boy's one with the polka dots and the little girl's bright pink one with the polka dots. Apparently I love polka dots!

    How is your friend's family? I've thought about them so much this past week.

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  2. OH MY WORD!!! I love your blog and I especially love this post! My heart palpitates when I see cute nurseries... LOVE THEM... And these are some DARLING ones!!! I am always on "Rate My Space" on HGTV's website trying to get inspiration!

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  3. Ok so now we totally are kindred spirits because I totally do most of what you do. I don't keep an online photo album though, which is such an inspiring idea! I would love to see your pics because these are just too cute! I'm hoping to redo Shelby's room and our office. So I'd love some inspiration. :o)

    How are you??

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  4. Those are adorable. I had said I would do a polka dot room in my nursery, but do the wall one color and then go back and glaze polka dots. I saw it in Pottery Barn once and loved it. I also love the circular cribs!

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  5. I like the second from the bottom best. Traditional, and the way I change my mind (my moms says I am always painting) it wouldn't tire with me as much becasue it is more traditional. I like them all though.
    Jessica-check out the following blogs on my blog roll, they always have some great decorating suggestions: The Nesting Place, Casa De Jules and Harrington House. I know you will adore these blogs if you love to look at home decor like I do.
    I too keep a notebook with little plastic sleeved pages with inspiration ideas. Also a folder in a file cabinet.

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  6. So cute!! I love the hot pink with the black and white polkadots. And my other favorite is the green and blue harlequin!
    When we build a house I might need to borrow this crazily organized book your talking about!!

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  7. Those rooms are all gorgeous. Makes me want to throw all my kids toys away and start over :)

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  8. I was actually getting ideas from you after you posted about the baby shower at your house!!! We have 2 very large bookshelves in our living room...I'm a picture frame FREAK...that is all I have in the bookshelves with along side a few books! I was getting ideas from a shelf in your house =) If you have any other ideas of things I could store in these shelves email me some pics...if ya have them!!! I was looking for some really cool chest but haven't found anything that's caught my eye!!! Also some greenery!

    Okay....
    What is up with the baby rooms???? Is there something that "WE" need to know??? =)

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  9. I am always on the HGTV website looking at people's spaces. I voted for that first nursery! I save pics too along with sending the link to friends to look at.

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  10. Girl...you are so smart. I need to do some google searches too. I am so impressed with your organizational skills! I too LOVE LOVE LOVE to organize! I have said it before and I will say it again...I wish you could decorate my house!!

    Hope you guys have a fun weekend!

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  11. Oh, those are so awesome!! I love looking at other people's houses and getting ideas. I also have a folder with house ideas on my computer, wish I had the money to bring them to life! LOL

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  12. I can't believe you like to do what I love to do! In fact, I had looked at about a hundred pictures of nurseries and you showed one of my favorites: the green with black furniture and the black round baby bed! Love it...looks clean, crisp and modern..could be for either sex!

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  13. These are all amazing rooms! What a great idea to do a digital photo album of favorites. I have unorganized file folders, etc. (from pre-digital days) of house ideas, decorating ideas, etc. I love to clip and plan, too. I just need to be more organized with it for it to ever be very useful. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  14. Oh I love all the nurseries! You are really organized! Have a great weekend!

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  15. LOVE these rooms! My teenager would Love that girly room! Makes me want to move and start all over!

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  16. I Love the green and black with the round crib! They are SUPER expensive though!

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  17. Love the polka dots! When and IF we move in the next few months, I am going to paint Jancie's new room pink; although, I will have to definitely consider the polka dots.

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  18. Love, love, love them! The one with the round crib is my favorite! I am going to have to save the picture. Thanks for posting!

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  19. i love the bright green and blue boys room. How cute!!!! I started reading your blog from Robyn Beele's. I love it!!!

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  20. Very cute. I love looking at designs- i should post my sister's nursery. Hers could be right up there!

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  21. okay, and i thought i was an organized person! i've got to remember that when buy a house! cute nurseries

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  22. hello!! OOHH I love tehm !! especially the one with the white coach! so cute!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see you with your baby!!

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  23. jessica,
    I am always inspired when i read your blog. YOu are sooo artistic and I am so lacking. I love to do decorating I just always run out of time in a day or money. Oh well keep it up the inspiration is working Im tired of looking at white walls at my house.
    Francine

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  24. Hi Jessica-I found your blog through Kelly's blog (can't remember how I found hers!) Anyway-the rooms you posted are so cute! Where do you go online to find rooms that are in someone's home? Those are lots of times more practical than decorated rooms in magazines! Love your blog! I am a teacher, too (kindergarten). Have a great weekend!

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  25. Okay, I have to say two things. First, I LOVE the first picture! T O O D I E F O R!

    And second, there was HGTV when you were in elementary school? Holy crap I am old!

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  26. Wow, those are so busy! They are pretty, though.

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  27. Wow, those are so busy! They are pretty, though.

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  28. I LOVE the first one! You're so creative that I'm sure your baby's nursery will be out of this world!!

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  29. WOW! What a great post, those rooms are so cute. Great Ideas

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  30. I LOVE the black, white and green one! That's what I want to do my nursey in...when I have one! If you can't tell by my blog outline those are my favorite colors!

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  31. Such fun stuff, and what a great idea. We are about to convert our little guys nursery to a "big boy" room...seen any cute ideas for that lately??

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  32. Hi Jessica,
    I like the first one it is so fun, boyish and very stricking, I wonder where they got the large saftey pin from? I wish I had the internet to plan my boys nursery when they were little.
    Cheers Linda

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  33. I love doing exactly the same thing! It's so much fun surfing the net finding inspiration! I love the whole Victoria Hagan, "Something's Gotta Give" - loook.

    Take care, Mia/Sweden

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  34. Hey, I found a website you might like. www.myhomeideas.com. You probably already know about it :)

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  35. you are a mess and I adore all of these. They are sooooo cute!

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  36. I love the black and pink polka dot room and girl, you are not overboard, you are a dream combination of preperation and creation!

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  37. I too am overly organized and always looking for new ways to organize!! I love that black, pink and white polka dot room. It is very similar to what I have in mind, if I ever have a little girl!

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  38. I love them - I am obsessed with planning out a nursery too (and have been since before we were trying).I like the pink and black polka dot one but I love the shabby chic with the day bed also.
    You don't have a reason to be planning a nursery, do you????? :-)

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  39. I love baby nurseries! You picked out some really cute ones too. I can't want to see what you create when you need a nursery. :)

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  40. Circles everywhere...mirrors, beds, dots! My fav is the one with the chocolate walls and ceiling. The bed looks so comfy!

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  41. Oh my...the last one is my favorite! So sweet! Isn't it great when you find nice pictures like this that inspire you? Yeah, there is no telling how many pictures I have on my computer "style file" of other people's rooms and stuff! haha!! :o)

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  42. Hey there! Thanks so much for leaving a comment on my blog! It has been so much fun to read through yours. Its always fun to find someone in the blog world I'd actually be friends with in the real one! :)

    Looking forward to reading more!

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  43. I LOVE the second to last one! Brad and I have been keeping a book of ideas that we like for our future house. Brad originally went to school to be an architect, so he is always drawing out house plans! Ha! Even though we just moved into our new house, we love to plan for our next one :)

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  44. oh my goodness my creative ideas are going wild!!!! i love love love all the rooms. I can totally relate with too much hgtv. i grew up watching craft shows and stuff with mom.

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  45. Oh my...I love the 1st one, and of course the hot pink and black - and jsut like you, I adore nurseries.

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  46. how do you find all this cuteness???
    love it!
    keep it coming!
    i <3 blue and brown

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  47. Those are so stinkin' cute!!! I love to look for decorating idea, too. There is just so many cute things you can do with nurseries or kids rooms. My daughter was looking over my shoulder and she loved the one with the black with white polka dots on the bottom. We are going to have to talk Daddy into that!!! Thanks for sharing!

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  48. These are so adorable. I noticed we have the cutest blue and brown crib wear in the circle patterns, and I noticed Penney's has drapes with the same circle pattern in blue and brown also. These colors have really caught my eye recently and to me I guess I like it the most.They seem perfect for a girl or a boys room.

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