Cheerful | It's Great To Be Home

Blog Party: Inspiration Tuesday!

Um, yeah. If you stopped by IGTBH at any time yesterday, you know that my idea to give this blog a spiffy new look didn’t exactly go as I’d planned – to put it mildly. After I made one mistake that snowballed into about 30 mistakes, IGTBH disappeared altogether! I was totally horrified, as you can imagine. After wildly trying to fix it, stomping around, and crying in the corner (I’m totally exaggerating here – I was never in the corner), my husband had the brilliant idea to call in the big guns and actually hire someone to fix it. In no time, everything was back to normal – whew!! Why couldn’t I have thought of that 12 hours earlier?!? Anyway, the plans for the spiffy new look are on hold – but hopefully not for long.

Anyway, enough of that! It’s time to party!!! After all the fun we had last week on Inspiration Tuesday, I think we need to do it again, don’t you? I thought so!

Since I spent the majority of the day yesterday locked in my office/craft room, I’m feeling totally inspired by home offices today – and I think you will, too.

I feel right at home in these first two offices – maybe because they’re most like the room that I work in all day at home. Cheerful, casual, and filled with what looks like a thousand fun things to play with. I’ve recently been thinking about mounting a bookcase horizontally under a window like in the first picture – what do you guys think?

What’s not to love about this home office? Sophisticated, coordinated, and totally do-able at home. The simple color palette of black, white, and crimson (along with hidden storage) keeps everything looking neat and tidy. And who can deny the impact of some gorgeous framed wallpaper?

This next home office shows that you can create an inspiring workspace just about anywhere. This cold, unfinished basement went from depressing to fun and funky with just a little concrete paint, squares of plywood screwed to the studs, and a funky color palette in black, avocado and maple. I’m pretty sure I could get some serious work done in there!!

So what are you inspired by today? We’d all love to swing by your blog for some inspiration – if you’d like to join in on the fun, just add your link below. Here are a few pointers:

(1) Make sure that you add the permalink to your specific blog post (like www.itsgreattobehome.net/inspiration-tuesday-home-offices), instead of your general blog address:

(2) Give everybody an idea of what you’re inspired by in parentheses after your blog name – like Liz @ It’s Great To Be Home (home offices).

(3) Make sure that your link works – otherwise it might get deleted (no fun!!).

(4) Try to include a link to this party somewhere in your post so that your readers can get in on the party!

(5) Click on the other participants’ links and let them know if they’ve inspired you!

And wait!! Before you run off and find your post, be sure to take this fun little button with you:

Alright, now let’s party!!!

Images courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens.

Come On Get Happy

In honor of this bright and shiny Friday, I thought I’d share with you some gorgeous, happy interiors that never fail to make me smile and feel inspired – and I hope they have the same effect on you!

Are you happy now?!?

The common themes among these interiors that give them their cheerful, inspirational quality are themes that you can certainly incorporate into your own home to add a little zip and glamour:

1. Use white liberally. Who said white is boring? You’ll notice that bright white plays a huge factor in each of these interiors. Using white provides a gallery-like effect in your home, showcasing any color that you choose to highlight. White also gives your eye a break from bold colors, which allows you to be daring and play with a variety of colors and patterns.

2. Be bold with color. Since you have a base of white, go for some really saturated, exciting colors like turquoise, sunshine yellow or lime green. These fun punches of color can be brought into your room through artwork, painted furniture, throw pillows, or accessories like vases and flowers. You’ll notice that most of the bold colors used in these interiors aren’t your basic primary colors – each color is a tint of one of the primary colors, which gives it a little more edge and keeps things from looking harsh or cartoony. Think magenta instead of red, lemon instead of yellow, teal instead of blue.

3. Take chances. Now that you have a base of white with colorful accents, it’s time to take it up a notch. Patterns and textures allow you to really give a room personality and make it feel alive. Don’t be afraid to mix floral and animal prints with stripes, leather and silk and chenille, or raw wood against shiny chrome. And be sure to throw in a little bling – glass, mirrors and a touch of sparkle add depth and interest to a room. If mixing patterns and textures makes you nervous, start slow – buy a few inexpensive throw pillows in a funky and fresh pattern and build from there.

4. Go with what you like. The whole point of this approach to decorating is to let your personality shine through, and to have a little fun. Mix and match and experiment with color, patterns and textures until it feels right to you. Does it matter if the end result would never make it into a decorating magazine? Nope. All that matters is that it makes you happy.

What decorating tips and tricks do you have up your sleeve? Which interior is your favorite? And, most importantly, did these gorgeous interiors make you happy??

This post is shared with Hooked on Houses.

Images courtesy of Design*Sponge, desiretoinspire, Canadian House & Home, Apartment Therapy, PointClickHome, decor8 and Domino.