~ Inspiration | It's Great To Be Home

A Flickr of Inspiration

February 10, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 9 Comments

I recently made the switcheroo from Image Spark to Flickr because I was flabbergasted (flabbergasted, I tell you!!) when I ran out of space on Image Spark with no way to store more images – what a bummer! Anyway, I paid the $25 bucks or so for unlimited space on Flickr (so worth it) and now I’m a happy girl.

I bet you’re wondering, “Um, what the heck does this random post have to do with me?” Well, I’m glad you asked! (Okay, you didn’t ask, but just go with it). I’ve added a new page to IGTBH that is literally filled to the brim with fabulous goodies that I’ve gathered from all over the web (along with the original sources), from DIY tutorials to stunning kitchens to breathtaking bathrooms. And the best part is that I’m constantly updating the page with fresh new eye-candy, so you’ll be treated with a whole new slew of inspiration each time you check it out. Yay!

Anyhoo, to get in on all the inspirational goodness just click here or head on up to the “Inspiration” tab under the header. Can’t wait to hear what you think about it!

Blog Party: Inspiration Tuesday!

September 21, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 9 Comments

Ahhhh, wainscoting. So classic, so fresh, and oh so gorgeous.

And so many options, from beadboard or raised panel, to dining room or bathroom or mud room, to chair rail height or 3/4 height . . .

I’m digging the much taller 3/4 height – what about you?

And while we’re on the subject of inspiration, how about you join in on the blog party and fill us in on what’s inspiring you today?

Here are a few pointers:

(1) Make sure that you add the permalink to your specific blog post (like www.itsgreattobehome.net/inspiration-tuesday-wainscoting), 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 @ IGTBH (wainscoting).

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

(4) Include a link back to this party somewhere in your post so that your readers can get in on the fun.

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

And remember, if we have enough participants this week I’ll feature my faves from the blog party on Wednesday – and it could be your post! Now grab your post and this button and let’s get down to business!!

Images courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Living, Life in the Fun Lane, and Decorology.

A Spark Of Awesomeness

September 21, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 7 Comments

If you’re like me, you’re constantly looking for and finding gorgeous and inspiring images as you peruse the Internet. I love saving all the cool images I find so that I can turn to them later for inspiration for the blog, a design consult, or my own home.

The problem is that my methods for saving these gnarly images was pretty pathetic, and not that user-friendly. They were saved in a variety of places, from Google Reader to a folder in iPhoto on my computer. That meant that I had to search in multiple places to find the image that I wanted, and even if I was able to find it I couldn’t always tell you where I originally found it. Quite a pain, indeed.

But then something miraculous happened. I read about this awesome online resource called Image Spark that lets you save and tag images from anywhere (your hard drive or the Web) so that they’re all right at your fingertips – no more hunting all over the place to find the perfect picture!

The best part for me is that you can right-click on any image you find on the Web and the link to the image is automatically saved!! (I downloaded Firefox for free to take advantage of this feature). Now I’ll always know exactly where I found an image so that I can make sure to give credit where credit is due. It’s pretty darn fancy!

I love being able to easily search through my images by using the tags – let me tell ya, now I can find a colorful, eclectic kitchen in no time! And anytime that you guys want to sneak a peek at my inspiration files, you can just click here for some serious eye candy.

So far, I’ve only found two issues with Image Spark that bug me, and neither one bothers me enough to stop using it. The first is that you can only upload images from your hard drive one at a time, and this was really only a big deal because I was trying to upload hundreds of pictures from my inspiration folder – it won’t typically be an issue. The other problem was that photographs taken by my camera are too large to upload to Image Spark – that can probably be solved by changing the resolution of my photos, but it’s still a little annoying.

And although I haven’t tried it yet, you can also search the community’s images and create mood boards using your own saved pictures. As if I needed another reason to play on the computer!!

Have any of you tried out Image Spark? What do you think, are you as hooked as I am? Or do you use another method for saving inspiring photos?

And don’t forget, the Inspiration Tuesday blog party starts tonight at 10 p.m.!