Design Inspirations

I'm often asked where I find inspiration for my designs. The answer is almost everywhere, almost every day. I find inspiration from travel, from art, from nature and from architecture. I'm inspired on my daily morning walk and on my weekends away. I'm inspired by visits to Barnes & Noble or relaxing on the patio of a local restaurant.

Here are a few examples, and how they can emerge in a finished room.

I love the art deco lines of the Deca condos along Park Boulevard.

The building's metal "bracelets" may show up in matching cabinet jewelry. This metal Mosaic knob by Siro Designs is available on IKDD's Miton MT900 series or at European Bath Kitchen Tile Stone in Solana Beach.

My daily walk also takes me past a Craftsman home that looks quite like this one.
I call it "curb candy!"

Craftsman style inspires me to use cabinets like these Miton MT500s, also at IKDD. They're the ones that will probably go into my next home -- in painted white.

In the neighboring community of Hillcrest is a succulent garden like this one. I love its year-round, hardy style.

This hardy, all-weather fabric from Sunbrella captures the garden's colors and could show up on a banquet or counter stool cushions in one of my kitchens.

I recently visited the Sierra Club's Foster Lodge in Pine Valley, Cal. I shot this rugged view from a hike there on my iPhone. (Puts life in perspective, doesn't it!)

The rocky view inspires my frequent use of stone countertops, especially easy maintenance quartz. This Sienna Ridge is by Silestone.

This local Greek Orthodox church reminds me of the ones I enjoyed in Santorini years ago.

I suspect those white walls and blue accents were the original inspiration for my love of white kitchen cabinets against blue walls. These Del Rays are from American Woodmark.

The building I'm living in at the moment has a courtyard filled with pink-flowered boxes like this one. They make me smile as I head out on my morning walk and return, tired but happy.

I love the whimsy of pink hardware dotting vintage-style cabinets -- perhaps in a butler's pantry or bathroom armoire. This one comes from CoolNobsAndPulls.com. They make me smile, too.