Its All About the Windows & How a Room Is Inspired

I often get the question, Where do you get your inspiration from? And that is a hard question to answer. Inspiration is a combination of things for me. The space, my budget, what is available, how I want the space to function and what makes my heart sing. Sometimes I get stuck on an idea and the rest of the world isn’t aware of my genius. I will run from store to store trying to find whatever it is I have envisioned, only to find out it doesn’t exist. Sometimes you can fix that with a DIY and sometimes, you just have to go back to the drawing board.

My biggest advice for designing a space or finding your style or inspiration is to gather images you like. Pinterest makes that super easy. I started looking at all these spaces that appealed to me and I thought to myself, what do these spaces have in common? Why is it they appeal to me? One thing I noticed about all of these spaces were: Patterned drapes. All these spaces I loved had bold patterned drapes. This is what inspired me to stencil my drapes, bring in bold graphic drapes to Quinn’s room and incorporate patterned drapes into my room (work in progress) and Eleanor’s room (both old and new).

For Eleanor’s room I knew I wanted to utilize the closet space in a new way. Since I had two things to hang up in there, it seemed silly to waste all that square footage on that. I also knew I wanted her to have a reading space, like her brother, to encourage reading and because the girl LOVES her books. I think it was hit. Check out where we found her during her nap time.

Since it is Eleanor’s room, I try to keep in mind her likes and interests. Right now the girl digs small spaces and curtains. She is always hiding behind ours. When I put all these ideas together, turning her closet into reading nook seemed like common sense. From a design standpoint, I knew I wanted to define the space. That is why I chose to use the Herringbone Allover stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.

The true launching point for Eleanor’s space are the curtains. I searched and searched and searched for something that inspired me. I bedspread, curtains, a rug. Something that made me say, YES! Something that sparked a vision for her space. When I finally found it I was beyond excited and then…it was back ordered. Err! So I called the closest World Market (about 45 min. away) to check and see if they had any in stock. I was in luck, they did. My mom, SIL, and aunt made it a day and drove up there for some shopping fun.

Meet my inspiration.

Don’t mind the naked bed. This whole thing is a process people. A room doesn’t just finish itself overnight. It is so exciting to see the room transform.

I mean, what.a.difference. I gotta admit-it was even hard for me to envision this when looking at the space. So here is what you need to know about the curtains. They are from World Market. They are called Gemma Floral Curtains. Because this is a finished attic space, we are slightly vertically challenged. The curtains were too long, but I didn’t want to alter them in any sort of permanent way. What if we move? What if I want to use them in a different space? I like to keep my options open people.

To solve my length dilemma, I decided to use drapery clips. I simply folded over the curtains to create the length I wanted and clipped.

Love an alteration that isn’t permanent. Take the clips off, give it a good iron and we are good to go.

To hang the curtains the hubs used a square. Perfect for deciding how far out and how high up to go. We, for the most part, went as high and wide as the space allowed. High and wide is always best when hanging drapes.

So many details left to complete, but getting up the window treatments is super exciting. The entire color pallet is being pulled from this fabric. I was able to snatch up some cloth napkins in the same fabric. Those are being turned into pillows. I also covered the read letters in this print and created the letter pillow. I love having the print repeat itself in small doses throughout the space.

My blogging is lagging a bit behind our actual progress. We aren’t complete finished yet. I still have lots of finishing touches to share with you. Hardware, light fixtures, art work, wall arrangements, furniture, bedding…the list goes on.

To see more about Eleanor’s room check out her reading nook, all you need to know about carpet tiles, and hanging gutter bookshelves & FAQ. You can check out my entire house tour and find more inspiration in my project gallery.

What inspires you? Where do you draw your inspiration from? Anyone else find a running theme in spaces they like? Anyone else trying out bold curtains?