refreshed

Thankfully, our weeks of vacation were as wonderfully relaxing and fun as we had hoped, and we're all ready to re-enter real life. The hardest part about vacation for me is allowing our family to actually rest. I like projects--especially ones that involve some creativity--and I usually go about them rather manically, trying to geteverythingdoneallatonce. Sadly, patience has never been one of my strong points, and I usually think of weekends and vacations as good times to do all the house projects that I've been dreaming of doing. Well, to the relief of my husband, this vacation was different. We did not do any house projects. We just had fun.

However, now that we're all refreshed, I'm gearing up for some home design fun. The hardest part is trying to decide what styles will blend cohesively and fit into the spaces we have in our home (and into our budget...sigh). Here are some of my inspirations

I'm really drawn to the restful, Swedish palette of this home, owned by Loi Thai, a designer and store-owner in Bethesda, MD. It was featured in Traditional Home this summer.


Also, having just come from the beach, beach houses are on my mind. I love how fresh and laid back the colors are. I wonder what it would be like to be surrounded by them all year long. Here are a few I love.

This was also featured in Traditional home awhile ago. I'm not sure the white palette would be up for hosting a puppy and 2 toddlers day after day, but it's lovely nonetheless.


I just spotted this on a favorite blog, http://www.theinspiredroom.net/. It's of a beach house designed by Jane Coslick of Savannah, Georgia.


It's hard to find pictures of small beautiful bathrooms (and now I can't remember where I found this one, I think Better Homes and Gardens) but it's the inspiration for our main floor bathroom. We're not using the same color, but I love the basic feel.


This is from the home of another favorite blogging mom, http://www.megduerksen.typepad.com/. She is so creative and her whole home seems like a living piece of art. We are going to do something similar with some family pictures in our dining room.


This nautical room helped inspire the palette for my husband's office. His office is more masculine, but the color scheme is similar. I think it's from Better homes and Gardens, but they didn't list a designer.


Unfortunately, our camera has gone a missing, so I can't post any pictures of my own at the moment. Hopefully by the time I find it all these wonderful inspirations will have translated into good ideas for a beautiful Moss home.