Inspiration for painting and decorating rooms

April 4, 2008 9:22 AM

Looking for various sources of inspiration for painting/decorating a new apartment.

I'm in the early stages of moving into a new and larger apartment, going from a one-bedroom to a 3-bedroom with two living areas and 1.5 bathrooms. How exciting!

Now that I have all these rooms, I want to paint and decorate some of them. I'm trained in graphic design, so I have a good sense of color combinations and shapes/flow, but I'm not terribly creative on my own. What I would love to do is page through a magazine or blog that shows room designs, so I can gather inspiration. I know magazines like this exist, but I'm not sure which ones are highly rated, or what terms to Google for.

I'm open to all styles of design, from retro to classic to abstract, all colors, all shapes, everything.

If you have any links, or book/magazine recommendations, please share!

posted by Meagan to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

As for blogs, I love apartment therapy. They often have slide shows of people's homes that are inspiring.
posted by Shebear at 9:25 AM on April 4, 2008

Domino Mag is great source.
posted by nikksioux at 9:29 AM on April 4, 2008

I heartily second Domino and Apartment Therapy. My other favorites are Design Sponge, Decor 8, and "Rate my Space" on HGTV (look under "Top Rated" for the nicest ones; otherwise you'll have to wade through a lot of duds).
posted by boomchicka at 9:33 AM on April 4, 2008

Apartment Therapy regularly features House Tours and holds a Smallest Coolest contest each year. The slideshows and contest entries are definitely good places to get inspired.
posted by hellopanda at 9:45 AM on April 4, 2008

My local Sherwin Williams paint/wallpaper store has a bunch of magazines in the store for inspiration (they're for sale, too). You can go in, sit at a table in the wallpaper area, and just go to town looking through the magazines. It's awesome! I actually chose a color scheme for my living room / stair area by finding a picture I liked, then just walking over to the paint chips and matching to the colors in the photo.

If you can find something like that where you are, I highly recommend it. But be prepared to spend a little time on it - interior design may be worthy of more respect than many geeks are willing to give it.
posted by amtho at 9:45 AM on April 4, 2008

Oh, and the magazines have titles like "colorful bathrooms and kitchens" and "textured interiors" - they're maybe more books than magazines. Very focused and helpful.
posted by amtho at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2008

Instead of choosing a specific color, choose a feeling, the way you want to room to be. Neutrals can be serene or dramatic. Bright colors can be eclectic, funky, ethnic, etc. Pastels can be cute, or classy. Get lots paint chips; and put them up; rearrange them; try different intensities of color. I love pure colors, but all my rooms have muted, muddy colors, and they're a nice backdrop for my art and furniture. You can post questions to Apartment Therapy, like "Should I use this shade of brown in this room w/ this couch." Just take all the answers w/ a grain of salt, since you get to live with it. .
posted by theora55 at 11:21 AM on April 4, 2008

And, any paint store can make any color. They can scan other paint chips to replicate Ralph Lauren colors in Behr paint, etc.
posted by theora55 at 11:25 AM on April 4, 2008

There are lots of books that would be good for this. Go to your local library and check out as many as you can carry.
posted by BoscosMom at 10:21 PM on April 4, 2008