Spring has Sprung!

Spring always gets me in the mood for cleaning and freshening up my house! After a long winter it is great to open the windows, let the fresh air in, and decorate areas that are outdated, drab or impersonal. This time of year there are always "design look books" popping up in my email or twitter feed. To me, decorating your home is about more than what the latest design trends and colors are. I think a home should reflect your personality and history - not be an exact replica of the Pottery Barn catalog (Friends fans get it!)

So - how do you create a design that looks great and reflects your personality and history? Well, what interests you? What do you like to do in your free time? What was your favorite vacation? And - most importantly - you want to select designs that you will be happy looking at for a long time to come! A few years ago we did a complete overhaul of our living room as it had been about 15 years or so since it had been updated (some of the furniture we had in our living room was from the 70's!). To create our design, I used the app Houzz to create an idea book and worked to create a design that would be original and ours.

While the final living room did not exactly match the plan- it came pretty close! In our house we love nature and anything nautical, and that is how we came up with the color scheme. The blues and grays complement the ocean painting above our couch and the bluish gray feathers of the birds in the chair upholstery.

We have designed this way in other areas of our home as well. Our back hallway has pictures of family, as well as pictures we purchased of different places on Cape Cod we really love. In my bedroom I have a sculpture of birds that I purchased on vacation and a wood wall carving of a pod of dolphins that was given to me as a gift. Our bathroom is black, white, and mint green and my silhouette photos of birds were a perfect addition.

In designing our home we worked to make it inviting and comfortable and also reflective of who we are. There are little reminders of people and places we love scattered throughout that complement our design scheme.

If you are looking to refresh your home design this spring - take a look around Simply Dunn Art for some inspiration! Maybe you will find the perfect color ideas from a painting of the ocean, or maybe you will find a photograph of London that reminds you of a wonderful trip you took there! Take a break from HGTV design shows and find a look that is uniquely yours!