Where I Find Home Decor and Interior Design Inspiration
Today on the blog, I want to share some of my favorite places to find home decor ideas and interior design inspiration. I’ve used these these inspo sources to gather ideas and get inspired as we built our farmhouse and now as we build the cottage.
If you’re new to White & Woodgrain and you’re not familiar with our home and our story… my husband and I re-built the 1800’s farmhouse that’s been in our family for many generations.
Have you taken the tour?
We re-built our family’s 1800’s farmhouse… and I put together a mini tour of the before photos!
And now we’re building a new-old cottage on our property that will become my parents home once construction is complete.
Between the farmhouse and now the cottage, my mind has been consumed with all things home decor and design for the last almost 10 years.
I’ve gone through times where I felt super inspired, my mind full of ideas and not enough hours in the day. And on the flip side, I’ve gone through times where I felt stuck and unsure how I wanted a space to look, feel, and function for our family.
Whenever I’m feeling stuck, I look to the places in this post to help my wheels start turning again.
So today on the blog I thought I’d share some of my favorite sources for home decor and interior design inspiration.
12 Places to Find Inspiration and Ideas for Your Home
Inspiration is all around you friend! It sounds cliche but it’s true. Here are a few of my favorite places to look for ideas and inspiration for our home.
#1 – Home Decor Blogs
When I was in the planning and design stages of working on our farmhouse, I spent a lot of time pouring over home decor blogs just like this one!
Some of my favorites bloggers back when we were building were Liz Marie, Miss Mustard Seed, and Erin from Cotton Stem.
I think that time in my life was so impactful that it’s part of why I decided to share our home on the internet today.
I was so inspired by seeing other people’s homes and how their bathrooms were laid out, how they designed their children’s bedrooms, the flooring they chose, the way they styled their shelves or hung their curtains, etc.
Reading other home decor blogs was so helpful and inspiring to me when we re-built our farmhouse!
By the time construction was complete, I was so excited to join in on the conversation and share our home too, in the hopes that it might bring a little inspo to someone else.
#2 – Pinterest
Where did I discover most of the blogs I love… Pinterest of course!
I was late to the Instagram game, so Pinterest has always been my go-to social media platform for finding home decor ideas and interior design inspo.
I still go to Pinterest to look for new ideas for our home, but now I get to share my ideas there too!
If you’re not already following me on Pinterest, come find me @whiteandwoodgrain and let’s get inspired together!
Pinterest is full of ideas you can use to make your house feel more like home. I mean it’s truly an endless source of ideas!
I do sometimes search for things on Pinterest, like if I’m looking for something specific. But most of the time I like to scroll through the home feed for new ideas.
The more you scroll and pin the things you love and the things that inspire you, the better Pinterest will get at suggesting more of that content for you in the home feed.
#3 – Instagram
Instagram is another great source of design inspo and home decor ideas!
You kindof have to train the algorithm to show you more of what you like and what you’re looking for though.
How do you do that? Start by searching on the app. Try something like “cottage style home” or “bathroom makeover” or “DIY home projects”.
By liking, commenting, saving… essentially just engaging with content you like and find inspiring you’ll train the algorithm to show you more content like that.
If you like what you see here on whiteandwoodgrain.com I know you’ll love what I’m sharing on IG too. Come hang out with me there @whiteandwoodgrain.
#4 – TV Shows
There are so many great renovation themed / home design shows on tv these days. Some of my personal favorites are shows like: Fixer Upper, Home Town, Farmhouse Fixer, Good Bones, and In With the Old.
But I have to say, if you only look for home decor and design inspo on the “home channels” like HTGV and the Magnolia Network … you’re missing out!
You can find home decor ideas and design inspo in regular TV shows too. Shows like Gilmore Girls, Full House, Outlander, The Handmaid’s Tale, etc.
Let me give you an example of someone who does a great job with this..
I follow a girl named Chelsea on Instagram who loves the show Outlander and all the colonial interiors featured on the show so much that she’s slowly turning her home into her favorite scenes from the show!
It’s hard to put into words just how cool her home is, but what she’s done is amazing to see! I’ll link her account here @kevrosehome so you can go check it out for yourself.
TV shows can be so inspiring when it comes to creating a home you love!
You just have to look closer, and pay a little extra attention to the homes in your favorite shows.
Look at the architecture of the buildings, the colors, the furniture, the decor, the details of each space, etc.
#5 – Movies
Just like TV shows, movies are another great place to look for decor ideas and interior design inspo.
I tend to be drawn to movies that feature older, more historic homes – like the Notebook!
What do I want? “I want a white house, with blue shutters, and a room overlooking the river so I can paint.” Y’all know the line!!
Here are a few of my favorite movies that I find super inspiring when it comes to interiors, besides The Notebook of course: The Holiday, The Family Stone, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Forest Gump… just to name a few.
#6 – Nature
People often say they look to nature for inspiration.
But for me it’s not always about finding a new idea while I’m out in nature. Though I love it when that happens!
For me it’s more about the quiet you find when you spend time in nature – the sense of peace you get from being outdoors.
There is so much noise in life. So many opinions, so many voices. The design trends seem to come and go faster than I could ever keep up with. As soon as something is “in” it’s “out”.
By the way, aren’t these summer snowflake flowers so pretty? I can’t wait for these to pop up this year and bloom again. They’re one of my favorite white flowers to grow around our farmhouse!
I find what’s most helpful about being in nature is that it gives me a break from all the noise. It offers quiet, and time alone with your own thoughts and your own opinions.
Sometimes that quiet is all I need to find clarity about what I actually like, what I want a space to be, how I want to tackle my next DIY… without all the chatter and noise and opinions and trends saying “look at me, pick me”.
So if you’re feeling uninspired, or just unsure about a room or a space in your home… maybe try taking a walk without music or a podcast or any other distractions.
Try spending some time in nature to quiet the noise and get clarity on what you want and what you like.
After all HOME is a feeling, and it should feel like YOU.
#7 – Historic Neighborhoods
There is so much inspiration to be found in historic neighborhoods. So if you’re ever feeling uninspired and you love old houses the way I do, consider taking a little drive through some of the older neighborhoods nearby.
One thing about me, I will take the long way around if it means I get to drive by a few pretty older homes!
And I might just circle the block a time or two so I can get a second look at your home’s gingerbread trim, or a pretty window, or the corbels on your porch posts.
It’s usually hard to get a photo, but I promise there was no one behind me when I took this one!
Sometimes it’s not just the houses that bring me inspiration! I like to drive real slow when I see a pretty barn like this one.
We hope to build a barn by our farmhouse one day. A new-old barn, one that’s inspired by old barns like this but built new. So I try to snap a quick photo of pretty old barns when I see them.
#8 – Antique Shops
Next up on the list is a fun one, and one of my favorite places to spend the afternoon – an antique shop!
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of going antiquing! Even when I don’t find anything to purchase, I always leave feeling inspired.
I snapped a quick photo of the antique booth below on our recent trip to SC to pick up an old general store counter. We’ll be using the store counter as a kitchen island in the new-old cottage we’re building.
And this is the booth we bought it from!
I mean… talk about inspo!
This is The North Porch’s Booth and it’s located inside the Vintage Market of Greenville. By the way I highly recommend stopping by if you’re ever in the area! It’s a must-see shop and it’s full of antiques and vintage finds.
And for a sneak peek at the antique general store counter:
#9 – Home Decor Stores
I like to window shop in fancier / pricier stores like Pottery Barn and Arhaus for styling ideas and seasonal decor inspo.
Sometimes it’s fun to look at how the actual store is designed, or how the furniture is arranged can give me new ideas to try out in our home. Or ideas I might want to save for a future project!
I snapped these quick pics at Nest in Raleigh, NC when I saw the most beautiful stone fireplace. It’s so pretty it stopped me in my tracks.
The stone work, the shape of the fireplace, the old beam they used as a mantel… and all the warm wood tones around this space too.
It’s so different from our farmhouse, but I could totally see putting my own spin on this and designing a fireplace like this for the barn someday.
The stone work reminds me of the stones we used on our DIY gravel walkways and I would love to carry that design element out to the barn when the time comes!!
#10 – Magazines
I love flipping through the pages of a good magazine and looking at all the pretty homes inside. It’s a great way to spend a rainy Saturday in doors!
Looking through magazines always gets my creativity flowing in a way that Pinterest and Instagram and TV just can’t.
I mean I can get all the ideas in the world from those places too.
But with magazines, you can read at your pace, and really study the details in the pictures.
You can take it all in slowly, as opposed to the fast paced “How I Renovated my Home in 15 Seconds” type of content we have become so accustomed to on Instagram.
Taking in the pretty photos from a magazine article is a much slower, quieter way to seek out that inspiration. It’s more relaxing and easier on the eyes.
Speaking of magazines…
Did you know that our farmhouse has been featured in a few home decor / design magazines?
This was a huge dream of mine from the beginning! And one that I never really believed would happen. So it’s still surreal getting to share photos of the article here with you on the blog.
Here’s a peek at our spread in Modern Farmhouse Style Magazine.
Click the logos below to see more of our farmhouse’s magazine features.
#11 – Books
I love flipping my way through a good home decor book too! And just like with magazines, it’s a slower more relaxing way to spend the afternoon.
Taking in the inspiration and ideas from a book slowly, studying the details and the little things you would otherwise miss if you were scrolling through the same photos on your phone… nothing really compares.
By the way, there’s a little easter egg (not literally an egg – but a hint / spoiler) in the photo above!
I was VERY INSPIRED by this house, the one that’s photographed in the book I’m holding. There are a few key design elements from this house that we’ll be incorporating into the design of the new-old cottage we’re building…
I’m so excited to share more soon but thought you’d enjoy at least a little hint at what’s to come.
I linked the book in the photograph above, along with some more of my favorite home decor & design books, and a few that are on my wish list too here in my Amazon Storefront.
#12 – The Library
The Library is probably one of the most under the radar sources for design inspo and home decor ideas. But I’m telling you, it’s a good one, and one that I utilize often!
Did you know you can find home decor / home design books at your local library? Me either!
I sort of found them by accident, and what a happy surprise that was!
I’ve checked out so many interior design books over the last year or so. Some older ones, some new ones… some I loved so much I ordered my own copy of.
Going to the library has been a great source of inspiration and ideas. I’ve found so many design books that I might not have known about otherwise. Books that are no longer on the shelves at Barnes & Noble.
And I’ve gotten to flip through them as much as I like without having to spend any money!
Have you ever thought to check out home decor and design books from the library? Am I just late to the game on this one? Let me know…
If you enjoyed this post, I know you’ll enjoy reading my weekly newsletters! I might shoudld have included this as #13 because my newsletter is a full of inspo, ideas, and links to blog posts just like this one.
Sign up below to have to inspiration and ideas sent to your inbox each week from yours truly!
Inspiration truly is everywhere. You just have to look for it!
Thanks for stopping by the blog and hanging out with me here today! I hope it brought a little inspiration to your scroll. Until next time…
