One of the main reasons why I dislike winter is because of all the time spent inside.  The word stir crazy is the perfect description of how I feel about the cold, dreary, grey winter days here in New York. 

With all this time spent homebound, my main way to stay occupied is to scrutinize my interior design choices. This year, my walls have become the object of my nit picking. In particular, the one white, completely blank wall in my foyer.  It screams such lovely adjectives as stark, bare and this-woman-has-no-idea-how-to-decorate-her-home.

This winter I will take on that dreaded white wall of emptiness. In my pursuit of finding some design ideas, I consulted two books that caught my attention*: Creative Walls: How to Display and Enjoy Your Treasured Collections by Geraldine James and Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home by Joanna Copestick. Again, let me stress that I am a design novice at best. My design style would be best described as shabby-chic/country/girly/anything that my cats and/or toddler can’t destroy.

So flipping through the pages of these books made me feel like I didn’t have to sacrifice my style. I came across a few really great ideas for the foyer wall, as well as other areas that could benefit from a style update.

My favorite tips from Creative Walls include:

1.     Let what you collect, and choose to display, be a reflection of what you love.  Throw out all the preconceived ideas of what is stylish and disregard categorizing your particular style. Anything goes! 

2.     Absolutely anything can be displayed as a collection. It’s all a matter of how you display it.  Think inexpensive pieces that you already have that can be re-imagined when placed beside other items. 

3.     Don’t shy away from non-traditional items that can really lend a fun and interesting element to your style. 

4.     My favorite cheap and instantly refreshing style update was to use empty glass bottles (the colorful ones) as a window ledge display. The way the room lights up with prismatic color when the sun shines through them is amazing. For an extra punch of style, randomly fill some bottles with fresh flowers.

My favorite tips from Decorate include:

1.  Embrace the eclectic and the colorful. Especially since I am Queen of all-white walls, this book has given me the reassurance that I can add vibrant pops of color without painting. 

2. Use mood boards as a source for decoration inspiration.

3. Arrangement is key when decorating.

4.  Mirrors, lighting, containers and flowers all work wonders to bring a room together.

Obviously it is important to bear in mind when looking a book for décor inspiration, that there is going to be some degree of slightly exaggerated ideas (I found the taxidermy style a little far-reaching for my taste), but overall these kinds of books should get you thinking outside the box for new ideas.

 * both books were supplied to the author of this blog post as review copies.