Living like we do in the age of the web, it stands to reason that some of our favorite home inspirations would come from interior design blogs. There’s no way we could ever list all of our favorites, but we did pick our top 10 for 2013.
Here was our criteria: the blog had to be an interior designer’s own and frequently include original photos of client projects. Everyone at StyleBlueprint picked their favorites, and the ones with the most votes made the list. It was that simple.
If your favorite is not included here, or if you write a design blog not mentioned, let us know so we can check it out!
(These are in no particular order…)
Pure Style Home
DC-based interior designer Lauren Liess continues to wow us with beautiful photos and inventive ideas. An occasional DYI project thrown in makes us all happy. It doesn’t hurt that her kids are adorable and she writes in a way that makes us want her as our own personal BFF–you know, the one who just stops by and suggests paint colors and furniture placement. Her blog has become so popular that now she even has her own fabric line: Lauren Liess Textiles!
Velvet and Linen
We first discovered Velvet and Linen when owner/author Brooke Giannetti mentioned one of our favorite designers, Rachel Halvorson, on a post a few years ago. Brooke’s posts are visual treats, full of amazing photos. Her husband is an architect and they also have a home design store filled with antiques and fun finds. And, they have chickens, which makes us like them more! Three kids, a thriving business and an amazing eye translates to great daily posts, making this a blog we look forward to reading each day.
Nest Egg
We need to fess up that we know blogger Rachel Halvorson. We have featured her several times, and she lives in the same neighborhood that several of us do. But, even if we didn’t know her personally, we’d still love Nest Egg and crave more. Rachel has a whimsical way with words and an angle that makes you smile. Whether it’s a current interior design project, a recent trip to market or a curated review of lighting, we always enjoy what she writes. And, even though you probably know this, Rachel was on the cover of Garden & Gun two years ago, and since then, we’ve developed a kinda crazy love for that magazine and our own little superstar who became an overnight celebrity in the blog world.
Elements of Style
Erin Gates is refreshing in her outlook, her design projects and her penchant for calling a spade a spade while making you laugh. Her main focus is affordable, flexible design. She has a keen eye for style and references pop couture, fashion and playlists in addition to interior design. She blogs everyday, and sometimes it’s just a short reference to something funny, like this video (click here) on ugly furniture, which makes us cry every time we watch it because we laugh so hard. Erin speaks from the heart and you can always feel her joy and pain. She is easy to relate to, and if you love leopard print, this may be your perfect blog.
Here’s an example of what we mean:
EofS: “I read and re-read that four or five times before I could comprehend she was talking about MY blog. And then I freaked the FRIG out. Why? Only because I have worshiped Ali Wentworth for years. Her writing has cracked me up beyond words, her every TV appearance has left me in stitches and her homes have graced the pages of Elle Decor and Arch Digest. I mean, if I went to Hogwarts (I wish) and was to conjure my Patronus it would be in the shape of Ali Wentworth. So this tweet from her pretty much rocked my world and then some. So in “I’m Not Worthy” honor here are some of my fave spaces from Ali’s homes in NY (decorated by THE Michael Smith) and D.C. (decorated by Elizabeth Martin).”
The Inspired Room
For all those who think, “I need to hire someone to do that,” this blog may inspire you to think, “I CAN do that myself!” This DIY genius, Melissa, is such because she keeps things simple and is a self-proclaimed “challenged” DIY-er. With over 300,000 unique readers a month, she’s obviously striking a chord with many non-Martha’s who at least want to try. Melissa walks us through her own design challenges and shows us exactly what paint color, grout color, fabric, etc. was used – and she always has a budget in mind. The Inspired Room showcases before’s and after’s from around the blog world to consistently introduce us to new ideas and other interior designers, as well as DIY’ers who have an approachable style or idea for all of us who can’t devote an entire week, or day, to a DIY project. You know… most of us!
Cote De Texas
Written by Joni Webb, who is also part of the trio behind the weekly radio show The Skirted Roundtable (which are interviews with the upper crust of the design world and recapped on a blog also named The Skirted Roundtable), Cote de Texas combines French design on the Texas coast. The results are beautiful. We like that Joni will throw in a long post filled with gorgeous photos (like a recent one featuring the house that Reese Witherspoon bought from famed designer Kathy Ireland) so we can feel her enthusiasm for the topic du jour and get a real sense of what inspires her. Heavy on pictures with lots of girlfriend talk, this is a favorite. The font is really large, so anyone needing readers can put them aside to read this blog!
Here’s another thing we like about Cote de Texas, as well as many of the blogs we regularly read: we learn lots of fascinating (and sometimes unrelated) stuff. In a recent post on 50 Shades of Grey, Joni noted that she read the series three years ago and intrigued us with an introduction to the hugely popular world of “fanfiction,” which most of us at SB had no idea existed. This off-on-another-tangent post is part of what makes blogging fun for both writer and reader, right? We never would have learned about fanfiction from Veranda or House Beautiful, but love that we did here!
Colour Me Happy
Maria Killam, from Vancouver, is internationally known as a color expert and teaches everything from establishing the perfect color palette for your furnished or unfurnished home, to getting your undertones right. She even has YouTube videos to visually enhance what she’s writing about. While you might think this blog is just for the professional or serious design person, it’s not. She is open about her own design struggles and solutions, color trends and personal style. This is a blog with a lot of substance to sink your teeth into.
The Decorologist
As a home stager and interior designer, Kristie Barnett fills her blog with tips for real people using visual examples to make her suggestions crystal clear. As a counselor turned decorator (AKA the “Decorologist”) Kristie has a calming way that helps us see the light and understand balance, color and order. Each post includes a nugget of useful information, and regular readers will truly get an education on why color matters, as well as how to arrange rooms for the best scale and balance to help you feel your best inside them. Kristie also writes for Houzz.com, so you might have seen her work there, or on the Saturday Style page of the Tennessean where The Decorologist is often featured as a contributor, as is StyleBlueprint!
AB Chao
You know that girl in school who always fascinated you with her independent streak and joie de vivre? That’s who Anna Beth reminds us of. Even her interior design style is independent, a bit quirky, and just…perfect. She really has a great eye for design that resonates with many who don’t want the same ol’ same ol’, and there always seems to be just a little bit of laughter coming out of each post. This blog is far more Domino than Veranda.
Anna Beth is hosting a series of design workshops around the country, and we all wish we could attend, as they are sure to be fun and informative. At $500 for the weekend, you might need to add a couple more 0’s to that workshop price tag for all the things you’ll want to change in your house when you’re done! Just kidding… sort of. For a dose of real, honest affordable style that celebrates functionality and the uniqueness of YOU, check out AB Cho.
Little Green Notebook
littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com
This blog is really a look into the life of interior designer Jenny Komenda and all that inspires her. She does a great job of allowing us into her life, but in ways that highlight her eye for style, be it a children’s dress with great texture and color, pretty wallpaper, footsteps in the sand at the beach or a new artist. She is currently walking us through her new home with before and after photos and how-to projects thrown in. A little DIY, a lot of pretty photos, a glimpse into Jenny’s daily life and much inspiration are all found here in the aptly named, and much followed, Little Green Notebook!
Can’t believe we have to stop here! It was crazy hard to pick just 10 … We really need a top 50! Let us know your favorites so that everyone reading can have even MORE blogs to choose from!