I remember as a very young child spending hours looking at magazines for inspiration, then carefully cutting out the pages, or items on the page, and collaging them into my "special book". This special book turned into binders, plural, of all the things I loved and dreamed about. (If only I had invented Pinterest, right?) I had tabbed sections for different rooms in my house. In elementary school. Seriously. Who does that?
It's no shocker that these days I have inspiration boards oozing with ideas that far exceed my binder days. I remember in my early college years sitting in Construction classes and everyone was so confused why I was there. I would get asked a lot if I was in the wrong place. I would just smile and think to myself, "Nope. This is absolutely where I belong." (And my highly competitive nature may have also thought "And you'll find out soon enough that I'm a force to be reckoned with." Ha hah.) I couldn't tell you how many people thought I was in the Construction and Engineering Department because it was full of men. Yes, it was full of men, but that was not why I was there. They learned pretty quickly that I meant business.
You see, in making all those binders years ago I realized a few things. One- that I love homes. Not just designing and making them pretty, but the actual constructing of the components. The behind the scenes artistry, skill, and detail that gets covered up and often goes unrecognized. How a mere piece of wood can become something beautiful. How when it's combined with other elements can create something we cherish. Two- I could never build and live in as many homes as I have ideas spinning around in my head. BUT, I can build and help others create their homes and implement some of these ideas. To me that was genius.
Here I sit, many years later, and smile because I have come full circle. I still have a lot of binders. And they have lots of tabs filled with beautiful images and details. This time they are for client's homes instead of my own. But, in a way they are mine too. And, that is a dream come true.
My elementary school inspiration photos may be a bit dated (but everything comes back around so who knows) so I'll share who's inspired me this week instead on the #RBfeedfavorites. Follow our inspiration and projects on IG and Pinterest too, if you dare.
Check out these amazing accounts for inspiration: (images left to right)
1 | Silent Living
6 | Arjaan De Feyter