Where To Find Home Design Inspiration (Without Opening Pinterest)

Have you, like me, ever found a beautiful interior image on Pinterest and instantly sought out all the components to see how you could exactly recreate it in your own home? If I’m being honest, Pinterest is usually one of the first places I look when I want some design inspiration. I am a home design enthusiast and Pinterest feels like a treasure trove of resources to inspire new dreams and out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to our own home. But I have to make a confession: despite all the hype I will gladly bestow on it, I have been learning that Pinterest can actually be one of the worst places to go to seek out home inspiration.

Here’s why. First and foremost, Pinterest has endless resources (keyword being endless here). I don’t know about you, but more often than not, I find myself actually more overwhelmed by what I see once I actually dive in because there are just so many options. I love this. No, I love this! Wait, maybe this! Pinterest can be a great tool, but as the old saying goes, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Secondly, Pinterest is designed to feed you more of what you already like. The algorithm responds to the images or videos that you interact with and feeds you more that are similar. Yes, this makes your feed a treat to scroll through and may help you narrow in on what could be your style preferences, but it also cuts you off from experiencing other images that you may be able to draw a stroke of inspiration from that you wouldn’t have otherwise thought about. And finally, it can trap you in a box. It’s okay to see an image that sparks so much joy in you that you feel like you need to recreate it in your home, but it’s easy to forget that your space will never look exactly like the image you see. Have you ever logged on to find inspiration and motivation but left feeling more stuck about where to start in your own space? Seeking out inspiration should be about the feeling rather than the specific details, but one single image of a space can only offer you so much to draw on. It makes it too easy to simply (attempt to) copy it rather than imagine how to pick out what you are most drawn to and develop your own tastes, style, and tone to carry into your own space.

Pinterest can really be a double-edged sword. But here’s the good news: Pinterest is not, by any means, the only source for home inspiration. As I’ve reflected on my own home over the past few years and made dreams and plans for where I see it going, I’ve realized that I haven’t been able to pin down what my design style (or combination) is. It frustrates me! I want our space to flow together and feel cohesive, but how do I know what is actually my style vs. what I simply see others doing beautifully? I want our home to feel unique, special, and our own, and I’ve realized that the only way I am going to figure that out is to get my eyes off of Pinterest and instead focus on establishing a more well-rounded home design understanding that helps me hone in on what it is that I do (and don’t) like. Then I think I will be able to confidently apply it to the Little Reesor House. But how do I get started?

This post is dedicated to these questions. Where do I look for home design inspiration other than on Pinterest? How do I silence the influence of trends in my exploration? How do I discover what is truly my style? I think the answers will come over time by exposing myself to as many influences as I can and seeing what truly strikes a chord in me. I want to explore and understand all the different styles and influences so that I can pull out what I truly love and create something that is uniquely my own. These are some of the places (other than Pinterest) that I am starting to enjoy that exploration and maybe you will find some inspiration there too.

Design Magazines

This feels so obvious, but hear me out. Design magazines are one of the easiest and most accessible ways to expose yourself to different design styles. Printed publications are highly curated (they are not going to waste precious printed pages on sub-par content) and contain the best of the best in current design. They offer multi-page features about specific home design projects and expose you to different designers with different styles and different focusses. Just the other day I was reading through the September 2021 issue of House and Home (a well-regarded Canadian home design publication) and they published a series of multi-page features about four different small homes (under 1000 square feet each) with four very different design styles. It was so interesting to see how four similar spaces were approached in such drastically different ways. There was not a single one that I would choose as my own home (some I liked more than others), but there were components of each that I really appreciated and enjoyed seeing. All of them were beautiful in their own right and had plenty of inspiration to offer!

Another benefit of exploring printed magazines is that the featured spaces often include multiple images of the home. Very rarely is the focus on one individual room. This helps you to capture a sense of how the home flows together without being too matchy or contrived. You get to see why the designers may have made particular choices in some rooms based on how they connect with other rooms. It helps you understand that you could never just copy and paste the featured design in your own home, but instead, helps you to understand how to think about those big-picture decisions. Bonus points that each feature usually includes a written piece about or interview with the designer - that means lots of valuable nuggets of information are at your fingertips.

I think this method of seeking inspiration is most successful when you explore publications that are not hyper-specific to one style. Obviously each magazine will have some form of branded focus (for example, high-end design or geographically-driven), but I recommend trying to expose to yourself to as many different types of design as you can. In Canada, I like reading Style At Home or House and Home, but there are also home design sections in magazines that aren’t specifically focussed on design. The broader the range of styles they highlight, the better!

Childhood Home(s)

Sometimes our best source of inspiration is what we already know. This one requires a little thinking power, but long before you ever understood (or cared about) home design, what were some of the spaces that you felt the most peace, joy, and contentment in? This could be your own childhood home, a grandparent’s home, an aunt’s home, a friend’s home - whatever! Try your best to think about what spaces gave you a strong emotional response as a child. Once you choose a space, start to deconstruct what it was about that space that made you feel that way.

When I think about my childhood, I felt the most warmth at my grandparent’s house. When I start to break down what it was about it that resonated with me, I think about how the lighting was always really moody and warm with table lamps glowing in the evening. I think about how the furniture was well-structured and somewhat traditional in the way it looked, but very comfortable and never too precious for us kids to play around. I think about a blue plaid statement couch with more neutral furniture around it. I think about the warm wood tones and cane textures on my grandma’s favourite antiques (she collected!). I think about the sweet, earthy smell that greeted you when you walked in the door. I think about the breezy, shaded gazebo with big cushioned chairs that overlooked the expansive garden in the backyard. I think about the particularity and intention my grandma put into the stunning decor pieces she collected from antique stores. Simply realizing these details that contributed to the positive feelings I had about being in that space can help me narrow in on the values I want to carry into my own space.

This same idea can also apply to spaces that you didn’t enjoy being as a kid. What made those spaces feel off-putting or uncomfortable? What didn’t you like about them? Thinking through what we didn’t like in our childhood experience of space can inspire us just as much as what we did like. This can be a great starting point for your own designs.

I want my home to feel as cozy as my grandparent’s did, so I have been trying to integrate more light sources. I love the soft glow that a table lamp gives off in the evening.

Design Books

Similarly to design magazines, home design books are highly curated resources to draw inspiration from. What I like about design books is that they tend to be based around one particular style or theme, so they give you the opportunity to really dig into and study the particularities of individual styles. You get to see many examples of the same principles in many different homes, which I believe can help you narrow in on what elements you really like about that style. If you use a design magazine to figure out what you are drawn to, you can then use a design book to learn way more about it.

If there are particular design styles you are really drawn to, I recommend investing in some of these books for your own collection. They look so beautiful styled in your space and are immediately available for you to tap into for more inspiration. However, if you are still exploring what it is that you truly like, I recommend exploring this resource through your local library. Most libraries stock tons of beautiful design books that you can check out and thumb through at your pleasure. This can help you explore many different styles and approaches and improve your overall understanding of design at no cost to you. If there is a particular book you have heard of that your library doesn’t stock, you can always request that they add it to their collection. More often than not, they are happy to hear the types of books the public wants access to.

There are endless design books out there, but a few that I have enjoyed exploring include Made For Living: Collected Interiors For All Sorts Of Styles, The Finer Things: Timeless Furniture, Textiles, and Details, or Down To Earth: Laid Back Interiors For Modern Living. But I recommend just browsing through your library collection on your next visit. Challenge yourself to check out a book you may not normally gravitate towards. You may be surprised by something you discover in those pages.

Interior books don’t have to be specifically about home interiors. I love thumbing through this book all about a famous Toronto theatre for inspiration.

Television and Movies

This one has been a popular topic of discussion lately, but I think there is a lot of merit to it. Try to think about some of your favourite movies and television shows and consider the set designs of those productions. If you could live in any movie or television house, which would you choose? What about it are you drawn to?

Some of the most notable television and movie homes that have captured my attention include the English cottage in The Holiday, the stunning estate in Downton Abbey, and the San Francisco townhouse in Full House. What about these spaces draw me in? I love the quaint and cozy feeling of the stone English cottage. It feels warm and looks so peaceful nestled in the snow. I know the feelings of coziness and comfort and natural textures and materials are important elements to me. I love the touch of history, tradition, and nostalgia that comes along with the Downton Abbey estate. The ornate vintage pieces and attention to detail speak to my interest in traditional design elements and art. I have a sense that each piece in that home tells its own story and I love the layers of complexity and connection that creates. As for the townhouse from Full House, no, I would never decorate my own space exactly like it. But I love the sense that the house is comfortable, connected, and not too precious to actually live in as a family. I love the big table in the kitchen where people come and go and the idea of shared spaces (like the girls’ bedroom). It feels exactly like a family house should and that matters a lot to me.

I would never fully recreate any of these spaces in my own home, as each feels very intricately connected to a time and a place. But I can pick out the feelings and elements that draw me into them and figure out a way to bring those feelings and elements into my own home design. I hope this goes to show you that inspiration doesn’t need to come directly from home design resources. You can draw from other medias to inspire your choices and explore what you personally feel most connected to and why.

I love the cozy, quaint feeling of natural stone and was inspired to integrate that warm texture in our fireplace build last winter.

Practice

All these other resources are very helpful and fun to explore, but I have to say that the place you are really going to find the most inspiration is simply by trying things out and practicing. This is not to say that you have to purchase items and play around with them in order to learn what you like and want in your home. You can do this without spending any money whatsoever - it’s called a moodboard, my friend! Take the time to make lots and lots of moodboards to practice combining styles and finding the balance of elements that you resonate with. It’s a really fun, non-committal, and visual way to connect the dots between all your research and a great opportunity to build the confidence you need to make future design decisions.

You can start by moodboarding a particular room or tackle your whole home at once. You can challenge yourself to design a moodboard based around one specific style or you can try different combinations of styles to see how they mix. You can reimagine the spaces you studied above (like your grandparent’s old house) in an updated way. You can think of a particular friend and moodboard a room you could imagine them enjoying. The purpose is to let yourself explore and try out different things in order to improve your confidence in recognizing certain elements that work together in a space. It’s also just really relaxing and exciting to let yourself dream - even if you would never purchase that $5000 couch.

One of my favourite mottos I have adopted is “practice makes progress” and I have been learning that this definitely applies to home design. The more we practice our home design skills, the better we will get at recognizing the things we actually like vs. the things we think we like because a lot of other people like it. Of course, this applies to actually designing your space too. Understand that as you work on bringing the spaces to life in your home, it will probably never feel perfect to you. But over time, the more you practice and try things in your home, you begin to hone in on what it is that makes it truly your own.

I hope you found these tips and resources helpful as you start to explore your own interests in home design. I definitely still pull up Pinterest a time or two (it’s just so fun to see what others are up to), but I have also really been enjoying the process of broadening my understanding of design as a whole and creating a style for our home that truly resonates with our values and interests. There is lots of inspiration out there and it’s up to us to seek it out!

Happy hunting!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. To learn more, read our Affiliate Disclosure.