Really.

You just have to look up for something beautiful to catch your eye. It’s everywhere if we look. The key is to notice. There are so many things part of our everyday routine that we take for granted. Some of the most artful little details escape us because we have our blinders on. Places to go, people to see.

Let’s Take a Walk

So how do we capture the daily details? One of my favorite ways is to take pictures while I’m walking around. It’s true: The best camera is the one you have at hand. And although my phone’s camera quality isn’t the greatest, it’s all I have most days. It works in a pinch. Joe and I send pictures back and forth of all sorts of buildings, furniture, windows, floor tiles and strange odds and ends we stumble upon during our workdays. It’s an easy way to share and archive things we like. (And a lot longer lasting than Snapchat!)

So, without delay, here are some things that inspire us!

1). A crazy old barn I discovered walking around on my lunch in Hastings, MN

2). A cabin from a Travel+Leisure Magazine article I read on the bus

3). Again, a home in Hastings. The wood and brick mix is a dream. I can dream, right?

Details

4). From a page in Midwest Home Magazine

5). Ballroom in Lowertown St. Paul, MN

6). Part of a hotel lobby ceiling in Amelia Island, FL

7). The serving counter at a deli in the skyway

Take a closer look

4). What a great way to use reclaimed wood as a headboard and old luggage for end of the bed storage. Love the handcrafted serving tray too. In general I dig the rustic, casual style.

5). Linens, lights, chandeliers. What’s not to like? I have a thing for these massive globe lights.

6). So odd that these sweet mint cupboards were in a dingy sandwich shop!

7). Here’s another twofold closeup. The caged orbs that hang down around the lighting are awesome with this skeleton of driftwood surrounding it.

Practice makes perfect

Sometimes all you need to do is take a second glance at things you see every day, and an idea will pop up – sometimes completely unrelated! Although we haven’t used any of these ideas for projects, it’s nice to have an arsenal of inspiration on hand for times when you need a starting point. Or for a time you think of that cool statue in the bank, or red armchair at the Chinese takeout place, but you can’t quite remember how it looks. I call it memory summoning. Ooh that sounds spooky…

Try it

At the least, it helps me figure out my personal aesthetic and design style. We don’t always know what it is, but we know what we like and what we don’t like when we see it.

So how bout it – what are some ordinary things you see every day that bring you inspiration?