Mirror, Mirror

Trawling through the many decor blogs and sites out there, I've noticed this beautiful black mirror in many photos. It adds glamour to any space and is an easy way to brighten a dull corner.

Spending hours over design blogs helps, because I {craftily, she says} took an old, abandoned photo frame that I found in a dusty corner and had it mirrored. All it needs now is a coat of good polish to make it shine. Then, to find a spot for it. Pictures of that, hopefully soon.

A home for our books

As I mentioned, we're still working on the perfect design to hold the hundreds of books that we currently have and the zillion more that we will probably acquire during the next few years. We need to choose between open shelving or one with doors (to protect against all that dust). Open shelves work out a lot cheaper, obviously and give you space to display more than books.

I've been collecting pictures of bookshelves. Here are some of what appeals to me.
* Most photos are via I Suwannee. I'm happy to give credit where due - please let me know if the photos are yours.

A standing bookshelf would end up looking this this, I think, with evenly spaced cubicles

or like this, with long lines

I love the white doors on this one, but may not work with our dark wood furniture...

Our bookshelf will go on a wall like this one and I want to add a chair to the side to make a reading corner

And then, there are the dream libraries which fit neither into our space, nor our budget!

floor to ceiling

could spend all day and night here in this lovely open space...

what an innovative use of under-stairs space!

my favorite photo. I'd love to live in a home like this!

How it all began...

I have always been interested in interiors and decor. Just ask my long-suffering family. They will tell you about the weekends spent moving furniture around (and back), plans for new furnishings and upholstery and longing looks at pictures in magazines.

The passion took off during my years in England, where the local library (and newsagents) had this whole range of shelter magazines - the concept of which was unheard of in India (then). I borrowed as many magazines as I could, learning, admiring and taking in greedily everything I could. I even contemplated taking a course in interior design, but that never happened. Instead, I collected tear-sheets, took photos of magazine spreads and moved furniture around in our apartment.

This interest in interiors has now exploded into a full-blown passion. Moving back to India, we have to accommodate our worldly possessions, hundreds of books among them. The lack of ready-to-order simple bookshelves (no Ikea here) meant that finding a good carpenter was the only way out. I was looking for sample pictures of bookshelves to show our carpenter when I stumbled upon the fabulous Jamie Mears and her amazing I Suwannee blog. She has an amazing collection of bookshelves (among other things) and I can spend hours on her blog.

There was no turning back after that. One link lead to another, bookmarks were saved by the dozen. Hours went by looking at gorgeous interiors, artwork and more recently, nurseries.

Discovering all these amazing blogs and websites has encouraged me to start chronicling my own inspirations, discoveries and finds. Someday, I hope to have my own interiors shop. Till then, a girl can dream, can't she?