Interiors: Inspiration Under My Nose

As I've mentioned before, I love great interior design. I spend a lot of time gazing at photos of other people's beautiful spaces, and have even posted about it now and then. Recently, on a rainy afternoon, I started to admire the little things about my own home that inspire me.

Our pot rack with my man's grandmother's cast iron skillets. Every time I see those, I itch to use them and honor the woman who cooked with them for ages:

My sister's art above our kitchen sink. I love this print, and I love the vintage light fixture (even though it's nothing 'special'):

A part of my blue and white pottery collection in the kitchen:

Black and white dog, black and white floor:

Our books, oh, our books...:

The vintage mantelpiece with original tile and great cast iron screen with my silver collection:

It may be cliche, but I love Spode Blue Italian (and a man who can grill!):

Antique settee that's been in my family since it was made -when? I don't know. The pillow was my very first embroidery project - A Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, of course:

I love throwing stuff together that doesn't 'go together' - the top two boxes were presents for my man (his Valentine's book was in the box I covered in a map with 'You mean the world to me' as the key [I got the idea from another blog - anyone remember whose???], and the smaller one contains a WWI compass he received for Father's Day from his daughter ['May you always guide me true' is written inside]), plus a vintage pincushion lady that I love:

One of our mini-collections of Asian miscellanea. My man found the Japanese hunt scene tray at an antique store and bartered the guy down cheap (I was so proud). All of the red tail hawk feathers were found objects - the ironic thing about that is that I love red tail hawks, and was studying to become a falconer when I found each of them:

I love the macabre, and slightly Victorian-era naturalist inspired things (I really want some taxidermy, but everyone else thinks I'm nuts):

Found these old frames at a yard sale, and they're waiting (perhaps forever) for their purpose on the windowsill:

Our daughter loves her 'very own' rocking chair! I painted it to match the decor, but tried to still make it a little cute:

Flowers in the afternoon sun always make me happy, as does the Mexican pottery, of course: