I've been looking over a lot of Dutch decorating magazines lately since a friend recently sent over a stack of magazines from the Netherlands as a present. It's so exciting to see fresh ideas and new products, and I remain a fan of decor magazines from Australia, England, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and France. I'm sure that you are fascinated with magazines outside of your home turf, you can learn so much about a culture and expose yourself to fresh decorating ideas that you may not have thought of before.

I especially like magazines that stay true to their voice. For instance, a theme I see in Swedish and Dutch magazines is their connection to simplicity, the outdoors, and on the other side, there is this folk style that I also like. But they are true to their culture and this is so important to me. They are innovative, constantly looking to make everyday objects more attractive, and nature is a constant theme. As a result, they feed the creative mind -- you can't help but feel your own wheels turning when you either visit these places or take a vacation through the pages of their popular design mags. Same with French magazines, like Marie Claire Id?es - so fabulous.

Some want to know the secret to pulling together a perfect room. There is no secret, no perfect room. Like art, I believe that decorating is open to interpretation. What one believes to be flawless another will criticize even when all of the principals of design are followed to absolute perfection. It comes down to personal style and emotion, how much of yourself you allow to shine through in your design, and believing in your own ability. I've been in homes where nothing made much sense from a design perspective, chairs out of scale, proportion all wrong, but the home felt far more welcoming than some of the showroom homes I've toured where perfection is the ultimate goal.

Decorating outside of the box is something many of us desire, we crave alternative ways to decorate so that our home doesn't look like a catalog or 'common'. To me, decorating is all about using our imagination, getting creative, and translating our personal style into our rooms so that our unique personalities shine through. Remaining true to yourself, decorating from an authentic place, that will ultimately make you feel more comfortable and safe in your abode. It's inspiring to view how others decorate and to learn new tips, we often seek the advice of a pro and turn to the pages of our favorite glossies because they give us fuel. But ultimately we need to process these images through our own filters and see what results.

In the end, you will love your home if your energy, spirit, and style flow freely through it.

Speaking of inspiration and magazines, I find Dutch magazine VT Wonen a very good read. In this post I've included photos from homes of their readers homes featured on their site. You can view more of these lovely rooms right here.

(images from vt wonen magazine online)