I hope you’ll all indulge me in sharing a bit of personal décor. Usually when I do posts like these I hope they’ll manage in some way to inspire new and creative ideas for other people, and while maybe this will, too…well, frankly, I just love this little corner of my space and thought it needed to have a moment on this little space.
Glossy 8x10s of (some of) my favorite classic Hollywood faces. I think I was about fifteen when I first began collecting them. What I love best about my collection is that each picture is a memory: I found Frank and Audrey in New York City, Jimmy Stuart and Grace Kelly in San Francisco. Ingrid Bergman came all the way from England (Ebay – I’m so silly, I still have the stamp). The ones I’ve bought from different cities act as postcards to myself, like pieces of the scrapbook of my life. Add in some simple drugstore-bought black frames and all the pieces come together. I decided to keep just the portrait pictures together, Brown Derby-style, and I’ve yet to decide what to do with my few scene pictures (Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling and a few others). But even without being finished, I’m glad I have the space for these – I think they’re an integral part of the history of me, and being able to bring that into my décor makes for a sense of truly personal style.
Do you have a favorite collection you keep displayed? I’d love to know about it!
This is something I’ve been wanting to share since the holidays, but hadn’t taken the opportunity to snap pictures of it. My grandparents gave me a coat rack for Christmas, which had been on my imaginary wishlist, to be used for just this purpose: handbag display! As ridiculous as it probably sounds, this is something my mother and I saw in a house we were looking at when we were in the process of relocating to the east coast. The owner had done such a fantastic job decorating her house, I’d felt like I was on more of a décor tour than anything else. As I recall she had interwoven scarves and made an opulent little display of the coat rack, leaving it right inside the master bedroom door for easy access while getting ready. Practical and pretty – who wouldn’t be inspired?
I want to thank everyone so much for all your support of Literary Inklings (if you missed it, you can read all about it here). I’ll be working very hard to keep both the new blog and The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower fresh and fun; I may be a bit wobbly as I learn to understand being the sole editor of two blogs, but balance is in there somewhere and with a lot of dedication I’m hoping I can find it!
My inspiration board encompasses all the elements that come into my own personal style, from fashion and accessories to make-up and women who inspire me. From Eva Green to Deborah Mitford, it’s a pretty eclectic group, but when I look at the pictures it seems like the thing that radiates to me from each one is confidence. I used it as something of an experiment, going through the big box of magazine clippings I occasionally add to and picking out the pictures that catch my attention without thinking about the reasons. Then when it was all put together I stepped back, examined, and pondered what the selection said about me.
This image – and shamefully I can’t remember the photographer, but I know it was from an issue of
Elle last year – caught my eye for the contrast of the military-style jacket and the pleated, ultra-feminine skirt. I just loved how they looked together, and the fact that they had nothing in common yet worked together to create a striking effect. On reflection I think I was also drawn to it because it represents a component of my personality: feminine and romantic, strong and substantial.
Tips for building your own inspiration board
- For pages you’d like to save as wholes (if it’s an editorial you’re extra fond of, has another image on the opposing page you want to keep, etc.) put them in a separate pile and pin them on the board first. Then work your cut-outs around them.
- Don’t skip over the adverts! Cover Girl to Chanel No. 5, they’re on my inspiration board – whatever resonates with you, go with it.
- Go beyond the fashion magazines. If you happen upon a roughed-up copy of a favorite book at a bookstore use it to cut out your favorite passages and quotes. Yes, I’m telling you to deface a book. But only if it’s really, really important to you!
- Work in personal things that inspire you. The girl and Eiffel Tower on my board is a post card Karen of A Simple Cup of Tea sent me from Paris; it made me so happy that I wanted to make sure I kept it in a place where I’d see every day.
- Be true to yourself. It just won’t work and it’ll be completely beside the purpose if you cut out pictures that remind you of a style not your own.
If you endeavor to create your own inspiration board – or if you already have one – share a photo of it on Facebook or tweet me!
