Define Your Blog: Inspiration

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Define Your Blog week with a chance for YOU to join in on Thursday.

If you'd like to take your seats, I'll take you through your schedule for this week at Modern Country Style. Would you turn to page twenty-four of pamphlet you were given at the door....

Wait, what do you mean there was no pamphlet?....and no door either?....and no seats?....

Well, then, I guess it's just me and you, baby.

Here's how I plan this week to go. Starting today, I'm going to do a li'l series of posts defining how I see each area of my blog: renovation, inspiration and creation.

And then on Thursday 14th, it'll be time for YOU to link up to the Define Your Blog link party. Please feel free to link up either a post that you feel defines your blog to perfection, or, preferably, a post specifically dedicated to defining your blog.
{There's a fine-looking button on the side bar, waiting just for you}

When I first started Modern Country Style, I decided that I wanted my blog to have three aspects to it:

Inspiration, Renovation and Creation. 

In today's post, I'm going to

define the five types of Inspiration posts I use

at Modern Country Style:

{For each photo, you can click on the image to be taken to relevant posts}

1) Paint Colours

When I'm choosing paint colours, I love searching out pictures of rooms painted in the colours I'm pondering over. I thought it might be helpful for other people to collate them in one place.

 This picture links to a post about Farrow and Ball Light Blue

2) Celebrity and Film Inspiration

From lovelies such as Nigella....need I say more?

Click on the image to see Nigella's kitchen...


Oooh, and film sets.... there'll be plenty more of these coming your way, I can tell you.

Something's Gotta Give kitchen post, anyone?

3) Style-themed series posts

At the moment, I'm working through two style series. One is Belgian Style:

Click the image if you fancy seeing all posts dedicated to Belgian Style

...and the other is Making Over Your Kitchen....

Click on the image to be taken to Modern Country Kitchen Inspiration 

4) Having a snoop

I love having a sneak peek at other people's lovely houses, so when I find one I love, I simply have to share it here.

Love this house? Click on the image for more lusciousness...



Welcome to Kitchen Nirvana....I'm serious...



5) Specifics

When I'm working on a particular room, I find it invaluable to break it down into specifics. So, for example, in the bedroom, I looked at doors, beds, and storage....

Wanna see some Modern Country Bedrooms? Click on through...

...or how about ideas about Al Fresco dining to DIE for?

So there you have it. The five types of Inspiration Posts I use at Modern Country Style.

Inspiration defined? Check.

Come back veeeeeeery soon for a closer look at Modern Country Crafts....

I'm linking to my favourite parties in the sidebar...

Belgian Style: Make It Yours Part 1

I had a whale of a time on Friday. Did you enjoy yourself at the Inspiration Journey Link party, either as a linker or as a looker?

But, really, I think we were all lookers. So many beautiful dresses, I tell you. Goodness me, rarely have I seen so much loveliness in one place. You stunner, you. ;-)

I was going, and even started, to collate all my favourite images to show you in today's blog post but then I thought of all the prettification that I'd have to leave out.

Inspiration Journeys just seem too personal to pick and choose 'Best Of's, don't you agree? 

I hope that you got a huge dose of extra-curricular mojo-boosting activity on Friday, getting lots of inspiration from blogs you hadn't visited before, as well as haunting old favourites. I certainly did.

I said on Friday that I'd be looking in more detail at Belgian Style and breaking it down to make it more accessible for my home.

{While Belgian Style is totally my current Style Crush,

it's not a look I'd *actually* choose for my home.

Does that make sense?}

I love the feel of it, the mood it creates and the look of some of the images but I think my children, in particular, would find the look too austere and formal.

So I'll be doing a gorgeous series, which I can't wait to unfold for you, about how to take the very best of Belgian Style and add it, in little bits and pieces, in a way that works for YOU.

Not as a showcase for an

architect in Belgium,

but in your home and

in my home,

in our every day lives.

Today, I'm starting off with wood. It's on my list as one of the defining features of Belgian style.

Raw, untreated wood.

The lack of any paint or decoration draws attention to its natural beauty. The grain, the texture and the colour.

So, can we make this look work for you?

Is brass bold?

If you don't like the thought of bleaching and scrubbing then this isn't going to be your bag. But where there's a will there's a way, my friend. The question is: how?

Please meet your new best friends: wax, oil and matte varnish. These will give wood the look of seeming untreated but will protect your pieces from dirt and stains.

{In my case, little fingers covered with jam. Aaaargh.}

Just look at all the ideas there are here to add the warmth and tactility to your homes. Even small touches make a big difference.

chairs, trunks, shelves, worktops, floors, lamps, tables, mirrors, headboards, cupboards, baths....

You can weave untreated wood (or, at least, the impression of it) into so many looks. You don't need to limit this to Belgian Style.

In my next post, I'll be sharing how I've taken my love of untreated wood and made it work for me in my Modern Country home. I'd love to hear what you think.

Anne at Birdlike is hosting a fantastic mood board party. Fancy a peep?

Flamant, Kate Foreman, Lonny, House Beautiful, Homes & Gardens, Beautiful Kitchens, 25 Beautiful Homes, 46 Farmhouse, Anna Malin, Casaanversa, Cote De Texas, Drummonds, Living etc, House of Fraser, Homes & Gardenss, Ideal Home

I'm linking to my favourite parties listed in my sidebar.

Inspiration Journey Linky Party

Hello poppett,

I am loving. your. outfit. So gorgeous.

Welcome to Modern Country Style's Inspiration Journey Linky Party.

Shall we sit down for a moment and have a recap of the week?

Want a cuppa tea? Hot chocolate with mountains of whipped cream, sprinkled chocolate and marshmallows? Wine?

Mmmmm, yeah, thought so. :-)

Now then.

On Monday, I showed you my Book Art inspiration images. Weren't the sculptures mind-boggling?

On Tuesday, I shared my hopes for entertaining in our garden this summer, using Al Fresco dining images.

And then, yesterday, I hope you enjoyed my post about How To Create Belgian Style.

What I love about blogs that use Inspiration Images is watching how they use the images to help shape their own thoughts.

Seeing how this image of a beautiful veranda...

might spark an idea as simple as this for eating outdoors....

Or how looking at pictures of Belgian Style...

...might be the beginning of designing a room that borrows heavily from that look but becomes what *you* want.

Images via: Brian Dettmer, Kylie Stillman, House Beautiful, Food & Travel, The White Company, Belgian Pearls, The White Company

Inspiration ideas aren't there to dictate what we should be doing but I like to think of them as a spring board to finding out what *I* want to do with my home, or my crafts, or my wardrobe, or my garden.

In the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing in more detail about how to make Belgian Style work for YOU by creating a softened version of the look that can work in any home.

Plus, I've been working on some crochet projects that I'd love to show you.

Oh, and I want to have a brainstorm about accent colours in the kitchen as part of the Kitchen Makeover series.

My mind is all a-buzz.

 

So, tell me, what flips your flops?

You can link up Inspiration posts for crafts, your home, garden, clothes....really and truly, whatever inspires you.

Here are two things I'd love you to do. 

1) Follow Modern Country Style if you're liking what you see here. 

2) Link back to me in your post so other people can come and share the love.

Not rules...but I'm hopeful. ;-)

Now, take it away..... (just click on the button and follow the instructions and give me a shout if you need a hand)...

How To Create Belgian Style

Well, hello there. It's YOU! Hurrah!

You're just in time for Part 3 of Inspiration Week: Belgian Style Interiors.

Eeeek! One more day until the Inspiration Journey Linky Party. Are you ready?

I hope this week I've showed you that it's fine to link up ANY kind of inspiration post. Interiors, gardens, clothes, crafts... 

Two questions.

What to wear? Now, I'm thinking this would be a good look. Very in-keeping with today's post, don't you think?

{That dress'll be all dirty when you stand up, mark my words, young lady.}

And do you have your party button?

It's here if you need it:

<a href="http://moderncountrystyle.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Modern Country Style" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd436/Sarplowman/Inspire20me.jpg"/></a>

Now that we have the details sorted, let's get on with the show...

First up, what is Belgian Style? My definition would be that it's about combining extreme visual restraint and rustic warmth to create elegant, pared-down rooms with a strong nod to an industrial past.

I've only drawn on the elements that I love from this style. I looked at huge numbers of pictures of this style, discarded what I don't like and have tried to make it my own. See what you think.

The elements I've chosen to focus on create a more restricted version of Modern Country.

Looking at my Belgian Style Inspiration Images (and these are just the tip of the iceberg of the ones I've squirrelled away), I've put together a list of things that I'd consider to be my Top 5 Belgian Style essentials.

Shall I share?

Is a cucumber cool?

Bare wood: almost always unfinished, perhaps waxed at most, which helps to create that essential rustic atmosphere.

A restricted muted palette: The colours used (though colours seems a rather flighty word to use in this slightly sombre context) are restrained greys, taupes, soft browns and off-whites in order to draw your eye to the gorgeousness of what lies within the rooms.

{Hot pink walls might not allow an antique factory cart to speak for itself, y'see. }

A touch of Soft Industrial: By that I mean repurposing beautifully-made objects that have some kind of mechanical past.

Used Furniture: There's nothing new and sparkly about the furniture used in these rooms. The pieces all have a rather battered beauty.

A mix of textures: the colour palette is so restricted and muted, but that's not to say that the rooms need to be visually unappealing. Quite the opposite, in fact. The visual interest springs from an array of different textures. Belgian linen is beautifully nubby and, when mixed with cottons, velvet, weathered wood and wicker, plus wool and cashmere in the colder months, creates the perfect backdrop to highlight beautiful possessions.

{Synthetic is so over, baby. ;-) }

Are you ready for Friday's party? I sooooooooo am. I'm really excited to see what floats your boat.

Or should I say, rather seasonally, what flips your pancake?

Aaah, it was a lovely Pancake Day on Tuesday. We had family over for teatime and made lots and lots and lots of batter and flipped lots and lots and lots of pancakes. Scrumpdiddlyumptious.

{And a very full tummy.}

See you tomorrow, butter beans.

 

Images via: Cote De Texas, SangMaestro, House Beautiful, Pieter Vandenhout, House Beautiful, Arcobaleno, Unknown, At Ease Interiors, Broc Clark, Belgian Pearls, Anthracite