Monday, March 30, 2009

Reader Contest over at Elements of Style

Erin at Elements of Style (one of the first decor blogs I got hooked on) is having a great reader contest going on all week. Readers are invited to submit mood boards for rooms inspired by one of Erin's favorite domino spaces. One lucky winner will receive a copy of domino: The Book of Decorating. Erin is accepting entries through Friday so if you're feeling creative -- or just want to kill some time web-shopping -- hop on over to HERE and get styling.

I took the day off from work on Friday and, in an effort to kill time while Dave watched basketball, decided to try my hand at styling a room based on this living room:

I submitted the following mood board inspired by the living room pictured above:

So what do y'all think? One of Erin's specific requirements was that items must be budget-friendly (a rather loose concept since she didn't specify whose budget we're talking about) and available for direct purchase (i.e., no "to the trade only pieces"). As an amateur myself, I am never able to score trade-only pieces, though perhaps that will change should I ever befriend an interior decorator/designer. As for budget, I tried to generally adhere to my own: i.e., smaller items need to be relatively inexpensive while larger furniture pieces are what I would term "mid-level" (i.e., I generally go for Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn or Crate&Barrel in lieu of Target or IKEA for items that I want to last, but avoid Williams-Sonoma Home or Restoration Hardware absent a good sale). I recognize for some folks these items are not wallet-friendly, but compared to most budgets for professional interior design projects, I was being positively cheap.

If you end up submitting to Erin's contest, don't forget to share! I'd love to see what other blog readers come up with.