Finding Inspiration | The Well Loved House by Ashley Whittaker
Welcome to the series - Finding Inspiration - where I walk you through some of my very favorite design books (both old and new), share some of my favorite images and offer tips on how you can recreate the look in your own home. Today I’m sharing on of my all time favorites - The Well Loved House, by Ashley Whittaker.
This is one of my coffee table books that I’ve literally flipped through hundreds of times. I have my favorite images (like the one above), but I also find that each time I’m also discovering something new. I love to look in close, check out the patterns, the styling choices, the lighting and all of the little details that make up each photograph.
3 things I’m drawn to when looking through this book…
Blue and White - I will always be drawn to blue and white, and love to see it tucked into various scenes in this book. Whether it’s a shelf full of ceramics, or a simple single placement on a countertop. I love how in the last kitchen photograph above this ice bucket is used for kitchen utensils!
Bold Colors - While I may not use a ton of bold colors in my own home, I still find them inspiring! There are few rooms in this book that feature a room painted in a bold, beautifully pigmented, high shine lacquer paint. I love to see how and where these colors are used!
Styling - I’m alllllways looking at the placement of styling. A book and beautiful silver bowl perched on a garden stool, flowers in varying sizes of vessels, dominos set on a game table ready to play at a moments notice. To me it’s these little things that bring the room to life. I’ve always had an interest in photography too, so I love to see how the room is styled for the photograph itself.
Photographs as artwork - I’m drawn to the large scale photographic artwork in this book, particularly this image below. When I was studying this book again in preparation for this post, I realized I think I know why I love this one so much…it reminds me of a photograph I took myself of a beautiful floral filled sidewalk in Corona del Mar. And truth be told I’m not sure which one came first for me…did I see the photograph and then take the photo? Or take the photo and then see the image in the book? I’m not sure, but either way I love to see the similarity!
Also, I posted the Corona del Mar sidewalk photo in Instagram yesterday and received some inquiries as to whether or not I still offer the digital image for sale. If you’ve been around for a while then you know I used to have a few art prints for sale. So let me know, is this something anyone would want to be available again?? If so I can work on getting the digital image ready. I think offering the digital image would be the easiest and most efficient way to release it again. Once you receive the image you have a few options for printing and framing which I can go over in more detail if there is interest!
Now for the really fun stuff, or at least I think so….how we can get the look of some of these images in our own home…
GET THE LOOK
Thanks friends as always for being here!
xo, Elizabeth