If your tastes run toward the colorful, you probably adore Jamie Drake’s high-end interior designs as much as I do. His firm, Drake Design Associates (previously), has gained a worldwide rep for color schemes that are at the same time eclectic and sophisticated. Some may wonder how you can stay classy when you’re working with more than three main hues in a room, but Drake does it and he does it well.

These are the offices of Drake Design Associates, to give you one example of how Drake plays with color. With clients as diverse as Madonna and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he must of course design spaces that aren’t as richly colorful, but even his neutral interiors feel bright and brilliant.

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Nine times out of ten – make that nine-and-three-quarters times out of ten – Palmer Weiss hits a total home run with me. For real, I will tell anyone who listen that I just love how Palmer Weiss puts together a room. So hugs and kisses, Palmer Weiss. I adore you, but this, not so much:

Maybe it’s just me, but the prints and color combination in this old Victorian house family room just scream old lady to me. Or if they don’t scream old lady now, they will in five years. Of course, what do I know? Maybe an old lady lives there!

Would of, could of, should of… Had I only known about these amazing animal trays from Ibride while they were still available at Velocity!

The word ‘ibride’ is a play on words in French meaning ‘hybrid’, and many of the pieces combine several forms and several functions.

The animal trays are themselves hybrids – should they be used at teatime or hung as art on a wall? Ibride’s animal trays are indeed water-resistant and dent-resistant, but imagine the looks you might get if you served coffee on one.

Isn’t this interior designed by Porter House Designs bright and fun and cheerful? I realize it’s not for everyone – heck, it’s not even for me since I like to segregate wall colors by room unless they’re shades of the same color – but if you love color, this space might just be the inspiration you need to go a little nuts.

See, it’s easy to deny one’s desire for SERIOUS COLOR when one is a mature, responsible grownup-type person. The kid in your head says “Oh em gee, let’s paint every wall a different color! We own this house – we can finally do this!” while the person in your head who goes to the office each day and wears pants with a nice crisp paint counts with “Oh, I don’t know. That’s a lot of color. Maybe we should choose a nice white and think about this some more before we do anything hasty.” I’m not advocating that you do anything truly hasty, of course (unless you really, really want to!). Choose three colors, four colors, whatever – and do it carefully. Use an online colorwheel. Think about the furniture you already own. Be a grownup, but have fun!

How cute are the Amy Butler framed prints on acid-free paper or canvas from Art That Fits? There are two distinct collections inspired from by Amy Butler’s floral and graphic textile designs, and all of them are awesome.

Now Amy Butler is launching a wallpaper collection for Graham & Brown, squee! On one hand, wallpaper sucks – it can be amazing. On the other hand, unless you plan to wallpaper forever, covering over the old with the new, it’s the biggest butt pain to strip.

But you (by which I mean *I*) could use the new Amy Butler wallpaper for craft projects, providing you can be small enough lengths of it or you plan to make a bajillion crafts. That’s right…BAJILLIONS.

I’m loving these shots of a home I found at 1st Option, which represents potential photo shoot and film locations. All the rooms are just so pretty without being girlysweet or frou-frou. I feel like there’s something feminine about this home, but at the same time a guy wouldn’t feel out of place there.

Loving the blues and greens, the use of circles in the rug and in the artwork, the vivid furniture, the kid’s bench, All of it – just the whole package.

Loving the way the chairs contrast with the thickness of the classic wood table and sideboard.

Loving the white! It’s so clean, and it’s gorgeous paired with that pine (I think) floor. The gray chair is just the right touch, along with the pink coverlet.

And here are a few things that might appeal if you, like me, love the interiors above. As always, all six of my picks are clickable!

Ask me one day and I’ll tell you that I’d gladly live in an all-black universe. Ask me the next and I’ll tell you that I adore bright, dramatic colors. Today must be one of the latter days because I’m salivating over rooms created by designer Dutch Ghislaine Viñas – she combines vivid hues with simplicity, so the colors frequently play a starring role in her interiors (as opposed to a few stand-out pieces of furniture or a unique room profile).

Born in the Netherlands and raised in South Africa, Ghislaine brings a special blend of international sensibility, intuitive style, humor and refreshing enthusiasm to her work. She is driven daily by her passion for interior design especially by form and color. “Color excites me. As a child, I would feel a rush of excitement when opening a box of crayons.”

Which isn’t to say that her choices of furniture are anything but amazing. She mixes modern and vintage pieces in such a way as to create a kind of perfect harmony. Hers are not rooms in which one might say “How clever to have mixed something old with so much new.” Rather, eras blend, united by Viñas’ color choices.

I would be happy to give Viñas carte blanche to come into my home, throw out most of what I own, and replace it with stuff she picked out in my stead. Now I would love to link to her site, but every time I try to visit I’m warned off by Google, which says there’s malware there. So I’ll share a link to her Interior Design Magazine blog instead – check it out, she seems like a lot of fun!

I’m still on a color kick – since I need to do something about my way-too-neutral living room – so here’s some whole house inspiration from Molly Luetkemeyer of M. Design Interiors. There are plenty more sweet pics under the cut!

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Elena Colombo, designer of amazing meditative firebowls, knows how to combine tomato and teal to good effect. In fact, I’m terribly jealous of her skills, since I adore that color combo but have thus far failed to put it into place in my own home. Consider these four snaps of Colombo’s cute-as-a-button bungalow inspiration for those of us for whom combining colors doesn’t always come naturally!

(all images via)

I was all set to post about a cute little crafting project that lets you make a ‘please remove your shoes’ sign because, hey, no one wants beach sand or road sand tracked all over their floors. But as I was poking around the Intertubes wondering what else I could include to flesh things out a little, I happened upon a much radder DIY project that is as cool as the other was country-ish.

I won’t say this is an easy DIY Pacman couch project — think woodworking and upholstery shaping, not Mod Podge and a couple of minutes with a cordless drill. But for those with the time, energy, space, and materials money to give it a go, I say try it! Then (whether or not you’re successful) send me a link so I can feature it here, of course.