Dreamy Living Rooms

I'm a magazine ripper-outer; are you? If I see a photo of a recipe, a room, or a quote that grabs me, I tear it out and save it....sometimes for years. This rip-and-hoard tendency comes in handy from time to time. (Although now that there's Pinterest and iPhones and every computer in the Universe to store images on, I suppose it's outdated to keep clippings.)

Nonetheless, here they are. A few images of beautiful living rooms--and one dining room. They're like the Muses, guiding our hands as we re-do the public rooms of our house.

I love the silvery, gray, and pearl tones in this room, below, with its touches of blue and lilac. I'm never going to have a fireplace that grand, or a display cabinet that arresting, but still, the color scheme is totally copy-able:

This room does look quintessentially American to me. I'm not sure why; is it the easy mix of unmatched furniture? the quality of light? the slouchy pillows? Whatever it is, I feel like if I studied this carefully, I could re-create it without too much money or effort, pulling together flea-store finds (and maybe a newly purchased pouf):

This is just a teeny corner of a larger room, but it has the same silvery-blues and pearls that I love. And that little marble table? I once found its cousin on the curb, right across from my house! I gave it to Lovely Daughter #1 to use on her back deck:

You can tell this once was a single image that jumped the gutter in a magazine. I haven't taped it together very well, but what a fun treatment for a fireplace mantel and firebox. Actually, this isn't even a working fireplace. Still, how cute is this? I especially love the stacked vintage luggage painted white--what a clever way to fill the often-ugly black hole of a working fireplace. The Boy has a set of luggage like that; I wonder if he'd let me paint it?:

This last image is a dining room that makes me swoon. What is covering that beautiful water-colored wall--raw silk? a comb-patterned paint? And the Klismos chairs are so pretty against the dark wood of the table and floor. Of course, it helps that the entire room is filled with pink flowers, but still.

I'd live in this dining room, even with no flowers.