Blog About It

I've always enjoyed a good shelter magazine. While it still existed, Domino was a great favorite to read on planes and trains, and nothing beats Dwell for a nice big dose of white walled, steel and glass modernism. Of course, while a good magazine is a wonderful thing, there are plenty of shelter-themed blogs out there that corner a different sort of niche market. For today's Blog About It, I'm bringing you two of them with an interior design focus: Desire to Inspire and Small Space Style.

Not only was Desire to Inspire the first entirely interior design-based blog that I discovered, but it's still my favorite as well. Written by Kim, a web developer in Ottawa, Canada, and Jo, a former interior designer from Bisbane, Australia, this pair may never have met in person, but they share a mutual love of interiors that has sparked both a lasting friendship and a very inspiring blog.

 Brooklyn bachelor pad by Mesh Architects.

 A Stockholm loft for sale.

 A Sydney residential development by Baker Kavanagh Architects.

While their focus is mainly on showcasing their current favorite perfect rooms, meaning lots of work by architects and interior designers, photographers, stylists, and stalking of real estate listings, Kim and Jo also feature plenty of reader-driven content, from answering questions and trying to solve design dilemmas to featuring reader's homes. And then there's the Monday's "pets on furniture" column: "Think of it more of a photo of a great piece of furniture that you want to show off...and your pet happens to be sitting on it." 

(© desire to inspire, all rights reserved)

Like Desire to Inspire, Small Space Style does a great job of showcasing interior design, but as you probably already guessed, it's really all about making the most out of small spaces.

 cool kitchens

 clever storage

 pink

Although she's not an everyday blogger, Lisa has a great sense of style and really does a wonderful job of gathering inspiration from lots of different sources for her posts. These tend to be themed - cozy kitchens, clever storage solutions, pops of color - with minimal commentary, making it a great place to go if you're looking for very specific interior design inspiration.