Hello all and happy almost three day weekend ( four day weekend for some-including me)! I wanted to send out some inspiration before my family and I high tail it out of town today for a few days. We are off to Portland this weekend to visit some friends and seek some adventures. I'm leaving the computer at home this weekend but I'll have my trusty Canon in hopes of finding some inspiration of my own to snap a shot of.
Have a wonderful weekend  and just in case you were wondering-yes, m.o.i. designs has a slightly new look here. Same content, new look. Kind of like rearranging the furniture, which I do quite often!

This kitchen/dining is just amazing! Look at those stone tiles, not to mention the natural light, table, chairs, just everything!
image via: gagli on tumblr

natural colors + great styling = one nice room
image via: jasper   photo by: jonas ingerstedt

I've been in love with this rich dark blue lately and coincidently I've been seeing around a lot lately. You could pretty much add that I love everything else in this room as well!
via: Emily Henderson

Hello everyone and happy Monday! Please tell me you feel inspired after looking at these photos. I sure did and I think you will see you why after you take a peek. Simple, organic scandinavian style living is upon us in this quaint little cottage. This place is a true work of nature and it makes me want to cook some good food, eat outside and lounge in the grass on a comfy blanket reading a good book. How about you? An everyday live or a vacation away from home? I'm not sure all of that white could withstand my three grubby kids, but I could visit and stay all summer!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I have more painting in store this week, this time the upstairs, so my posts may be few but I promise, they will not lack inspiration!

Have a wonderful day!

[ images via: lantliv ]

Ah yes, it's the weekend and I will be relaxing thank you very much, as  well as thinking pops of color in my newly painted, whitewashed hallway. It's a clean and crisp canvas right now and I can't wait to splash a little color here and there to make this once desolate area of my home bright and cheery. See, that's what I've been doing this week. Instead of researching and writing clever posts to share here, I've been painting my eyes out and I'm gettin it done! However, I would hate to leave for the weekend without sharing a few inspiration photos with you, just a few, of some wonderful examples of pops of color that really caught my eye this week.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Enjoy the outdoors, indoors and all your surroundings this weekend and if you see a place in your own home that needs a little color, take care of it immediately, it really does make you feel better. Ok, not the I just ate a delicious piece of chocolate or went for a run feel better, but it does make you feel better, I promise!

Last week and up until Mother's Day the weather felt like summer. Toenails were painted and sandals were removed from the back of the closet, in anticipation for what the weatherman was telling us, beautiful, warm weather was ahead and no, it wasn't a joke. Upon those fine, "it felt like summer" days I had a houseful of flowers mostly picked from my own yard then mixed in with a few bouquets from the store. It was blooming and bright in here and now that the weather has gone back to what it's actually supposed to be doing in the Spring in Seattle, those blooms are a quick reminder that summer will be here (hopefully, you never know around here) very soon and they are also a reminder that flowers can brighten up a room any old time of the year! Here are some of my favorite flower finds guaranteed to inspire the darkest corner of your home. From one piece arrangements to succulents (a favorite of mine), in large vases and small, anything will do to hold your favorite blooms, even that one lonely cup you have left because all the rest have broken! If you would like to see some pics of my own flower inspiration around the home you can visit the m.o.i. design Facebook page and take a quick look (and don't forget to "like")! I've posted some of my favorite finds from Pinterest this week as well which is an ongoing thing I do about once a month-gotta love that Pinterest!

Hope everyone is having a great week, it's almost Friday-yay!

How fun would this be to make? Getting to use all of those colorful flowers to make a special gift (or for yourself) would be time and money well spent. I could definitely spend a small chunk of my afternoon doing this! To find the how-to on this diy, you can visit the lovely blog Parcel Post before your trek out to the flower mart. Enjoy!

Hello and happy Friday! I'm back here at the end of this crazy week to share some photos I took of the spaces I styled for a photo shoot on Tuesday. Ok, for one I couldn't have been happier that this was a location shoot and I got to travel. My lovely husband came with me and amazingly we worked out the many details it takes for someone to watch all three of our kids. We took the ferry on a beautiful sunny evening, stayed in the coolest place, I worked with the super nice and talented photographer Sarah Jesser and got to decorate and create all I wanted on a little to nothing budget, which of course emphasizes the create (or creative) part. I am bursting with anticipation to see the final pics! This was a fashion shoot and unfortunately I was only able to stay one day, do my work, then leave, therefor I did not get to see the models and clothing in the actual spaces before I left. I can't wait to share more on this project when the final pics are complete, but for now, enjoy some of the process as I have and please forgive my mediocre photography-I have to admit it was the end of day and I was exhausted and my feet hurt (boo hoo)!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and Happy Mothers Day to all of you beautiful moms out there including my own, who I might add watched the kids while my husband and I were away!

the space:

main room before:

after:

this is what we called the "wood room", before:

after:

and here are a few of the outside which wasn't quite completed yet when I took the photos:

It's so fun to share the process of work like this. I look forward to seeing the final shots with the models and all their clothes, I can't wait! And of course, I will share here when they are completed!

Hello everyone and welcome to a new week! I'm just going to say this now-best weekend ever! Not because I did anything extraordinarily exciting, but because it was 82 degrees today....what? I am in Seattle, right? And it's May, right? You just can't have a bad day when the weather is this nice here because it doesn't happen very often, and I mean usually until August at least. Anyway, I wanted to share a few photos of the props I've been working on for a photo shoot I am doing on Tuesday. The idea came from my frustration on this one room and wanting to hang something from the ceiling besides a plain old lamp, but what? Going with the concept of modern meets shabby chic meets anthropolgie style (and yes, since most of us all know what Anthroplogie is, I'm calling it a style to simplify things-you'll know what I mean), I wanted to create something that was light and airy with just enough interest to make it stand out in a photo. I think it fits the bill and after trying multiple different ways to make these, I'm pretty happy with the results. So here are few process shots, I will have the chain to hang them from tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to show you more process photos sometime after Tuesday!

I can't believe it's the end of the week already, can you? My mind has been wandering between jobs this week, trying to finish up a little bit of everything and preparing for another photo shoot I will styling next week. I'm very excited about this project and thought I would share a few inspirational concept photos I am leaning towards. I have to say, I am getting ahead of myself a little on this project and maybe coming up with TOO many ideas, but better more than none right?

Have a great weekend everyone and I hope to bring you some photos Monday of what I've been working on for the shoot. I get to travel, alone. Meaning no kids, nada and let me tell you, I'm sort of looking forward to it!

Have a wonderful day!

A touch more Spring for your mid-week inspiration! A beautiful wood table surrounded by concrete and brick and pink tulips to add a pop of color. The perfect setting for a springtime dinner with family and friends....ok, I'm dreaming right now!

Have a lovely day!

[ via: nicoalaryjr on Flickr ]

Hello and welcome to a new week! I had the most amazing weekend and it all happened close to home. Despite the rain and a very long ferry wait on Saturday, I enjoyed the weekend with my family doing all the usual things we do these days, trekking to sporting events, kid sleepovers and eating waffles for breakfast (oh ya, and my sister was in town in visiting!). However, I reached a special milestone with the youngest of my clan, picking flowers together with my little girl. A simple task, yes, but so different from picking anything with my two boys when they were small. Flowers usually ended up with no heads, squished and left to bits after those two were finished, but I have to say, Iona has the process down. Picking, arranging and placing the flowers in water was not only a special treat for me, but it was also a sweet sign of the season and what flowers can do for your mood (both picking them and seeing them). This special moment with my daughter got me thinking about all of the other things we can do in our home to bring the Spring season indoors. Spring cleaning doesn't have to be just about deep cleans and dusting, but also about taking projects we've been thinking about doing and putting them into full-on "do" mode. New area rugs, curtains and even paint colors, there's no better time to "do" than now!

Have a wonderful day!

What's your favorite Springtime home ritual? Any tips you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them!

Hello all and happy mid-week! For my first post this week I bring you thoughts of sunshine and clean concrete rooms. Opposites attract I guess, because I was inspired by both while browsing for the perfect pics today. It's finally Spring temperature wise in Seattle and with the sun has come my busy schedule once again. And while I would love to post every single day, I just can't seem to get there every week and to be honest it sometimes bums me out. Perhaps it's pressure from myself to keep up with EVERYTHING, or maybe because I want to be inspiring everyday and realistically just can't. Or, a good combination of both. While I realize I'm not perfect, nor can I sacrifice time spent on my real job and trying to eventually pay the bills, I have realized I can't inspire others with this little blog unless I put my whole heart into it.  Maybe that means just one post a week, or two, or five if I have the time, however each post, no matter how long or how many days a week I post, it should be thoughtful, meaningful, helpful and most of all inspirational. 
Ok, so now that I've whined and gotten that all out, (which felt good to hear, rather than just whining about it in bits and pieces in my head) I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and is looking forward to the days ahead. I'll be happily playing catch up on some work I've put off for other work (does that make sense?) and smiling every minute, for I am destined to stay inspired this week after getting my little rants off my chest...and thanks for listening!

Have a wonderful day!