Wallpaper of today is definitely not what it used to be with the installation process and the choice of patterns or images available. Ghastly florals and patterns of the past are replaced by reinvented, contemporary florals, patterns and palettes of the present.

This article is presented by InkShuffle.com offering you beautiful Easy Off Wallpaper – perfect for renters. Millions of designs in categories like vintage, cityscapes, and room openers.

We recently published a post about wall stenciling, also a booming trend and a more budget-worthy route than wallpapering, but could also be more work, depending on what you chose to paint. Wallpapering can also almost ensure a very clean, accurate and even more elaborate finished wall as well. At the end of the day, both have their pros and cons like anything else, it's just a matter of budget and preference.

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I'm falling fast in love with Kreme wallpaper patterns. Very Moroccan-inspired design work with fabulous palettes. The example above is one of their more minimalist designs called, Painted Gate.

"Painted finishes, although great in some spaces, don't equate to the luxury and opulence a few rolls of wallpaper can provide." - Cadee Wilder of Kreme

Sourced from slideshow in Kreme Wallpaper California Collection 2012

Contemporary wallpapers are sometimes so graphically reinforced with such dramatic design work. This type of pattern design is so intricate that paint just couldn't replicate (or could, but with a lot of effort).

Stenciled walls are becoming quite the trend right now. And for good reason, it adds an awesome pop to the  room.  I have been dying to stencil a wall for a while now, the problem is, the process looks very daunting and frankly, a little tedious. Finally, I decided to go for it and stencil the main wall in my living room to give the rather drab room, a big pop.

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After looking through tons of color palettes and patterns, I set out to find the perfect gray and decided on a Moroccan pattern similar to the bedroom below. I bought the "Wall Stencil Marrakech Trellis" from CuttingEdgeStencils for about $50.

Recently, we spent some time reflecting over some beautiful home decor images in order to curate these ten beautiful palettes from the Martha Stewart paint line in a collaborative project titled, "Paint Palettes We Love."

Peruse these lovely combinations and fancy what your space might become, reinvented with fantastically bold or mellow combinations that might pull your imagination strings. One thing I adore about Martha's paint line is that her and Kevin Sharkey dig in to their memories and whims when building a collection of color around them. You can literally see these things in the names of the paints themselves.

Inspiration: A Sunny & Sweet Flower Arrangement

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This sunny flower arrangement was procured from the sweet tooth of Kevin Sharkey. A few of his favorite sweets happen to be lemon drops and raspberry rock candy.

"Consider things that never fail to make you happy -- a box of pastel crayons, macaroons from Paris, a beloved artist's paintings -- and make note of their colors. Then bring the palette to life by plucking it from nature: Arrange flowers, leaves, branches, fruits, or vegetables in the shades of your passions." - how kevin creates

We took this arrangement and furthered its use by adding a wonderful palette drawing from the strongest points, which could be a great base for an entire room.

Lighting a space can make a significant impact on the emotional palette. From the design of a lighting fixture to how it radiates in a space can make or break the entire theme.

This article is presented by LBC Lighting offering you the easiest and most convenient way to purchase contemporary lighting including Juno Lighting for your home or business.

There are a myriad concepts being done with lighting, from astonishing buys and extraordinary DIYs, everyone’s got a bug to be the most unique.

Beaded Chandeliers

Beaded chandeliers are becoming quite a popular trend. This style can encompass beads or discs made from many different types of materials such as glass, shell or metal and of course plastic or ceramic.

turquoise beaded | black metal discs | bone-colored beaded |  green DIY beaded

It seems that while manufacturers came out with these gorgeous pieces more prominently in early 2011, the DIY crowd is just starting to pick up on producing them in a variety of fashion. If you'll notice, the bottom row in the image above are similar lighting fixtures. On the left is the Malibu Chandelier by manufacturer Serena & Lily while on the right, the DIY blog, SimplySalvage.com decided to make their own version of it. I think they pulled it off pretty well.

Home decor has become quite a happening thing that can encompass your whim and personality more and more. It is more widely accepted to make your space a unique one instead of trying to keep up with the Jones'. Let's take a look at what trends became red hot in 2011 and are sure to become more so as 2012 launches off.

Owls & Birds

The owl is a decor trend that has been there all along in some shape or form since the 1900's. Through taxidermy, design inlay on a leather piece or stitched in to a hanky, these mysterious night creatures have been a part of our culture as a piece of interest for a very long time. I remember my grandmother had a macramé owl in her indoor greenhouse when I was a child and other various owl decor in a very 1970's fashion.

green ceramic | white ceramic | tan ceramic | stoneware | wooden | pillow with print | dish set  | pillow screen print  | coasters | ceramic wall hook | calendar

The recent trend of owls from about 2009 through the present has definitely picked up on a new level of design playing off of vintage styles with a modern day twist that makes them not so tasteless, but fascinating and simply adorable from everything home decor, holiday ornaments, fashion and party decor. People can't seem to get enough owl.

More than just a decorative touch, wreaths have existed since the times of the ancient Romans. Before Christianity, pagan rituals of mid-winter often featured a wreath of evergreen with four candles.

The candles were placed in each of the four directions, representing the elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. Rituals were performed to ensure the continuance of the circle of life.

Some Christians use this idea also. The four candles represent the advent of Christmas and the hope of returning light in the Spring.

In ancient Greece, olive wreath crowns were awarded to victors in the original Olympic Games. Today, modern Olympic medals often bear the same olive wreath image. These wreaths stood for Victory over challenges.

The Christmas wreath has much symbolism attached to it. The shape of the circle has no beginning and no end. This circle could mean the eternal nature of God’s love or the Circle of Life. The use of Evergreen branches suggests victory of life through darkness and challenge. Think of the Greek Victors Crown. Think of the hope that light will come back to the world with the advent of Spring.

Color and texture are vividly portrayed in these gorgeous ornament wreaths. They domonstrate how wreaths can be meaningful or just plain fun.

How did we come to hang wreaths on our doors? Decorative wreaths using different floral arrangements were used anciently to identify different families and houses. Whereas today we use house numbers.

Building your own wreath is a lot of fun! There are a myriad of bases to choose from. If you need inspiration then Etsy and Pinterest are amazing resources.

Paper Cone Wreath (cornerhouseblog DIY) | Paper Star Wreath (littlebirdiesecrets DIY) | Yarn & Felt Wreath (Etsy) | Tie Wreath (bedifferentactnormal) 

Wreaths are wrought with lore and tradition as well as whimsy and fun. Whether you hang a wreath on the door to welcome visitors, or on the wall to complete your home’s decor, the splash of color on a cold winters day is sure to add a feeling of warmth, building excitement for the coming season.

I often hear COLOURlovers described as a place to help people find great colors... "Like for when you're looking for colors to paint your kitchen or bedroom." Problem is, it has been hard to take a color on our site and find a matching paint color in the real world.

So, we're super excited to announce a partnership with Martha Stewart Living™ to get her paint colors on the millions of colors, palettes & patterns pages here at COLOURlovers... By far making this site the biggest color resource for paint color inspiration!

I've had the pleasure of spending some time at the Martha Stewart HQ in New York city and it's like Santa's workshop for creatives. Each room is full of people making awesome stuff... pastries in this room, ornaments in that room... It's the kind of place any creative/crafty person dreams of being locked in over night. Since Martha Stewart and her creative empire are all about crafting & creating... we're thrilled to work with her and all the awesome people at MSLO. The addition of these paints to the site is going to open so many great opportunities for interior designers & decorators, and even just somebody looking to add some pop to a boring white wall.

Finding the Paint Colors Your Love

Wherever a color is displayed on our site, along with the HEX & RGB numbers for that color we'll also show you the closest matching Martha Stewart Living paint color. And every display of that paint color will link you to the Home Depot site where the Martha Stewart Living paints are exclusively sold. From the Home Depot site you can easily & affordably try out a paint tester to make sure you love the color.

Note on Color Matching: Since more colors (16 Million) can exist on a computer screen compared to paint colors... Not every color on our site will be a perfect match to a paint color, but we're working hard on perfecting the matching logic so the color that you're loving here can be the color you're loving on your walls.

Martha Stewart’s 280 custom colors are inspired by themes found in nature and the home. Martha Stewart Living also supports the entire decorating project through an innovative color coordination system. Symbols match color families and themes, and coordinate with other household products throughout the store like rugs, furniture, and storage.

Colorful Story Telling with Paint

Along with adding the paint colors to the site, we'll be showcasing some of the beautiful home images from Martha Stewart in our Home Inspirations & Trends section of our site as well as some write-ups here in the blog. Having the ability to link colors we love to paint colors is really going to add a whole new layer of awesome to the site!

Paint Your Space. Share It With the World!

When you use this new feature to paint a wall in one of the spaces in which you live, make sure you post up a picture in the comments. We'll be showcasing a gallery of awesome painted spaces soon and I hope yours will be included.

Although it is now Spring, it still feels as if Winter is among us. Winter this year has been odd and different than the several winters prior. It seemed as though a snow storm would pop up every Tuesday, right on schedule. But, enough about Winter and on to Spring!

Spring is light, airy and refreshing. It is a time when you feel as though you can start over, a feeling and sense of new beginnings (that's how I always feel around Spring instead of New Year's.)  Relief is near as we enjoy warmer weather and get ready for those outdoor soiree's. There is also that thing we all know as Spring cleaning, I guess it all makes sense now, right?

Everyone views Spring differently,  if you ask one person what they associate Spring with, they may tell you that they think of daffodils, another may tell you barbecue's and if you ask me... I will simply tell you that yellow, tulips and light showers remind me of Spring. This is why I chose the color yellow for this Spring post.

What color do you associate Spring with?

fabric, bowls, flowers, pillow, candle, butterflies, pendant

Some Great Finds on Etsy...

header: fine art photography on Etsy.com and palette, Thatchery...

You could say that I am on a bit of a gray and black kick. This could possibly be influenced by the weather we have been having, but as of  right now I love gray and black and honestly I can not get enough of it. A trio of color that are on my radar as of now are black, gray and white. There have  been a good amount of homes that have been featured online with this trio and they were all done tastefully. The color added such a sophisticated feel. So, taking from that inspiration, here are some black, gray and white accessories that I have  selected.

pendant · vases · pillow · tumbler · octopus · throws

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