Ode to Domino

It makes me sad every time I'm reminded that Domino magazine ceases to exist. I have a near complete collection, because somehow I miraculously had the good sense to keep nearly every single issue. The ones I'm missing, believe me I know exactly what's in them, I look forward to finding someday. Domino launched as I was starting to nest, and having no design background, looked to it for inspiration.

They called it a "guide to living with style" and it truly was. It was a step-by-step on how to live an elegant yet bohemian lifestyle: menus for entertaining, cocktail recipes, how to launder correctly, floral arrange, and of course how to decorate. It was a great accompaniment to higher brow home pubs that are good inspiration, but that you can't always see ourself living the life on their pages.

I found that some other fans had the ingenious idea to share images on Flickr. At this moment I feel an overwhelming need to share a couple of my faves....

This is the image that made me realize my own personal style. I thought it was a perfect blend of traditional, contemporary, and exotic. (The woman in the corner is the interior designer).

The kitchen images happened to arrive as we were about to embark on a major kitchen renovation. The wall color ( Benjamin Moore's Cliffside Gray), white cabinets with recessed door faces, hardware, dark floors, and carerra marble really hit it out of the park. I told myself it shouldn't matter that I was inspired by Katie Lee Joel. Who? You know, the chick who was married to Billy Joel and wrote a cookbook. Really it was Nate Berkus' design and we love him.

Another great combo: a Wisteria etegare, Kohler sink, B&W area rug, and animal print towels in neutrals.

Someday I'll blog about outdoor spaces and include this. It's Sunrise Ruffalo's patio.

Ahhhhhhhh, it's nice to walk down memory lane. Sometimes it's easy to forget why you like certain things and where you honed your sense of style. Domino gets a lot of credit. I feel lucky that whenever I'm stumped for design inspiration I only have to wander into my library, pull down a West Elm magazine organizer, and flip the pages.

I thank my lucky stars that Elle Decor's still in print, the next best thing to Domino.