{inspiration binders}

i noticed danielle posted images from her inspiration binder today so perhaps i should share mine here on haus maus to give you a broad idea of what i'm going for in my apartment design. think natural bohemian, mixing modern with vintage (not antiques necessarily), moroccan, turkish, french, asian and scandinavian, very tactile, white and gray as a base, some natural wood and silver as accents, color as accents (goldenrod, lilac, green, pink, somewhat muted) and a very lived-in "i've been here for ten years already" vibe. laid-back and easy. here are some pages from my apt inspiration binder. i also have paint swatches, a floor plan, and fabric clippings in the back. these binders keep me on track when i'm shopping as i often get design attention deficient disorder in stores and walk out with items that i did not go in for, or i walk out with nothing at all and head to a cafe for chai to climb out of my design hole. i tend to stress a little when i do not carry my trusty binder. my handbags are always pretty deep, so usually one slim binder, a bottled water, my wallet, and other miscellany does the trick -- these 'tools' are all i need to make shopping a success. oh and a measuring tape. my god how i value it. it's easiest to tear pages from magazines and compile them inside of a binder with plastic inserts vs. lugging entire magazines in my suitcase. only a few random pages in magazines inspire me anyway so why not rip out the pearls and recycle the rest? i only hold on to domino and the now expired blueprint, filing them away in magazine folders. everything else gets torn into bits and images are sorted and placed into binders. when i work with clients the first thing i give them is a binder for this exact same exercise. it's highly effective and so simple to do. this totally helps you to focus on a look, recall the items you really want when standing in the middle of a showroom with 10,000 options, and it's a smart and inexpensive way to organize what's in your head. in addition to binders, i also keep inspiration books (or look books/journals) with drawings, photos, art, and everything else inside. those can range from decorating to fashion and are quite random in how they are organized, especially lately. i don't typically share them with friends or family, they can be a bit personal. some are not personal at all, and i've showed a glimpse or two of them on decor8 in the past. nowadays i work more with binders since i find it easier to maintain them (no glue!) and when i tire of a look i can replace it easily. decor8 is my primarily version of an online inspiration book and i like it because even when i travel i have it nearby to access, same goes for haus maus. how do you organize things so that you shop successfully?