Contreras - Dream, design, live

To my parents, who taught me to believe in the beauty of my dreams, and to my dearest Fabian, for encouraging me to chase them. Thank you for your unwavering love and support.

Crisp white walls, tall ceilings, and details abound in this airy living room.

Im not the type of decorator who knew her calling from the time she began experimenting with crayons. Tucked away in my childhood bedroomwhite wicker furniture with bedding covered in pink cabbage rosesI dreamed of faraway places and a life filled with beauty.

My love of foreign cultures continued as I grew. In college, I studied Spanish and Italian. Upon graduating, I became a high school Spanish teacher. The job felt familiar but never quite fitmuch like a sweater that looked okay but made me itch all over. I loved the subject matter and my rapport with the students, but I was restless.

After Id been teaching for a few years, my husband, Fabian, and I traveled to Paris, Rome, and Florence. It was my first trip to Europe. Italy enchanted methe architecture, the language, the food, the history, the art, the peopleand I felt excited and energized. I wanted to hang on to that feeling for as long as possible. It was time to design the life that I wanted to livethe life that felt true to who I am at my core.

It was July of 2007 and the only blogs I knew were written by friends who had moved away and kept journals so that their friends and families back home could keep up with their adventures. The first few entries I wrote were personal essays about design inspiration and decorating, two subjects Id always loved. We had recently purchased our first home and I was in full-on nesting mode. Entrenching myself in design brought back the feelings of excitement and sense of fulfillment Id felt while in Italy.

My newfound focus on living the good life through decorating and design resonated with my readers. More and more people started reading my blog. I started getting some great press and the blogs number of visitors and page views spiked. Offers for freelance writing and social media consulting started coming in. As I posted pictures of the design projects I was working on in my own house, I started receiving requests for small decorating projects. The more I wrote about design and worked on my own decorating projects, the more I realized that my personal version of La Dolce Vita centered on interior design and decorating. I left my teaching job and never looked back.

Today, creativity is the driving force in my life and thankfully, my profession allows me to tap into it daily. Its no accident that my personal journey started in my bedroom, the place that was my own, where, surrounded by the floral fabric Id helped pick out, I dreamed of a life filled with beauty.

During my time in the design industry, Ive come to realize that la dolce vita starts at home because thats where we are our truest selves. Our homes can help us live the lives we want and can be tools for living. They can provide an environment where we can retreat from the rest of the world and set the stage for the type of life we want to live. When things look and feel good at home, this feeling serves as an impetus for living beautifully in other areas of our lives. However, the reverse can also be true. If a house is not set up to help you live your best life, then you may be missing out on opportunities. You may dream of hosting dinner parties, but if you havent found the right dining table, its unlikely that youll actually be able to host anyone in your home. You may aspire to appear stylish and put-together, but if your closet is a mess, chances are, it will be nearly impossible to do so. Living beautifully requires intention and follow-through, but that doesnt mean that it will be difficult.

A mix of graphic art in various frames punctuates this family room.

Every design project begins with inspiration. When starting a new project, my jumping off point can be anything from a beautiful fabric to the colors in a piece of art to the vibe of a favorite clothing store. Inspiration is literally everywhere; it surrounds us at every hour of every day, and it has the potential to be both amazing and completely overwhelming. The chapters in this section address where to find inspiration and I discuss some of my own design inspirations while showing you how to cull through your ideas to create a cohesive vision. The trick is to know how to tap into inspiration and transform it into something that serves your mission, whether it is designing an entire house or setting the table for a special dinner.

I did not consciously realize during my journey that I had been following the path of inspiration all along. From the childhood bedroom and experiences that began to shape my appreciation for interiors to the trip to Europe that inspired me to deeply examine my lifes purpose and eventually shift gears, inspiration has appeared in my life time and time again, serving as the impetus for many important choices. Whether Im creating a space for myself or for a client, every project starts with inspiration. Finding a source of inspiration establishes a framework for my vision. It helps me find the road map that will ultimately take me from inspiration to implementation.

Looking for, finding, and committing to a vision is a key step because designing a space, whether its large or small, requires making many decisions. Having a strong source of inspiration will help you make these decisions. When things get overwhelming and you come to a halt, or when you have to make difficult budgetary decisions, going back to your inspiration for the project can help to bring things back into focus and help you make the best choices.

In our office, everyone has their own inspiration board to express what they are gravitating toward.

Inspiration can be anything from the color of a favorite dress to the texture of a natural element such as a seashell or piece of wood. The key is that it must evoke a strong emotional response. Start by thinking of what makes you happy. Dont worry about whether something is on trend or in style. Instead, find the things that bring you joy. Pay attention to how things make you feel and what you find yourself responding to. Inspiration can be anywhere. It can strike at any moment. Ive been inspired by architectural details while walking down the street, by memories associated with the flavor of a food, or by ideas that come from listening to a song. These are varied sources of inspiration, but the common factor is that something in these experiences made me happy, brought me a sense of peace, or spurred a strong emotional connection. Sometimes the inspiration is fleeting, and I know that if I dont capture it somehow, Ill lose it the next day. Other times, an image will stay with me for years and Ill be able to think of that source of inspiration and immediately conjure up what I was feeling at that moment.