It started with my mother’s Better Homes and Gardens back in the late 60’s early 70’s. Thumbing through them after she had finished looking at that month’s issue. Cutting out the pages of things I had liked and anticipating applying the ideas in my first apartment. I would make collages with images based on color. Pages of things of various shades of blues, greens and of course – purples. I never really liked oranges, yellows or reds – back then…

After I had graduated from design school and moved to Massachusetts, I began receiving my own issues of Better Homes and Garden each month in the mail. I then added Metropolitan Home and Architectural Digest. Martha Stewart came and went and as I glance over at the bookcase in my office now: stacks of Home, Domino (2005-2009) and House and Garden date back to 2006. The largest collection is Natural Home from May 2007 to this month’s issue. I also have an IKEA brochure for each year dating back to 2006.

I love turning the pages and looking through old as well as contemporary issues. It offers inspiration for layouts, color palettes and overall design that I can share with clients. The only difference now is that I can view most of the magazines I have mentioned on the internet. I only subscribe to one magazine: Natural Home and Garden.

Several of these magazines are no longer published nor do they have websites, but I did want to share a few that I enjoy viewing. On any of these sites you can type in green interior design, eco-friendly design or sustainable design in the search window and find a wealth of ideas.

Metropolitan Home ceased publication in 2009, but a website with all of the archived issues and new inspirations can be found at http://www.elledecor.com/. The plus: there are so many categories to find a multitude of ideas; the negative: one can get lost on the website for HOURS! I find this to be true on most of the following websites. My advice is to limit your searches to an hour at a time.

http://www.bhg.com/ (Better Home and Gardens)http://www.architecturaldigest.com/                     http://www.marthastewart.com/                             http://www.traditionalhome.com/                               http://www.housebeautiful.com/                                        http://www.dwell.com/                                                 http://www.realsimple.com/ (I do look at this at the checkout register in the grocery store when they have an issue on the stands)http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/

As I have shared, my Natural Home and Garden magazine is my largest collection. Mainly because it offers a wealth of information on green design. It showcases renovations and new construction as well as providing information on sustainable and recycled products for use in the home as building materials and purposeful  and decorative products. I enjoy using their website, but I still love turning the pages and dog-earring things I like and might use on my next project!

Through Facebook I have found some great websites (blogs) that keep me posted with innovative products and design ideas as well. By subscribing to them, I get their posts on my news feed and can click for the latest informative tidbit.

http://inhabitat.com/                                                      http://groovygreenlivin.com/                                   http://www.hipmomsgogreen.com/                     http://www.GoGreenWebDirectory.com/

I enjoy sharing these sites with you. If you have any questions, you can always contact me at design@lmkinteriorsltd.com or (978)335-1140.