I started reading Domino magazine recently, and I am hooked. The mix is great, for someone interested in home design. It’s high-end (like the sofa that I just had to have… until I saw the price tag. $14,000. Ouch.) It’s a steal, such as outdoor iron chairs brought inside, outfitted with cushions to up the comfort level. Although why would you ever want to cover up that adorable floral design on the seat? Really, how great would this chair be at a child’s desk? Or at the arts & crafts table?

So this is why I am in love with Domino magazine right now. As we’re working on our house, making it our home, I am constantly looking for inspiration. There are things that we need. There are things that we want. And there are things that we already own, but that I am aching to give new life to. And then there are those random things that we’ve acquired along the way that might not necessarily be our ’style,’ but that we knew we could not live without. How do we incorporate those things so that they look like they belong? Well, I’ve been finding the answers to all of the above both in the pages of the magazine, and on their website. They even have a new feature on the site that allows you to make a sort of electronic version of the old-fashioned binder stuffed with tear sheets. I tried it out, not for me. I prefer old-fashioned tear sheets. But it’s a clever and modern way of organizing your home design-related inspiration.

But I love the mix of high and low, in one room. It’s how we live. We splurge on nice and comfy sofas, so that they will stand up to the test of time. We’ve had ours forever. One of them was my first ‘grown-up’ purchase, the other was snagged from my mother’s house. And since we did invest in the one, and my mother did the investing in the other for us, we plan on keeping them. And reupholstering them in the next month or so, as soon as I can decide on fabrics. And we’ll have the seat cushions in one stuffed with fresh, new down. I’m even considering slipcovers, because kids are so tough on furniture! Wash and wear would be nice… But for desks and chairs for the girls? I’m considering two simple and streamlined table from Ikea. And the chairs? Two stacking chairs from Target. Just under $25.

There are also several ‘how-to’ projects that I found on the website that will help me take some of those older and tired pieces and liven them up. I have a console table that I’d like to ‘ebonize,’ and wouldn’t you know it, they have detailed directions on the site. And then the DIY guide to floor stenciling? I think I just might try that in the girls’ shared bathroom, on the floor. I have my eye on a particular pattern, the Quad Formations, from Home Art & Fun. A modern take on bamboo, in a soft yellow, just a few, here and there across the floor, I think would really be unexpected on the boring whitish tile floor in there. And then there’s the old Pottery Barn dresser in Coco’s bedroom. It belonged to my husband, back in his college days. I can’t part with it, it’s practical and well-made. But I can’t stand looking at it, in it’s current state. But with the help of another DIY project, detailed on the Domino website, I have my first official project this weekend: to sand it, paint it, add new hardware and move it into the downstairs guest bath.

So, the website is fun to poke around on, after everyone has turned in for the night. But the book that was just released, from the Editors of Domino magazine, is great because I can take it to bed with me, look through it as I’m getting ready to doze off. The information is priceless. The examples are inspiring. The resources are going to get a lot of use in the coming days, as I put our family’s stamp on our new home…