Design*Sponge.

About 4 1/2 years ago, I started to discover the blog world. More specifically, I discovered the home blog world. There were thousands of blogs dedicated to fixing your home, decorating it, DIYing it, and more. I found a few that I liked and became loyal to. One of those was Design*Sponge. I have read that blog every day for the past 4 1/2 years, maybe missing a day or two and catching up the next day. It would be an understatement to say that it has influenced my life. It changed the way I thought about living, and how much my home could impact me, my mood, and my spirit. Something that Design*Sponge taught me, amongst millions of others, is that you dont need a lot of money to make a home that makes you happy and makes you feel comfortable. Sometimes, you dont need any money at all.

Well, Grace Bonney, the founder of Design*Sponge, wrote a book. And she did a book tour. AND I GOT TO MEET HER. I have never really met anyone “famous” before. So I wasnt really sure how I would behave. Let’s me just say, my cheeks turned fire engine red and I got giddy and nervous. It was so attractive. Not. I was one of thoooosseeee people. The annoying ones. But, guess what? Grace said she liked my glasses. And, in that moment, my life was made complete.

During Grace’s talk, which R Home for the Holidays hosted at Plant Zero, she mentioned that at one point she got bored with the design world. And so in order to become inspired again, she became interested in other things that contribute to home life. Food, gardening, flowers, etc… She let those things inspire her design world. I was so happy to hear that because I think often in this industry, wedding photographers start allowing other wedding photographers to be the biggest influence on their own art. Which is really sad because it can set you up for failure. You need, and should want, to create something unique. Copying someone else wont do that for you. I am not saying that you can’t admire and be influenced AT ALL by other photographer’s work, but I do think having your main source of inspiration coming from something else entirely is a positive thing. For me, I am seriously inspired by the design world. It encompasses a lot of realms… art, print making, homes, food, architecture, florals, clothing, etc… Those are things that inspire me. And keep me motivated to create more art. My ENTIRE website is based off of one photograph of a DIY-ers ingenius bookcase.

So, thank you to Grace.  The blog, following, and movement she created…it has inspired me.