Design Porn

I just found your new addiction, y’all.  Houzz.com, or as I like to call it Design Porn.   If you have 7,458 pins on your “Home Decor” board over at Pinterest, you will love this site.   Between Pinterest and Houzz you could feasibly never see the sun again.  You’re welcome.  

Do you want to day dream about your ideal powder room, which OMG has to be tropical?  Or do you have to use Preparation H after you sit on your organic bamboo couch because you are soooo modern and hip?  You’re in luck.  There are exactly 8 bajillion pictures submitted by professional designers, architects, and contractors to scroll through for every conceivable aesthetic (god awful to just brilliant).   And the best part – you can digitally scrapbook all of your finds in Ideabooks.  You know, for when you want the billiard room turned into a gift wrapping station. 

The site is very user friendly and incredibly simple to get started.  Don’t feel like pigeonholing yourself into a design aesthetic?  Just scroll through all the lovely pictures.  Or if you need ideas on how to decorate the stairwell, hop on over to the stairwell section (seriously. A stairwell section! Love! ).  Personally, I love scrolling through pictures that follow my design aesthetic (What up Traditional!). But I also enjoy perusing (some might call it judging) other submissions that make me want to vomit up my lunch (I’m looking at you, Tropical).  Who buys wallpaper with coconuts on it? Seriously?!

The ideabook is a great way to write what you like most about a particular picture and then email those obsessively to your husband at work prompting him to reply “We don’t even have a beach house.  Stop sending these.” WE WILL SOMEDAY, DREAM KILLER. 

Also, if you’re in the market for a new decorator or contractor (who isn’t these days, dahling?) the site lists professionals, their contact info, photos of their creations and recommendations.   You can also have discussions with other users and professionals.  You can upload photos of your fugally fireplace and get all kinds of opinions on what you should do with it.   Another nifty idea they have is a section on just products, everything from rolling storage carts to armories, that list price and where to find the item, plus you can add those to your ideabooks as well.

From apartment dweller to homeowner to home-someday-buyer, Houzz allows you to splurge on that new slate floor or that oak barrel lined wine cellar…just, you know, in your dreams!  It’s like window shopping for your home IN your home (on the Internet in your pajamas).   

Have fun!