How to Find Interior Design Inspiration Everywhere | Arazi Design Studio

If there is one thing I regret not packing for Italy, it is my mini tape measure.

I almost always have one tucked into my purse. (Tell me you’re a designer without telling me you’re a designer.)

But for this trip, I decided to leave it at home. I was on vacation, after all. Surely I could survive a few weeks without measuring things?

Apparently not.

At one of the hotels we stayed at in Chianti, I became completely obsessed with the details. There were painted borders around the doorways, beautiful sconces, unexpected combinations of pattern and colour, and proportions that just felt right.

I needed to know why.

So, without my trusty tape measure, I found myself walking around our room with a piece of paper and a pencil, making little marks so I could measure everything properly once I got home.

Very “normal” vacation behaviour.

But that is also the thing about being a designer.

I don't think inspiration ever completely turns off.

And Italy reminded me that some of the best design inspiration has very little to do with looking at other beautifully designed rooms.

Sometimes, it comes from noticing how a place makes you feel.

Inspiration Is More Than a Beautiful Room

When we talk about finding interior design inspiration, Pinterest and Instagram are usually the first places we go.

And I love them.

We use them constantly.

But if every image on your inspiration board is a perfectly photographed living room or kitchen, you may actually be missing some of the most useful clues about what you want your home to feel like.

Travel has always been one of those sources of inspiration for me.

It isn't necessarily about coming home from Italy and deciding my Montreal home suddenly needs to look Tuscan.

It is about asking:

What was it about that place that stayed with me?

Was it the colour?
The intimacy?
The imperfect old stone?
The way breakfast felt when we ate outside every morning?
The quiet courtyard hidden behind a building?
The mix of patterns I never would have thought to put together?

Those are the details worth paying attention to.

The Places That Feel Like Home

One of my favourite stops was Florence.

We stayed in Oltrarno, just outside the busiest part of the city. It felt quieter, creative and a little artsy, which was exactly what we wanted after spending our days walking and exploring.

Our hotel was tiny, with only a handful of rooms, and somehow it felt more like staying in a beautiful home than a hotel.

There was a secret little courtyard garden tucked inside the building where we ate breakfast every morning.

And that feeling stayed with me.

Not because I suddenly need an Italian courtyard at home, although I certainly wouldn't complain.

It was the intimacy of it. The greenery. The ritual of having breakfast outside. The feeling that something special was hidden just beyond the doorway.

That is inspiration too.

Another day, after walking what ended up being around 27,000 steps, we climbed up to a lookout with a small picnic and watched the sunset over Florence.

Yes, my feet had opinions by that point.

But there was something about slowing down after such a full day, sitting outside and taking everything in, that became one of my favourite memories of the trip.

When I think about designing homes, these are the moments I want to understand.

Where will you naturally gather?
Where will you sit with your coffee?
Which corner will make you want to stay a little longer?

A home does not only need to photograph beautifully.

It should create those little moments for you.

When Design Makes You Stop and Look Again

Then there was Chianti.

The hotel we stayed at was probably one of the most creatively inspiring places on the entire trip.

Everywhere I looked there was something unexpected.

Colour.
Pattern.
Paint details.
Lighting.
Furniture.
Interesting proportions.

Nothing felt predictable.

And yet, it all worked.

I think that is what I loved most.

There is something exciting about a room that doesn't immediately show you the formula.

You notice a detail and think, I never would have thought to do that.

Those are often the spaces that stay with us.

It is also something I think about often when working on our design projects.

A neutral home does not have to mean a predictable home. Warm, natural interiors can still have personality, tension, vintage pieces, unusual details and moments that catch your eye.

Sometimes all it takes is seeing something used differently to make you reconsider what is possible in your own space.

Hence the paper-and-pencil measuring situation. (sigh… I really should have packed the tape measure).

Leave Room for the Unexpected

Interestingly, one of my other favourite parts of Italy wasn't planned at all.

Toward the end of our trip, we changed our itinerary.

Rather than squeezing as much as possible into Rome during a very hot few days, we decided to spend time along the coast in Monte Argentario instead.

It gave us an entirely different experience from the countryside we had been travelling through.
Different scenery.
Different food.
Different colours.
A different energy altogether.

On the drive there, we spontaneously found a small winery nearby and decided to stop.

There was no elaborate tasting room waiting for us. We called the number on the gate, communicated through a combination of translation apps, questionable French, questionable Spanish and hand gestures, and eventually found ourselves trying incredible wine in what was essentially a small warehouse.

They also made honey and preserves from fruit grown on the property.

It was simple, completely unplanned and one of those experiences we will probably talk about for years.

There is a design lesson hidden in there too.

Planning matters. I am a designer. I obviously believe very strongly in a plan.

But sometimes you need enough flexibility to notice when something better is presenting itself.

Homes can be the same way.

You begin with a vision, but as the layers come together, you may discover an antique, a piece of art, a material or an idea that shifts things slightly.

That isn't necessarily the plan going wrong.

Sometimes it is the thing that gives the space its personality.

Try This: Create a Feeling-First Pinterest Board

If you are planning a renovation, decorating a new home or simply trying to understand your personal design style, I have an exercise for you.

Instead of creating another Pinterest board filled only with finished interiors, create one based on how you want your home to feel.

Add:

Places you love. A hotel courtyard, restaurant, cottage, beach, museum, café or neighbourhood you always want to return to.
Images that create an emotion. A long dinner table outdoors, sunlight through linen curtains, an overflowing garden, a quiet reading corner or a beautiful old doorway.
Colours and textures outside of interiors. Stone buildings, landscapes, fashion, ceramics, food, artwork, flowers and textiles all count.
Small details you can't stop thinking about. A painted border, an unusual colour combination, a vintage chair, patterned tile or the way a restaurant grouped its lighting.
Your own photographs. This is the part we often forget. Scroll through your camera roll and save images from trips, weekends and everyday moments that made you feel good.

Then look at the board as a whole.

Don't immediately ask, What style is this?
Instead ask:
What keeps repeating?

Maybe everything feels warm and slightly imperfect.

Maybe there is greenery everywhere.

Maybe you are drawn to spaces that feel intimate rather than grand.

Maybe there is much more colour than you thought you liked.

Maybe almost every image involves people gathered around a table.

Those patterns can tell us much more about how your home should feel than choosing between labels like modern, traditional, transitional or contemporary.

You Don't Have to Travel Far to Find Inspiration

And while Italy gave me plenty to photograph, sketch and apparently measure with scraps of paper, inspiration certainly does not require a plane ticket.

It can happen on a walk through Montreal Neighbourhoods.

It might be the architecture of an old home in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a beautifully weathered door, the colours in your favourite restaurant in Monkland Village, something you spot at an antique market or the way the light falls across your living room at a certain time of day.

The more you begin looking for those details, the more you notice them.

And perhaps that is my biggest takeaway from Italy.

You don't have to recreate your favourite places at home.

Instead, pay attention to why they became your favourite places in the first place.

Maybe you loved the sense of discovery.
The warmth.
The quiet.
The history.
The colour.
The feeling of gathering around good food with people you love.

Those are the things worth bringing home.

Because ultimately, the most personal interiors aren't created by collecting the right Pinterest images.

They're created by noticing what makes you feel something, and finding your own way to live with more of it.

Looking for help translating your inspiration into a home?

At Arazi Design Studio, we help homeowners throughout Montreal create thoughtful, layered interiors that reflect how they want to live and feel in their homes. If you're planning a renovation or redesign and have an entire folder of inspiration but aren't quite sure how to bring it all together, we'd love to help you make sense of it. Book your Discovery Call →

How to Find Interior Design Inspiration Everywhere: Notes From Italy