Online design resources!

As design bloggers, we need all the help we can get sourcing gorgeous pictures of homes and ideas for our readers. While it may take half an hour to write a post, we all know the real truth - in essence it takes much more than that. By the time we have found the exact pictures was want, copy them, paste them, edit them, crop them and so on....we have spent a good couple of hours. At least for me that's the amount of time it takes.

So the past few days my main exercise - in addition to DIY's I started but have no patience to finish - has been to bookmark and categorize some great resources. Hopefully it will make the job easier next time.....! So here are a few I am sharing with you....WARNING...they are all addictive!

Houzz.com - pictures and images ranging the entire gamut of design......modern, traditional, contemporary, eclectic, Asian, Indian, Mediterranean. Ideas on virtually everything....and the best part is you can create and Ideabook and stash all your fav pics there. If you are looking for something in particular, type it in and voila - its there! If you yourself would like to submit a post, you can contribute to it too. In fact recently Anu of My Dream Canvas did just that. And then twice a week your inbox will be flooded with some cool stuff from them.

Elle Decor's LookBook - similar to Houzz, but a notch above in terms of rooms shown. Lovely rooms to just gaze at....I have spent hours here. Really inspiring.

HGTV's Designer's Portfolio - Pretty much along the lines of both Houzz and Elle Decor's LookBook, but more wide ranging in style and design I think.

Pinterest - Ok this one is too much fun. Its like pinning up your favorite things on a corkboard...only you are doing it on this website. I stayed away from it for  along time thinking it was too tedious, but my goodness, it is so easy. You sign up, attach this little bookmarklet to your bookmark bar, and every time you come across a cool image you like, you pin it to your board(s). I love it. Here is a link to my boards....! Also a great resource if you are looking for something. I love this site.

And then my latest love...Olioboard! Its an online resource to create a mood board. I don't know how I missed it all these days! It has a built in library of items - furniture, accessories, linens, bath products everything. You can also create your own library of things you find on the web. Similar to Pinterest, you use the bookmarklet to "add to Olioboard". Then they stay in your library. The funnest part is creating the board...you just drag things onto it, resize and reorient them. And its very helpful to see a room "pulled together"! Really fun! Here is one I messed around with last week......I stayed up till midnight Olioboarding!!!!

So go ahead and check them out if you haven't already! My resolution to stay away from the computer one day a week is getting harder and harder with all these fabulous fun things out there!