Amen to that Marji. Every time I feel I know which direction I want to go in another design element appears and throws me off track!

Add to all that, inspiration pictures often have architectural details or features that the room it is applied to may lack. Add further that the terms we use to describe what we want are so subjective!

Here are some of my inspiration vs reality pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Inspiration....

Below is mine:
Inspiration

mtnrdredux - do you remember this thread? It was on the kitchen forum and someone posted an 'inspiration' pic and through a variety of decisions then showed what the resulting kitchen could wind up looking like and it was a far cry from the original inspiration pic. I thought it was you but obviously not. I have used every combination of words that I could think of both for here and google and can't find the thread.

Maybe you have suggestions. Thanks

Hmm, rings a bell. Was it a Marcolo thread?

Is this the thread? OP was LWO.

Its funny this came up today. I had this inspiration photo for my bathroom. I went shopping. With excellent help at pier 1 it now looks nothing like the inspiration photo but I really like it!

I'll post some photos soon.

Here is a link that might be useful: getting there from here......

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Thu, Oct 24, 13 at 20:24

live_wire_oak

Here is a link that might be useful: Getting there from here, or how did it go so wrong?

Thanks Annie for the link. I just started reading through it. Your home is beautiful. Love already how you interpreted the exterior.

Blfenton, I cross posted this on the kitchen board and sas95 posted this link to a thread called "your initial inspiration vs your final product."
Lots of interesting interpretations there too.

I find it very interesting to see what people start with as a vision and where they take it. Also how they define their vision.
Lovestowalk, love the way you captured the essence of your vision in your kitchen.

I got some feedback about adding too many elements that I liked in a plan without concern for how they played together, and some advice to edit.
I played with it, took the ideas back to the kitchen designer, and honestly I'm much happier with the design now - just got drawings back today. I posted the drawings on the kitchen thread. More cohesive, and much truer to my original vision for the feeling I want.
Onward. I hope to spend more time looking at others inspiration vs final choices and interpretation. And I promise to post mine as it comes together.
We broke ground last week! Yay

Lovestowalk, your kitchen is lovely! I don't know why I've never seen. What's in the cabinet to the right of the range, sitting on the counter?

Yes!!!! Thank-you so much. How did you find it? I even googled/searched getting there from here.

mlweaving - I don't know if this will be of interest but it's the thread that I was thinking of.

I googled "gardenweb why doesn't my kitchen look like my inspiration".

I was posting at the same time that oaktown and Debra were posting the same link to the LWO thread, so didn't see it until now.
THANK YOU! What a treasure. It's funny and yet very much makes the point about how easy it is to veer from the original vision.
The remainder of the thread is enlightening too.

So I'm interested, how many here care to comment?

Did you/do you start with a vision and a vision statement? Do you stay true to the original vision or get sidetracked off as the project progresses?

I didn't have one inspiration photo (kitchen, in my case), but many. I picked elements that I liked that kept with the theme "simple, clean lines". (Hmm, was marcolo referring to me?) And guess what? My kitchen is fine! ;) JK, it's better than fine, but how it turned out was a real surprise to me, since I had no vision.

I started the process by looking at many pictures online and a magazine or two. I got a particular door style in mind --- and then at one point, I seized on a design theme -- Traditional with a touch of Hollywood Regency. Once I did that, it made all the other decisions very, very easy. I had been swerving a bit all over the place, but having that really set me on the right path.

When this thread got revived, I went and checked the very first picture I clipped into my Houzz ideabook. My end result was very, very simliar. My main variance were on counters and the use of a contrasting island color, and a little bit more of my design theme.

I was doing a whole house reno which included the kitchen. I didn't stray from my initial inspiration pics or ideas. I am a straight, strong,linear lines kind of person with no frous frous and always have been and that is what I have. My house is a post and beam and so it suits the construction style of the house (which is probably why I bought a post and beam house). I would love an MCM house but they are in short supply where I live.

edited to add: I did have to be careful that I didn't stray into MCM style because not everyone is comfortable in it. My furniture and decorating style is also very clean lines and free of embellishments.

This post was edited by blfenton on Fri, Oct 25, 13 at 17:07

I did not get sidetracked from my vision. I think it was valuable for me to have a design-talented friend helping me make my choices. There were a few times I would show her various elements that caught my fancy, and she'd say, "Nice, but not with this kitchen."

I didn't have an inspiration for my kitchen except to have a more functional space with elements that were me. I love an old world feel and it think that I got just that.

Lovestowalk,

I love your kitchen. Do you have a reveal thread where you tell what all the elements are? I'm particularly interested in the shelf above the stove. My cabinets are being delivered on Oct 30th and I'm so excited. Seeing your shelf makes me want to do something like that.