I need design inspiration - where to look

[Fiddledee]

I have a whole house to refurbish. Not a huge budget but probably enough. I'm struggling with what sort of style, probably modern. We have to do everything - new lights, floors, paint, curtains, bathrooms etc...

I've looked through lots of magazines, lots of lovely period properties (I've always had those) but now have a 70s property with large rooms and large windows and concrete floors and these mags don't inspire me.

I don't know where to start. May call in a curtains/blinds person for ideas? Can't afford an interior designer, or we could but only to do 2 rooms!

Anywhere I can look on the web? Best magazines? We don't want budget look (IKEA etc...) but can't afford £10,000 sofas! More a Heals sort of budget.

Living etc website? A lot of period properties but some more modern.

I'd have a flick through Living etc - modern & funky.

Try houzz.com website with a massive database of photos. Well organised, free to browse/membership and you can save multiple idea books so you can click away while saving images you liked in a nice orderly way without much hassle (you can also annotate each image with a caption stating what you like in the photo).

Good luck!

Also the House to Home website.I have got all sorts of ideas and colours from there.

some great pointers thanks - I would love more, this is a big job but I need to start before the 70s curtains drive me mad

John Lewis does interior design, and I think that you can reclaim the cost from anything you subsequently buy.

I agree with Living etc - your local library might have a range of interiors magazines (ours does) you can look through and then only buy the ones you actually like.

I've taken to reading World of Interiors on the grounds that you can't possibly feel bad that your house doesn't look like the ones in that magazine.

Steal ideas from friends! Have a look at big wall stickers on the house to home website - they're funky and cheaper than wallpaper!

Pinterest.com is great - loads of different collations of ideas by lots of people that link back to the original source. Really great way for you to collate your own ideas too.

You can also browse the houses for sale or posh houses to let on PrimeLocation etc

We had a whole house redesign/extension/refurb 2 years ago. My best sources of inspiration were:

• Living Etc
• Dwell
• Weekend newspaper supplements
• Looked at ludicrously expensive stuff I could never afford and then thought about how I could source something similar eg our kitchen looks almost excatly like a Poggenpohl one but is actually a mix of Ikea, a fancy bit of joinery using elm from elsewhere in the house and a posh silestone worktop from a local stonemason. Poggenpohl cost £100,000. Our kitchen about £3,000.