Photo via Home Adore.
When picking out colors, fixtures and decorations for our new home, one of my biggest inspirations has been the sunny little city of Palm Springs. I truly love the happy disposition and bold, confident style that the city embodies. It’s the quintessential “Positive Vibes Only” place.
As I translated some of my inspiration to details for our new space, I found myself identifying more and more what I love about Palm Springs. Surprisingly, it’s been SUPER easy to add a little dash of the desert to our new space. Today I want to share ten ways to add a little sunshine to your home, Palm Springs style!
1. Paint your door pink! (or any other fun color)
There is nothing more Palm Springs than a colorful door. Pink, yellow, teal, orange…you really can’t go wrong with a bold pop of color to greet your guests. Photo via Studio DIY.
Real Life Example: Our studio house. Going bold with our front door was one of the best decisions we made. It added so much to the space!
2. All the cacti, all the time.
If you want to add a few desert vibes to your space, a trip to the cactus aisle is a good place to start! Other acceptable alternatives are agave, succulents and any type of palm plants.
(You’re probably saying, “Thank you, Elsie, for a great excuse to go buy plants.” You’re welcome, my friends.)
3. Say yes to stained glass.
This detail kills me each time we visit. It’s very eye-catching, wouldn’t you say? (heh—I’m sorry) But seriously, stained glass is a great way to bring a little color and fun to your space! Especially when it’s done in a fresh, modern style.
Real Life Example: We have the perfect DIY for you!
4. Go bold with tile.
Tile is one of my top 5 favorite things EVER. Sadly, it’s really expensive and you can only tile so many rooms…OR CAN YOU? Check out this tiled bedroom. I don’t hate it. Nope.
Real life example: I’m all for neutral tile, but if you have a chance, go for an unexpected pop of color or pattern. It’ll make your space totally unique!
5. Get your rainbow glassware collection going.
I’ve been working on my glassware collection this year. Basically every weekend I hit up at least one flea market and search for pretty, colorful cocktail glasses and vases. It’s become one of my favorite collections ever.
Real Life Example: Here’s a peek (via my Instagram)—
6. Say hello to macrame.
I am crushing big time on macrame this year. This surprises me because I’m the most un-boho person I know. But macrame sneaks it’s way into my style through the Palm Springs door to my heart (which is always wide open).
Real Life Example: Emma’s amazing macrame curtain DIY. Also I’ve been eyeballing pieces from this Etsy shop for our new space.
7. A little brass never hurt anybody.
Real life example: One of the biggest trends this year is all brass, everything. I love it and am also a big fan of mixing metals!
Brass is really easy to find both new and vintage. One of my favorite sources for brass fixtures is Lucent Lightshop (some of the prettiest handmade MCM style fixtures ever). And my favorite source for vintage brass is good ole eBay. A few of my favorite brass searches are: “vintage brass pineapple”, “vintage brass horse shoe” and “vintage brass door knocker”. Oh and don’t forget, “vintage brass bottle opener”.
Check out this super cute vintage brass door knocker I just bought (!!!!)
8. Rainbows are always a good idea.
When in doubt…choose color. I think that’s an OK motto to live by. 🙂
Real life example: I could probably list colorful design examples all day, but the first to come to mind is our patio tile project.
9. Don’t forget to have a dinosaur moment.
The dinosaurs are one of the quirky elements that makes me love Palm Springs even more. They’re just a really fun giant photo prop.
10. A cool mailbox is essential.
Mail boxes are so rad. I’m actually working on another article all about them right now because #obsessed.
Real Life example: I just ordered this mid-century mail box for our new place. (eeeek!)
ps. Check out my Palm Springs travel guide as well!
Credits//Author: Elsie Larson. Photography: Elsie Larson unless otherwise noted.
44 Comments
That pink door is love! This is such a fun post! 🙂
Each post is a huge inspiration!
http://somebodyfromsomewhere.blogspot.com/
Love this! I love the Palm Springs look! Very fun!
Ha, funny, colorful doors make me think of Dublin. Have you been? Those Dubliners know how to brighten up their doors for sure!
No wayyyy! I LOVE Palm Springs, and actually JUST made those palm tree panels on that hotel you posted. They’re wall art in my dining room now! Here’s the link if you want to peek <3
http://www.sawdustandembryos.com/2015/07/palm-branch-inspired-art-panels.html
Now that’s colour that POPs!
And if you like dinosaurs, you should check out this really awesome dinosaur project currently on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/348744146/dinosaur-lover-lithography ///// I am sure you would love it!
Great post… love all the ideas… but wow.. that mailbox is spendy.. LOL so glad you guys could get it… way out of our budget, but happy for you! I love the painted door idea.. we’re moving too.. and just in the future, may paint our door a fun color too! My mind is full of ideas.
Aaahh I’ve never been to Palm Springs but this made me want to get there ASAP! And then make my home look like all of these!
Oh my goodness, this is all so beautiful! So many colors! I especially love the colorful front door. You don’t see it often, which is such a shame. It makes homes look so inviting!
A Curated Shopping Experience With #IFCHIC24 + Big Savings
I loved the pink door and the cactai! Thanks for the inspiration!
https://mythoughtsthroughthelens.wordpress.com/
Oh Els – you know I am loving this idea! We could all use a dose of Palm Springs. 🙂
Carrie
http://www.wearwherewell.com
Cute mailbox but $300? Hopefully you get it insured in case someone ever runs into it. 🙂
I love this post! I am totally going to Palm Springs my living room this weekend!
I love the giant dinosaur. It made me laugh.
These are such great ideas. I would love a colourful, cute door…and matching doormat.
http://xoxobella.com
I’m all for stained glass, bold tiles and fun doors!
-M
http://www.violetroots.com
Thanks so much!!!!
-Elsie
I appreciate that!
xx- Elsie
I haven’t been yet. Off to google photos…. 😀
xx- Elsie
OBSESSED!!! Great job Beth!
😀 Elsie
Fun! 😀 So happy you have some inspiration!
xx- Elsie
Such cute ideas…I love the idea of a pink door!!!
Laura
http://www.24-7style.com
Totally agree that color is a gamechanger! Love this post.
Christina | http://www.cuddlepill.com
I love the bright colours-and the dinos! and for more dinosaur themed ideas, check out my etsy shop-
https://www.etsy.com/shop/lomagirl
(That totally sounded like spam- it isn’t! I’m a faithful reader, and this just resonated with some listings I did a year or so ago- it prompted me to repost them.
OMG they have dinosaur statues there?! I totally want to live there. Jealous.
http://permanentdaydream.com
Your new mailbox looks like something out of the Jetsons! Fab!
Love love this post! Just got back from a weekend getaway in Palm Springs and am loving all this inspiration you’ve got here. Beautiful!
Apryl
@paperplanelaneboutique
I don’t know if the palm spring vibe would work in my house but I am loving these photos none the less.
–Samantha
http://www.BesosFromAmerica.com
I think Palm Springs has the cutest houses!!
This makes me so happy thank you for the great tips
Copper and Brass are so in right now! Perfect way to enhance a space!
http://thatsmagsforyou.com
I love that dinosaur poster!
And I really like the idea of different places and interior inspired by it, so keep ’em coming!
xo Ida
https://agirlintranslation.wordpress.com
There are so many good suggestions packed into this post! I’m using several of them in our new apartment and loving how it’s shaping up.
Aren’t Nashville and Palm Springs at pretty much opposite ends of your country (for some reason I thought Palm Springs was in Florida…..I’m always mixing places between Florida and California)? I guess Nashville homes are not as colourful as you want? Anyway, beautiful stuff as always. In fact my own little Canadian home could very much use some Palm Springs inspiration (Although cactai would have to be kept indoors otherwise they wouldn’t survive the winter).
I want it all. Ok thanks.
Cacti. Pink/teal door. Starburst light fixture.
Aghhh.
BRB, daydreaming of hanging out poolside at the ACE.
What a pretty post! My husband and I are hoarding stuff in preparation for an airbnb and this is the exact style (brass, color, and fun artwork) we hope to infuse in the space. Thanks for the tips! On a side note, my husband and I also have an Etsy that offers a lot of fun brass chandeliers and sconces. Most recently we’ve begun experimenting with combining fun colors with the brass!
How fun! What’s your Etsy shop?
xx- Elsie
haha YES! That part is so hard for me, luckily we are moving to the more colorful side of Nashville. 😀
xx- Elsie
this blog post made my week. so much color, inspiration, creativity and beauty! that pink door #swoon.
I love the challenge!! Getting on that!
Ahhhhhh love this soooo much!!! We want to palm spring everything!
♥ Heather and Melissa
LOVE this. My husband and I both love the whole midcentury thing and we went to Palm Springs and stayed at the Saguaro last summer and it was so hard not to completely redecorate when we went home!
I absolutely love this post!! It makes me want to Palm Springs my home now!
Xxx
This post gave me a great mailbox idea! See, I’ve been dying for one like yours from Rejuvenation. But, I live on a busy road where its likely to get hit buy a snow plow. But I think I can do one like the yellow in this post for not too much money!
Everything in this is so cute! I just want to put cacti everywhere in my house… We’re in the process of moving at the moment and quite a few of our plants didn’t make it. So excited to hit that cactus aisle for replacements!
Also, just a little request (from my husband!)… He’s also a musician/music producer like Jeremy and he’s planning on doing a bit of treatment to his new studio room in the new house. We just have a little box room for it, so nothing on the scale of your space, but he asked me to ask if you/Jeremy could do a post on how he’s building/treating his new studio space in case he has any handy tips!!! Thanks 🙂 xxx