In spite of all the Fat Tires I drank Saturday night, I was in heaven this Sunday. The Atlanta Journal Constitution featured Tim Hobby’s home. Tim could very well be the most design-savvy man in all of Atlanta. He owns a store called SPACE, and I first saw his interior design work at my former next-door-neighbor Mike’s house, which was also featured in the AJC recently. I am loving the new male demographic that this paper has tapped into for its home features lately! They even featured DA-WIGHT from Real Housewives of Atlanta awhile back (his style wasn’t really for me, but it was fun to see how he lives!).

Tim does a great job of keeping things modern and clean without being stark and lifeless. A few thoughtful moves give his place a lot of personality. He is a master at creating interesting vignettes while having the perfect eye for the big picture. I can look at his living room, then look around mine and think “If Tim Hobby were here he’d ixnay those stacks of magazines and that throw and that bowl and put all these white items together” etc. Looking at this slideshow helps inspire me to get rid of some of my clutter and make everything cohesive.

photos by Sean Drake for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

photos by James R. Salomon for The Boston Globe

Then there are some times when you go on a virtual house tour that gets you really buzzing with excitement again. This was the case when I saw Alysia’s Treehouse by the Lake on Apartment Therapy L.A. Alysia’s decorating philosophy was inspired by The Recycled Home by Sally Bailey. She begged, borrowed, swapped and repurposed. One of the best results was this ottoman she reupholstered with an old coffee bean sack a local roaster gave her.

via Apartment Therapy L.A.

See the entire house tour here.

images via Apartment Therapy L.A.

Kirstie Alley was on Oprah the other day, talking about how her first job was being a housekeeper at a wealthy family’s home (she recommends cleaning bathrooms with gallons of cheap vodka), and her second job was at an interior decorator who was high on cocaine a lot of the time. She talked about dreaming of owning this house in her hometown of Wichita Kansas, which was the headquarters of the historical society at the time. She decorated it herself, and there is a fun tour of it over at Oprah.com. Personally, I love the bedroom below, and I love that Kirstie is not afraid of loud, bold wallpaper. The kitchen is beautiful, but because it wasn’t all that large, Kirstie bought the house next door, transformed the entire downstairs into a kitchen, and built a bridge between the two houses. You can see a lot of nods to traditional design and a few moves that seem kinda eighties, but who cares? Kirstie is hilarious and my dad and I sat and watched the segments of her and cracked up the entire time.

all images from Oprah.com

This loft strikes a great balance between sleek, modern furniture and some classic glitz; between structural elements like ebony wood cabinets and more worn patinas, like the exposed brick walls and slightly rough-hewn posts. Sticking to the a neutral color palette allows the wide array of textures to stand out.

For more about this loft, link over to this post at To Be, Inspired. Also, this post is hilarious. If you want to learn more about the owner, Sally, click here. She is someone I would love to hang out with!

both images from flickr member to be, inspired, specifically, Ryan. Doesn’t this beautiful photography enhance the palette and style of this space even more? As I watched the slideshow from our group, every one of their photos was obviously theirs.

Yesterday I gave you a peek at some of my friend Lucas’s clever artwork tricks. Today I thought I’d show you his balcony, which is in this flickr set. This loft is right around the corner from The King Center in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. Lucas has really made the most of his balcony. It overlooks Freedom Parkway, Downtown, and Midtown. I was at a party at Casa Luca last week and at one point there were at least seven of us seated comfortably out there.

He has softened modern pieces with pillows, plants, and a rug. At night, he brings out his rechargeable lanterns from Vessel (on the chair in the top photo). Once you lounge on this daybed, you NEVER want to get up. The fabric is weather-resistant, and he also has a cover for it.

Lucas likes to take some time out to enjoy The View. And when he turns his head sideways, he gets this view. Not too shabby!

Whoopsy, the picture above is from last year’s Dexter house, thanks to Maria for clarifying in the comments section! Dexter’s rooms for 2009 are right here. The entire pointclickhome slideshow for this year is here.

Decorated Life is covering each room after her visit. I know I’ll enjoy seeing all the rooms through her blog! Here’s one of her shots of the hospital/pill-themed Nurse Jackie Waiting Room/Lounge:

Tour the Californication house at pointclickhome:

images from showtime.com, Decorated Life, and pointclickhome respectively. Click on photos to link to the original sources.

I stopped by my friend Lucas’s loft in the Old Fourth Ward today and took about a million pictures. Between the funky flash and the fact that I was dizzy, I’m not thrilled with the results, but the ideas are so good I had to share a few with you immediately anyway. I’ll share more of a house tour in a later post after some photo editing attempts, but for now, here are a few of his great ideas.

Aren’t these ticket stub shadowboxes a great idea? I have ticket stubs floating all over my house, some in scrapbooks, some on bulletin boards, I even saw one in my laundry room the other day. I’d love to get them all in one place, as each one carries different memories (side note: perhaps I’ll blow up the one from the Depeche Mode concert this past month – that show was AWESOME! OK, back to Lucas…) Lucas is a singer-songwriter and goes to see live music ALL the time. I even spy Suzanne Vega’s signature on a stub in his collection.

Lucas has a knack with IKEA frames. The piece above was bought from an artist in Provincetown, and he gave it more of a presence with an inexpensive black frame. The piece below is a tangle of old guitar wires that he was gathering up to toss out. When he saw they had formed a heart shape, he popped them in another frame:

Every surface around the loft is well-curated. Living in a small studio instilled the feeling of only keeping things you need and love around the house. Lucas entertains a lot, and I noticed he utilized trays and modern tray tables all over his home for various things. He keeps his bar beautiful with fresh flowers and candles.

A TV-related tree, currently some sort of shrine to Carrie Bradshaw!

Again, sorry for the photo quality. I’m not sure what happened there, and I feel like they don’t do the art or the space justice! Luckily, I have a bunch of photos from Lucas himself which are much better than mine. You can sort through them all in this flickr set if you’d like a peek before the house tour post!

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the note in the shadowbox, “U Cute” was a note left in grease pen on a Burger King bag by a toothless cashier who was staring at Lucas so much that he said “I was afraid he was gonna cut me.” It was only later as he picked up his burger detritus that he saw the note and it all made sense! Did I mention that Lucas is hilarious?

And I have some serious kitchen envy over this one. Wow, the power of a rug! This kitchen is strong like bull (as my father would say):

Check out the rest of the slideshow over at Martha’s place – I promise it will be worth your while! Also, you can get your own Dwell Studio style by browsing over here.

Photographs via marthastewartliving.com. Photographer name was not listed; if you know it, please comment so that I can add it to this post.