It has been YEARS In the Making...seriously

I have always been interested in home decor for as long as I can remember.  My mother always had a knack for Country Style decorating as well as my aunt and cousin...so I guess it is in the genes. 

This big ol' binder with all of my clippings from magazines and catalogs that I created years ago.  Nowadays I use my Pinterest design boards to guide my "design eye".  What I've noticed throughout time my taste as not changed all that much.  I have always loved a romantic-country-beach style.  What also has stayed the course is my LOVE of the color blue...it has vacillated between the shades of blue but blue has held my heart for a long time.  Sometimes I'd pair it with yellow or red and now lots of white.  I see green creeping in as well but always blue weather it be chambray, jean, robins egg or turqouise.

As you can see this is sort of where my blog title came from {the title of my binder}...each room in the house as a it's own tab and section with plastic sleaves in each section so I can just tear out a picture from a magazine or catalog and slip it inside.  I can also keep paint chips and receipts in it.

Here is the bathroom section....

I bought the exact sconce called the Clara Sconce from PB on the top left hand corner, we used it in the bathroom of our other home.  It is too small for our current bathroom so I'll reuse it in another area..I love it too much to get rid of it.  The sconce that came with the house is the one we'll use...I don't LOVE it but I don't dislike it either. It will tie into the carrera marble nicely.  I have always been attracted to small wooden cabinets, I think they are charming.  I'm recycling one I found on the side of the road for our bathroom.

Sea Glass {tiles} are something that I really like but was afraid it might be too trendy, I wanted something that has been time-tested.  I'm sure Sea Glass will make an appearence in the new bathroom but not as a tile backsplash or counter. 

Here is my Binder Bathroom Design section.  As you can see in the picture on the right side, shuttered windows and beadboard wainstcoting...yep..I think it is timeless and perfect in a cottage like ours.  When we looked at our current home, before buying the master bedroom's windows all had shutters on the windows but when the house actually when up for the sale the band had them removed {along with the pergola}, I was bummed about that.  I had shutters in my room as a little girl.  Our nursery for our girls had shutters....so keep a few around on my mantel as a nod to my love of shutters.  I'm planning on using the fabric as a curtain in there instead of shutters.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to paint the wall more of a taupe, a silver gray or griege.   We went with a silvery blue...but I thought it was more of a greenish gray...the light is deceiving.   It may get a redo....but not now.  I do hope to have it all ready for it's FULL reveal by next week.  We still need to hang some things and it's been rainy here in So Cal, not too great for taking pictures.   So what do you think?  What do you do when you hone in your "design eye"  to decide how and what you want to do when you need to give a facelift or a total gut job on a room in your house?  What sources do you use? How do you locate those resources? Do you use a designer?  Inquiring minds want to know.