Inspiration Board for a Nautical Inspired Bar/Living Room

G'day to all of my lovely and faithful readers out there (if any of you remain after my extended summer hiatus from blogging).....for a host of reasons, I decided to take the summer off, and I am happy to write that I am officially back in the swing of things, including blogging and serial DIY-ing! What's my latest project, you ask?

I have been dabbling with the idea of creating inspiration boards to help me pull together all of the design visions running through my head - both for my own home and for others that have sought out my design perspective. There are many a talented designer out there currently using inspiration boards (both virtual and in the flesh, or, er, paper) and I thought I would try hand at it, too.

My first go around with a virtual inspiration board has revolved around a minor makeover plan for our living room. Overall, Mr. C. and I think the living room is pretty and for the most part all of the rooms on the first floor of our home are for the most part, finished. Up until a few weeks ago, here is what our living room looked like:

However, we spend the vast majority of our time in only half of those rooms - namely the kitchen and our family room. The dining room gets used on Thanksgiving and the living room, well, never. I want our rooms to not only look good, but to serve a purpose so we can actually use them on a somewhat regular basis.

Inspired by our recent vacation to Napa and our love for wine (and probably by our most recent fascination with "Mad Men,") we have decided to use this living room as more of a wine tasting/bar/lounge space. Mr. C. and I both have always had a love for reds (Mr. C's first choice is Malbec, mine = Cabernet) and we are starting to build a decent collection. We also enjoy a good cocktail, so we have a pretty decently stocked bar, as well. So, our love of booze (ughh, does that sound really bad!?) has helped us decide how we would like to utilize this space.

Turns out I'm not the only one to have this brilliant idea for their living room.....apparently between the 16-18th century, many homes contained "drawing rooms," which is where the owner of the home (and his wife) would withdraw after dinner for cordials and cigars. Although we won't be called this space a "drawing room," we will definitely be using it as such. That is, until AA comes a-knocking at our door. Bad, I know.

So, here is my first inspiration board featuring the design vision for our living room/lounge. I was feeling a nautical style (of course!), but I wanted the room to have a decidedly more formal look and almost resemble being aboard a fancy yacht bar...if that makes any sense. That's what I was picturing in my head, anyway.....and here it is pictured below in my first-ever inspiration board: