Feb 11, 20142 min read

Tip For Tuesday: Have A Plan When Decorating

Whether you are taking on a full home remodel, or just sprucing up your space, it always helps to have a good direction and plan in place.

Planning your decorating project helps you to maximize your time and budget.

It helps to determine from the very beginning if you need the help of a professional Interior Designer. Even if you want to manage your own project and do the work yourself, hiring an Interior Designer on an hourly basis for a consultation and plan for your project will help you avoid costly mistakes. A good Designer can help you with the best furniture layout, window treatment ideas, color schemes and shopping resources. Our Mail Order Decorator service does just that for you. For as little as $600, you can have a full design plan that you can manage and execute yourself at your own pace.

Here are some tips to help get you started

Know your design aesthetic. Please do not feel the need to give your style a label. Being able to identify with a certain design style makes choices easier and gives you confidence, but having no particular style category and making your choices more of an evolved or collected feel, may reflect more of who you are and how you live
Use furniture catalogs and design magazines for inspiration. Don’t necessarily try to mimic exactly what you see, but make sure you can see yourself in those spaces
Don’t fall victim to trends. Keep your home style flexible because tastes are bound to change
Stay focused and set attainable goals.
Measure everything and create a floorplan and furniture layout. Measure all the furniture that will remain in the room. And take your floorplan and tape measure with you when shopping. You can use graph paper to create a scaled drawing or use a basic consumer software available through many furniture retailers
Collect and organize your ideas in a “look book” for easy reference. Ask for samples of items like fabrics as much as possible while you are out browsing
Create a realistic budget and spending plan. Know what the overall project will cost and what you can afford to buy and when. Purchase in phases, starting with items that will have the biggest impact. Avoid impulse buying
Have a shopping list. This also helps you avoid impulse buying. “If it ain’t on the list – it ain’t coming home with me” is a good motto to adopt 🙂
Consider some DIY projects and hacks to help stretch your budget. I have recently become a fan of Ikea. There are several pieces available that you can easily alter to give them a more custom look. Check out O’Verlays Decorative Fretwork for some ideas

Source: My Overlays.com

Most importantly, have fun and don’t get overwhelmed. Rome wasn’t built in a day! Enjoy the process of finding those unique treasures. It’s wonderful when each piece in your home tells a story. There’s nothing wrong with the Story being “The awesome Decorator Veronica Solomon hooked me up” 🙂 but don’t forget to relax and enjoy.

Now, go forth an decorate my friends! 🙂

Be Inspired!