Decor Planning Tips
If you missed the news, we’re building a house. We’re about 2 months out from closing (and 4 months from having a home packed full of family), so in an effort to avoid sleeping and sitting on the floor, we’re waist deep in prep.
We have a good amount of furniture from the old house, but not nearly enough considering the additional square footage we have. When I think about all we have to do, it feels daunting. But the key to not getting overwhelmed is to take it one room at a time and stay extremely organized. If you’re building or decorating a home, here are a few insights you may be able to use.
No. 1. Take your time. Do not, and I mean DO NOT try to (re-)decorate your entire home at once. When growing up, my mother worked on one room at a time, and I’ve always stuck to that method. By moving systematically through your home, it allows you to reduce overwhelm, stick to a room allotted budget and actually complete a space. It becomes difficult to fully complete a space when your focus is too wide.
No. 2. Use a project management tool. I’ve been using Trello to keep myself organized. Checklists, pictures, notes, links… it’s all in one place and I love it. I’ve never completely finished a home so I’m serious about designing and decorating this time. Not only does our Trello board help hubby and I to stay on the same page, it also helps to have everything at my fingertips when on the go. You never know when you’re going to need to access an inspiration photo, a checklist or a link. When we re-did our primary bathroom in the old house, we received quite a few questions about where we got this and that, so keeping all of our links and pictures in one place allowed us to easily answer questions and provide inspiration. We look forward to serving as a resource again with this house.
No. 3. Set a budget. When your tastes are expensive, budgets are mandatory. lol. Our goal is to pay cash for everything, so setting a budget helps avoid accumulating debt. If you’re interested to see how you’re measuring up against your budget, include an “actuals” column to track the differences.
No. 4. Sketch out a timeline. This tip goes hand in hand with the budget. In order to avoid overspending, spread your purchases out across the calendar. If you need to have certain pieces in by a particular month (like we do for when family arrives), seeing your list of needs on a calendar helps to rearrange items and determine priorities. Don’t forget to take availability and delivery times into account!
This may be a bit overboard for most people, so take the tips you need and toss the others. I really want my home to be a place I’m obsessed with so I’m approaching this as I would for a client. Not to mention being this organized squashes a lot of miscommunications and spats with the mister. “Plans fail when there is no consultation, but there is accomplishment through many advisers.” - Proverbs 15:22
Are you this anal organized when it comes to big projects in your home?