Part of the fun of owning your own home is decorating it, and doing it yourself can be very rewarding and exciting; if done right. But if you decorate in a slipshod manner you can end up with a less than satisfactory project and spending way more than you have to.
The first step in making an interior decorating plan is to figure out what you like. It sounds obvious but this really takes a bit of work. Most people have unconsciously been doing this their whole lives; you look at something you like and file that away in your memory. You probably know what your likes and dislikes are as far as interior decorating goes, but you've never really identified and classified it. Do this by taking the time to study design magazines and websites, clip and save your favorite things.
Your next step is the design book. Begin creating your very own design book that holds all of your thoughts, estimates, measurements, fabric samples, and basically anything else that relates to your interior decorating scheme. A ring binder is usually the best bet as you can snap in a notebook or a few pages, you can move items around, easily punch holes in fabrics to keep them in place and even add envelopes or sleeves to hold paint and wood chips.
Start your design book with the basics; take stock of what you already have. Take pictures of your home as it currently is, making note of odd angles or pieces that will stay. Measure your rooms and create a dimensions file that you can continuously add to and refer back to. If you're going to keep the carpet, wood, paint, try to find a sample that matches so you can add it to your book.
Once you have the present documented, its time to look to the future. Refer back to your favorite magazine clippings and start searching for these items in your local stores. You can shop online, but its better to go in person, at least in the beginning, to really get a feel for how something looks, its size and the comfort level. You can also start using your book to compare colors, design styles, sizes, wood grains and other key elements. This is a great time to take advantage of the trained expertise of good salespeople.
As you add elements, add them to your book. Keep updating your progress as you go, it will make a lot of decisions easier and keep your elements tied together in style, color, size and shape. And at the end of the project, you'll have a wonderful document of the entire process. A good design book is actually a work of art.
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