Interior Decorating – Home Staging

Archive for August, 2008

Here are the items that you need to help organize your interior decorating ideas and to complete your interior decorating project file:

• Pens and Paper – There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a perfect paint or carpet and not being able to write down the particulars for ordering them. Have several pens and pencils tucked in your file and a pad of paper or spiral notebook for taking notes. You may want to make notes of a furniture arrangement, trim detail, or window treatment that you see.
• Tape Measure – Try to find a lightweight measuring tape if you can, as a builder’s tape measure can get heavy if you’re carrying it around all day. A 10-foot tape is usually fine for shopping trips, but you’ll want a 25-foot measuring tape to measure rooms, windows, and ceiling heights.
• Floor Plan – If you’re doing a room decorating project or a whole-house remodel, you’ll need a drawing of the rooms with measurements. A scaled drawing on graph paper is most useful, but you can have a simple sketch for a smaller project.
• Photos of Your Room – Even if you can’t stand how your room looks now, take some “before” pictures. Get all the angles and details. These will be helpful when you’re working on your plan or when you need to talk to a salesperson about your project. They’ll help remind you of details as you’re working.
• Calendar – As you proceed with your project, you’ll undoubtedly have schedules to keep. Note when the floors will be measured for carpet, when the plumber is coming, or when you have a date with the painter. You can use your personal daily planner if you have one or keep one separate just for your decorating projects.
  Just be sure to have it with you!
• Magazine Photos – Magazines are a great source of decorating inspiration. If you see a color you like, a fabric print that is just what you love, or an arrangement of accessories that would work in your space, tear the page out and keep it in your decorating file.
• Samples of Fabrics, Colors, and Flooring – As you shop; you’ll want to collect samples of carpet, tiles, flooring, fabrics, and paint chips. The more you have in your Decorating File, the easier it will be to put your project together when you get home. Add more samples with every shopping trip. You may not be replacing everything in the room you’re decorating. Be sure to take a sample of anything that is staying in your room, including carpeting, upholstery fabric, paint samples, tile, or wood.
• Phone List – Have a handy list of phone numbers for your carpet man, plumber, painter, upholsterer, or contractor. Keep the list in your Decorating File for easy reference.
• Scissors and Tape – When you find the perfect paint chips, you might want to tape them together with fabrics you’ve chosen. Also put together fabric samples and carpet tufts.
• Envelopes or Zip-Lock Bags – You never know when you might find some small piece of information, color, or pattern that could get lost if put in the bottom of a tote. Have a few plain #10 envelopes or zip-lock plastic bags in your Decorating File.
• Post-It Notes – Simple post-it notes are great for marking pages that you don’t want to lose in a book or magazine. Or use them to mark possible choices in a wallpaper book. If you’re looking at paint chips, block off shades that you don’t want, using a post-it note.
• Color Board – Once you’ve made all your choices, put together a color board. Use a piece of mat board, foam core, or cardboard, cut to fit into your decorating file. Paint the board in the color of your chosen wall paint or just leave it white.

You’ll find that it’s fun to put together an Interior Decorating Project File for your decorating projects. It’s a useful tool to keep you organized.

Now that you at least have some idea of where you want to be with your new decorating project, you may be worried about how you will afford what you need.  Don’t worry!  You can still have a celebrity room with an everyday budget. 

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When you’re getting ready to begin a decorating or remodeling project it’s a great idea to get everything together. And keep it together! Any building, remodeling, or decorating project will be easier if you get organized before you start with an interior decorating project file.

Your interior decorating project file will hold everything you’ll need to coordinate the project. Include carpet samples, fabric cuttings, paint samples, floor plans, wallpaper cuttings, photos, and pictures of inspiration rooms. Having everything in one place will help the job go more smoothly from conception to completion.

You can choose any style of file you want. The choice is yours. A small canvas tote bag, briefcase, notebook with file pockets, expanding envelope, or file box works well. Be sure you select a container that will be easy to carry from store to home and large enough for all your items.

Probably the most convenient way to keep everything together, and your hands free, is in a tote bag with shoulder handles. Interior pockets are helpful, too. Be sure to have a container for pens, your cell phone, tape measure, scissors, and tape.

Place an expanding folder with pockets and divider tabs into the tote. These pockets will keep projects and items separated and organized. You can keep several projects separate by labeling the folders for each.

You’ll save time by having everything together wherever you go. Instead of wondering whether a paint chip coordinates with a fabric swatch, you’ll know right away.

If you’re shopping for a lamp, you’ll know if the lamp shade is the right color.

If you happen on a wonderful flea market, you won’t have to pass up a great bargain on an antique bureau because you don’t know if it will fit in your space. With everything together:  colors, fabrics, measurements, and ideas,– you’ll always be ready!

As you work on a project, you’ll think of things that would be helpful to have in your own interior decorating project file. The most important thing to remember about an interior decorating project file is that you should have it with you at all times.

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