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Yourbudget may allow you to go all out and buy everything at once, or itmay only allow you to only decorate your home décor as you canafford it. Having said that, keep in mind that today's interiordecorating trend to create rooms that look as if your furnishingshave been collected over time rather than having your design schemebe matchy-matchy.
Regardlessof how soon you are able to buy everything on your wishlist, it is "Wise" to plan out each individual room décorin detail.
Planningahead helps you stay focused on the home decor you are working toachieve. Therefore, let's...
PleaseNote: Thereare several free lists that you may print from this page. However,you will need the proper .pdf reader to view and print them. You maydownload the free .pdf reader at the following website:http://www.adobe.com/
InventoryYour Current Belongings
Inorder to know what you will be needing to purchase for your homedecor, you will need to take inventory of the home decorating itemsthat you have now. Include on this list everything that will bemoving with you. Items that you will be either selling or donating toa good cause will not go on this list.
Workin one room at a time and keep only one inventory list for each room.Start by listing the furniture and gradually work your way down thelist to smaller and smaller items.
Rightnow, during the early stages of home planning, is a good time tostart thinking about what you will or will not be keeping.
Afterchoosing the furniture that will be kept, make a template for it in½" scale and slip it into a plastic pocket protector andthen into your scrapbook. You are sure to find it easily whenplanning your room layouts.
Ifyour budget doesn't allow you to purchase new furnishings for yourhome decor, perhaps you can give your old furniture a littlemake-over. You just might be surprised how great it turns out! Inaddition, you might also be surprised at how much money you'llsave-money that you can use for a decorating item on your wish list!
PrintFree Household Inventory Lists
Tobegin planning your room décor, a shopping list is amust-have. For convenience, I have created a FreeShopping List foryou to print and fill out for each individual room.
Usethe list for organizing, your research as well as actual homedecorating idea shopping excursions. In addition, a well-plannedshopping list will help you keep your budget under control for eachroom.
Referto your priority list and scrapbook when creating a shopping list,and also...
Keepyour scrapbook with you at all times!
Yourscrapbook is a necessity for helping you collect fabric swatches,flooring and/or carpeting samples, paint chips, and brochures withphotos of furnishings, appliances, cabinets, lighting, accessoriesthat you want to consider putting in your room decor.
Oneof the most convenient ways I've found to gather home decoratingideas for your home decor, and supplies is by surfing the web.
Theinternet is an awesome tool to do just that! Although, you won't beable to exactly match actual colors of paint, fabric swatches andwallpapers you will at least have an idea of you choices and whatfabric and wallpaper patterns are available. Some companies will evensend free samples to your home in just a few days.
Havefun and don't panic you should already have a great start in findinga room's design from your scrapbook and drawings. If you need help inpulling a room together, start with a favorite painting, decorativepillow, or throw rug-it just needs to be in the style that you aregoing with your home decor.
GetYour Free Copy of Scrapbooking Your House Plans
Ifyou are planning on being a "do-it-yourself" decorator andneed some home decorating advice for your home decor, furniturestores, carpet and flooring centers, wallpaper and paint suppliersoften have staff with design experience and can be very helpful, butkeep in mind that the opinion given could be to solely for sellingtheir product. Therefore, don't get pushed into buying anything thatyou really don't want.
Thinkover all the information you gather for your home decor,
thenpull a decorating scheme together...
...beforepurchasing anything.
Asyou "window shop" jot down the name of the supplier whereeach item came from, its order number, model number, color choice,cost and the name and phone number of the salesperson that helpedyou. Keep this information together with the brochure, leaflet,swatches, etc., to prevent products from getting mixed up withothers.
Asyou gather information, you'll want to keep everything neatlyorganized. It really helps to use top-loading clear plastic pageprotectors to keep the small stuff together.
Therewill be a great deal of information gathered and it's easy to forgetwhich item goes with what room. Therefore, it's good to establish thehabit of putting information away in the proper room file the sameday you gather it.
Asyou "widow shop", another important step that should neverbe overlooked, is to compare products and prices. One of the easiestways I have found to keep product information accurate and organized,is to...
Documentproduct information immediately.
Ihave designed a PRODUCTCOMPARISON FORM touse for comparing one product to another. There is also a place towrite down the pros and cons to help in choosing the best product foryour home.
PrintFree Product Comparison Forms
Whenyou have left one supplier, jot down the information on one of thethree sections before going to the next supplier. When you do this,the information is written down while it's still fresh in your mind,which also prevents two different products and/or supplier's datafrom getting confused.
Inorder to get a more accurate view of the market, I prefer having atleast three different home decorating product choices to compare. Iwill either compare products from the same manufacturer, but adifferent supplier to get the best price, or I will compare likeproducts from three different manufacturers to find the best qualityfor the price.
Now,there is just one more step to prepare for the next sect createdesign concept pages. That's right. It's a similar version of whatprofessional interior designers use for presenting their designconcept to sell their home decorating idea to a potential client.
Aftercomparing and finalizing your choices, it's time to affix all thephotos, drawings, samples and swatches onto blank scrapbook pagesand...Viola, your scrapbook is re-organized. You should then have atleast one complete design concept for each room.
Ifyou are still having a tough time deciding which way to go make asecond, or even third, separate design concept page for thatparticular room.
Perhaps,you want to have more than one option to work with if the bid foryour home's cost comes back much different than expected.
Itis always good to have a plan B or even a plan C. Keep each designconcepts separate from others in order to prevent confusion.
Storeyour home decor concept pages in your scrapbook within its respectiveroom section, then all your choices are organized and at yourfingertips-right when you need them.
Okay,working with one room at a time, this is all you need to do to getstarted:
Heavy-duty paper (Scrapbook sized & 3-hole punched) and neatly arrange the following items:
Attach to it a photo from your scrapbook, or elevation drawing of the room you are wanting to achieve.
Affix a drawing of the Room Layout with furniture templates--make sure the room dimensions are drawn, with accurate window and door dimensions and placements.
Add samples, swatches, paint chips, photos from brochures and sketches of everything you want to put in that room.
This may be two or more page project for each design concept, but make sure you don't leave anything out.
Organize these pages in your scrapbook so that when you open up the pages, the same room faces its other page.
This way, you are not constantly turning the pages to see one complete room.
Keep from forgetting where to purchase an item by writing the following information on the back of its respective design concept page:
1.Cost and terms of purchase.
2.Product Name, Manufacturer, Order #, Model #, and/or Color.
3.Supplier phone and address as well as salesperson's name.
Now,when you are ready to make your purchases you will have all theinformation at hand. What makes this incredibly easy is that you willhave a photo or drawing of your design concepts, which will:
Keep you focused and on task-to help prevent purchasing something that is totally wrong for what look you are trying to accomplish.
Illustrate to the store personnel/decorators what you are trying to achieve in your room, thereby eliminating the frustration of misinterpretation of your home decor.
Use as a reference tool to refer back to if repairs or replacements are needed.
Makehome decor concept pages for each room that will be in your new homeand keep them in your scrapbook to take with you on your shoppingventures.
Iknow, your scrapbook is probably getting really full by now, but justtake out the pages of the room you are working with to take into thestore. But, don't forget to put them back in your scrapbook when youare finished.
Decoratingyour home can be one of the most satisfying projects of the buildingphase and at the same time, it can also be the most terrifying.
Ifyou are well organized and have a plan written out, you can do someamazing things-you'll see. Refer to your scrapbook often and stick toyour plan to prevent wasteful spending.
Asyou pick and choose materials for your home, remember: Not only doyou want to make sure that you get what you like, but you get whatwill work in your home. And then you will want it applied, orinstalled, properly so it will last, and last, and last.
Takepaint, for example:
Paint should have an undercoat of primer for the paint to adhere to the surface properly.
The type of paint you purchase can affect the type of primer you use and visa-versa.
A Darker Paint Hue may require a dark tinted primer for that "One-Coat Coverage".
Paint won't cure properly if it's too cold, or too hot.
Asthe saying goes "Oil and water don't mix". Therefore, ifyou are going to use an oil based paint, then you will need an oilbased primer. For latex paints-use a water based primer with latexpaint.
Wechose latex paint for our walls and oil based paint for our trim.Latex based paints are getting better and better all the time, and Iwould use nothing else on my walls. As for our trim, oil based paintlooks smoother and keeps its appearance longer.
Ifyou are going to hang wallpaper, make sure you purchase a wallpaperprimer and/or wall sizing that is specifically made for boththe type of wallpaper you will be using and the type of wall you willbe covering. Otherwise, your wallpaper will come tumbling down.
Justremember: Make a plan to purchase what you need, research yourproducts "Wisely", and find the best home décorproducts you can for your money-you will be ahead of the game.
Now,Go have some fun Decorating your Home!!!
Get home decor ideas from leading design experts.
BuildWisely's Home Planning Guide
To further help you with your home decorating ideas, the articles on the following pages may help:
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