You just signed the papers for you new apartment or dream house. Now is the time to get organized and realize your dreams. Starting your own interior designing project is exciting but can be overwhelming at the same time.
materials via Instagram - kitchen cabinet Pinterest - buffet Moissonnier - empty room via Plastolux
WHAT DO YOU NEED
So before you jump into this new project, sit down, relax and first of all slow down. No reason to rush, and for sure don’t buy that lamp you saw last week and fell in love with, once you will have a good view on the total interior design of your new home you will maybe see that it doesn’t fit.
Ask yourself what are your dreams, what are your needs and write them down on a paper, in a journal, or on your computer. Starting from there you can make a plan by dividing it in different tasks.
notebooks Pasinga - girl with camera via Tumblr - journal via Jihi Elephant
GET ORGANIZED
It is very easy to get lost in the details of your designing project, you can visualize already very well all the final accessories which you want to buy to make your new place look awesome. But first things first. Take a few copies of the plan, you want to have them with you all the time when entering a showroom so you can take a quick look for the dimensions of the room. A notebook to write down whatever comes to your mind, to make notes of things you saw on the way, to keep track of things. A ruler comes very handy when you see that sofa and want to figure out if it will fit your room. And not to forget you want to make pictures, can be done with a small camera or even with your phone. Important is that you will find back what you saw, because believe me there is a lot to remember and to think about.
document folder Tyyp”Papeterie - Branãs rattan basket Ikea - rectangular basket Zara Home - binder clips Bellas Bits and Buys
So probably for the next months you will be carrying a big handbag, being able to take flyers, catalogues from the showrooms you are going to visit. Once back at home get them organized in a way that you can find them back easily at the moment you need them. As you don’t need all of them at the same time. As I said already you should make a plan.
making floor plan
MAKING A FLOOR PLAN
And first thing to be done is making a floor plan. This is something I always do when I start a new project. It will give you a better idea of what can enter in a room, how much space you still have to get around your table, the size of the table, and so on. Make a scale drawing of each room as well as the scale cutouts of the furniture. Move the items around to find the best place for each piece. It will take some time up front, but you will see the time you invest here in preparing this will be more than worth it at the end. Take care you leave enough space to get around, not to bump into things. In case you will do some renovations or at the point to finalize the construction, this is also the moment that you can still decide to move some sockets, another reason you have to know where you will put the bed or that sofa for the reading corner you were dreaming about since years.
collecting image for inspiration - images collected on Pinterest
FIND YOUR INSPIRATION - MAKE MOOD BOARD
Now the more serious work of making the floor plan is done you can start dreaming of how to decorate your new home. Where do you start? It is not easy to well understand your style, what you like. It can help you to make a mood board with all the things you like. And not just interior, it can be food, travel, fashion, etc. the things where you say: this I love. It will give you a better idea in which direction to go, if you are a more romantic soul, a minimalist, a bohemian, classic, et.
Mood board to decide color harmony - images collected on Pinterest
DECIDE A COLOR HARMONY
After you finish your mood board, leave it aside for a few days and take another look. Know you will see what pops up, not only as a style but also as colors. If I ask you what color you like you will tell me maybe blue, but once you make this mood board you will discover that maybe green is your favorite color instead of blue. Look also around in your wardrobe, small accessories which you have in the house as it will give you a better idea of your favorite colors. Go to a paint shop and look for some swatches and keep them well together in one of your files or add them in your journal which you carry around. It is important to see all the colors you want to combine in a room next to each other as one color can influence the other and maybe a shade darker or lighter fits better.
bathroom image via Emily Henderson - material mood board via Waterworks - faucets via Boco Da Lobo - kitchen image via Studio McGee
WHERE DO I START
So you got organized, the floor plan is done so you have a good idea of what you need for each room. you know if some construction works have to be done and you have kind of an idea how your dream house will look like.
Lets put it now in practice. First you should choose the floor finishes as the stone or tiles you will choose for the kitchen and bathroom don’t have the same thickness as the wood floor for the rest of the house. And this you should know when they level the concrete floor.
The bathroom and the kitchen are the first rooms to put on your list to be designed. You need to know very well where the plumbing should come, the sockets to be installed, the wires for the wall scones.
sofa Georgia Marie’s Corner - armchair Baker-1 Marie’s Corner - rug Rug Studio- coffee table 82 via Decoratio - Everly Pendant Palecek - library Pinterest
ROOM BY ROOM
Once the bathroom and the kitchen take shape you can continue dreaming and start decorating all the other rooms in the apartment or house. Make for each room a mood board and you will see how things will be in harmony or don’t work together at all.
Don’t forget to keep track where you found them. Best way to find them back is to create for each room a Pinterest board and save them there. So on the Pinterest board you will know where to buy them and on the mood board you will see how it will look in the room. And when you add than also the floor plan you made in the beginning you will see that the sizes are conform to what you established in the beginning of your project or not. And change the floor plan with the new dimensions of the items you would like the have.
BUDGET
Another very important thing is to think of the budget you would spend. I know is not easy but it will keep you focussed and not buy that chest of drawers which is actually much to expensive. Some of the furniture pieces can be a bit more expensive, you want your home to look just as you were dreaming it to be. But by keeping track of the budget you will know where you need to look for some cheaper solutions.
Hope this blog post helped you to get a better idea of where and how to start, and inspired you to realize your dream home.
I wish you success!
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