How Do I Get Started- Interior Design Seems So Overwhelming!

For those not hiring a professional designer, much of the pressure for the “perfect” design falls on the woman, in the context of a traditional married couple. (Gosh I guess the idea of “traditional” is a by gone but we’ll start their for the sake of this article)

Not every woman is a born Interior Designer. And frankly most women are so absorbed in their careers that they don’t even have time to think about where to start when it comes to planning the inside of their home. Yet many retain a feeling of failure if they can’t whip out a great idea and execute it with dramatic flair that expresses the essence of who they really are J

That’s a lot. So my point is that there are many emotional and cultural issues that go along with the “getting started” part of planning your own home interiors.

And then there are those that think that any creative impulses that come out of them should be expressed in their home environment. Better for using these instincts for getting dressed in the morning.

If you can try and ignore the urges to break out in purple walls and black and white floor tiles just to show people who you really are that would be a good thing! :-) Design is really a process that takes many things in consideration and developes along a path. And once you have laid the groundwork the decisions, and there will be many, will flow much more easily. And they will flow from a better place than that of just self expression.

Remember the overall goal will be the end result. It will be expensive, whether you spend it all today or over the course of years. And remember an even more expensive approach is one that is unplanned and poorly executed. Mistakes mean that you must spend even more to undo the damage of the mistake so that’s why I am such an advocate of planning.

I have walked into many homes that the clients had been hypnotized by a GREAT deal only to end up later with a gorgeous silk sofa so large that you can barely manage to walk around it in the room. Or a fancy custom made sofa that yes the style was made by the dimensions you requested except that no one bothered to mention the importance of seat depth and you’ll remember this every time you perch on the edge to drink your tea because the throw pillows take up the entire sofa.

So it really pays to do a lot of not only thinking but planning for what you really want to end up with in your home. Try to keep your emotional impulses to a minimum.

The process of designing your home should help you to define yourself more too. We rarely take time to get to know ourselves but this is one opportunity that can have more than emotional rewards. This is a chance to know who you are and where and how you want to live!