Mrs. B’s Corner

…is the title of the first chapter of the Domino book of decorating. There are nine steps that I would like to break down into three posts. This is mostly to keep each post relatively short but to also give me more time to complete each of the steps. Here is an overview of the steps:

1. Find inspiration
2. Determine your style
3. Consider how you’ll use a room
4. Assess your stuff
5. Draw up a floor plan
6. Set a budget
7. Research
8. Create a design scheme
9. Make a decorating schedule

Find Inspiration

I’ve spent a lot of time on this important first step. I have been looking through books, magazines, blogs, movies, stores, and more trying to find things that appeal to me. For anything that I’ve found online I’ve been using Dropbox. You get 2G of storage free with the ability to earn more by referrals and the like. I’ve found it highly useful with an interior design client of mine so I set up one folder for my likes and one folder for things I think she would like. I am continually on the lookout for things that appeal to me. When saving and naming a picture, I make sure to use the title to remind myself what I was drawn to. This is to help with the next step.

Determine Your Style

I’ve started this process by going through the pictures in my Dropbox and blurting out what I like about the picture. I don’t have nearly enough pictures to dwindle down to a single style or even a general theme. My words include classic, modern, nature/natural, bright colors, uniqueness, and balance. That says to me that I don’t have just a single design style. Luckily I have different spaces that I can do different things with. To help with my brainstorming, I signed up for a free account at mind meister. It’s quick and easy to use with a slight delay to save/update what you just typed so if you’re on too much of a roll it might just slow you down. It’s completely online with the capability of sharing your mind map and having collaborators edit it. I’m not sure how much I’ll actually use it, but it served this purpose nicely.

Consider Room Use

The next steps (3-9) are really for when you’ve picked out the room you’re going to do, but it is a good idea to start thinking about your house as a whole and what each room is going to be used for. For example:

• Is the second bedroom a guest room solely or a TV room as well?
• Is there more than one person using this office? Is it for meetings?
• Also think about things that don’t work in a room. Does anyone ever sit in this chair?

You will probably see these steps repeated often as I go through this process with you. I would love to hear any ideas you might have or if you’ve done anything similar. Please, follow me on twitter here or leave a comment below.