The importance of having a vision.
Renovating or building is not for the faint hearted. Not only is it costly, but it is often completely overwhelming. The industry is jam packed with continuous innovation in all areas, for those trained and working in the industry its incredibly exciting but for any decorating novice, its plain frightening. Its like walking into a candy shop when you are four and seeing hundreds of different yummy candy options but knowing that mum said you could only pick one!! Dilemma……its impossible to pick and mums in a rush, she needs you to hurry up!! So how do you pick? and I mean pick knowing you made the right decision without the regret later?? The simple answer is you can’t, not if you haven’t put any pre thought into it, there is no guarantee that under pressure you will get it right!!
We have all been renovating/building novices once and I remember the endless sleepless nights worrying about the choices I had made on my first few projects. The thing is, the less pre planning you put into your project the more stressful it will be.
Preplanning right at the start, either while the project is being designed or before you step a foot inside a retailer is KEY to a successful and enjoyable experience! Planning is making sure you have a clear vision of what you like and what you can have within your budget! I realise its hard to define sometimes but use the innovation of technology to help guide you. We love a good Pinterest board at MAK its our go too when we are working with a client trying to help them visualise a concept. Its as easy as setting up a board and pinning everything you like, and soon enough you will start to see a bit of a theme of what style you like. Believe me, sometimes this style might not be what you had thought your style was!
While you are pinning to your little hearts content, start asking yourself, why do I like that image? What am I drawn too? Would that fit into my space? This will help to narrow down the options and you will start to path a vision.
The Moodboard - The next step is to narrow down your pins by selecting you’re most favourite images for your space and try to limit your selection to no more than five, this might take a while! If you can, copy and paste these images onto a 1 pager (PowerPoint, Word, Canva – whatever tickles your fancy) and print it off for ease. You can go into as much detail as you like on your page by incorporating images of all the elements you love. Just make sure you refer to your favourite five to check your elements go with the style.
NOW Voila, you have a vision!! In most cases this will be enough of a visual to discuss your ideas and plans with your trades and retailers saving you valuable time and stress.
That sounds so easy right???
Well if that sounded far too overwhelming then you are completely DOOMED…..joking….luckily there are 3 interior sassy gals at MAK who are more than happy to help you. It’s our absolute JAM, we could talk the pants off you regarding interiors…so get in touch with us, we won’t bite, we promise to make it fun and you will be surprised how many different ways we can help depending on your budget! It can be as simple as giving you a mood board to go on your merry way.
Final designer TIP - Remember people don’t live in show homes, or magazine images, so do think about what relates to you and your family when selecting finishes and products – it is your home and its going to be used by you.
