Planning is the first step in bringing any idea to life, it can be the most and least fun step at the same time too. I like to break planning down into three steps: Direction, Details, & Specifics. Plus a few bonus steps I’ll cover later in this post. So, let’s jump into direction!
Direction
To help explain each step of the planning process, I’m going to use a project example. Let’s say you go to sit down at your laptop, you look around at your desk and your room and you’re feeling “meh,” you’re feeling uninspired. So you think, “Let’s do something fun in here!” But where do you start? Before you begin thinking about finances, supplies, timelines, or anything else, you need direction! And I like to break direction down into three sub-steps; Theme, Ideas, Cooperation.
So let’s talk theme – this is, in my opinion, one of the most fun steps! Your homework is essentially to spend time scrolling Pinterest, Instagram, flipping through magazines, watching interior design shows, really anything you can do to spark joy and inspiration. As you go through this process, you’ll start notice that you’re gravitating towards certain themes. The inspiration photos you’ve loved may all look completely different, but look for the underlying themes that connect the photos. It could be a color palette, a statement piece of furniture, accent walls, color drenching, traditional design, box trim on the walls, certain patterns, built-ins, functionality, hardwood floors, light fixtures, it could be anything! Pro-tip: let this process take as long as it needs to, you may find over a week or two that something you liked in one photo is not nearly as timeless to you as an alternative you found in other photos.
Back to our office example – you’ve identified this room as your next project that you’re really excited about! You’ve taken a few weeks to put together some inspiration photos and you’re finding some commonalities in themes across the photos – let’s say most of the photos have box trim on the walls, they’re color drenched and all have dark, traditional art hung on the walls. You’ve given the themes and photos some time to simmer and you’re feeling set that this is the direction you want to head in – awesome! Now it’s time to compile some real ideas. The idea phase is a little easier, and in my opinion, also super fun! You know the themes and elements you want to incorporate into the room, but’s time to pick the actual design, colors and pieces you’ll use. You can look for more ideas on Pinterest if you’re not satisfied with the images you currently have, but the photos you’ve saved should have everything you need at this point. Find the exact style and design of box trim, the exact wall color, the exact rug, the art, etc. You’re essentially going to make final decisions on the elements of the room and leave a little wiggle room on anything you’re planning to thrift (like art, decor or furniture) which can change based on your thrift store.
Now that you know the exact ideas you’ll be using, it’s time to find cooperation between them to create a seamless design. For example, you may have three photos you’re using – one has the wall color you like, another has the box trim design you want to use and another has the desk you like. But it’s hard to imagine these ideas all coming together to form one design without actually being able to see it, right? Enter design tools. There are lots of options out there to create your one of a kind inspiration photo like Procreate, Canva, Photoshop and more. However, I love the simple and free tool of Goodnotes! The reason I prefer to use Goodnotes (apart from it being free), is the ability to freehand crop images! This would allow you to crop just the desk, box trim, wallpaper, light fixture, rug, art, etc. that you want to incorporate into your design. Here’s an example of an inspiration photo I created in Goodnotes by combining all of my ideas for our office reno:
Would you like me to put together a tutorial on how I do this? Let me know!
Congrats, step one of finding your direction is now complete! It’s a great feeling because at different points of the theme and idea stages can be so agonizing when you love everything (like I do!). Now you get to focus on stage two – Details! The detail phase is a little easier, but involves more research.
Details
Continuing down the detail phase, it’s time to get really specific about what exactly you’ll be doing and buying. In our example, we decided on traditional art, color drenching, a desk and box trim. As you start your research, it may shock you to find out just how many paint colors and slight variations of greens or blues exist! Box trim seems simple enough, right? But there are hundreds of styles! In this phase, you should be perusing blog posts and company websites. Let’s start with Googling your ideas – “color drenching,” “traditional art,” “wall box trim,” “standing desk” and so on. A blog post with a cover photo of a color drenched room you think looks nice may inform you that the creator used matte paint on the walls and shine paint on the baseboards and box trim! Or you may read a blog post with a photo of a box trim wall that you love and you find the exact trim they used to create the look. You’ll also find out what tools you need to complete this project by researching each element. This is how you create a list of everything you need – don’t worry about exact amounts or prices right now, just focus on what you love and what speaks to you! Everything else comes in the final step of specifics.
Specifics
Okay, let’s get started on the final step of planning your project! The specifics phase consists of a budget, timeline, measurements, and purchases. So let’s start with budget! For me, I like to set an upfront limit (could be $100 if your project is small or up to $1,000 if your project is a large undertaking) and then incremental limits. So in the example of the office renovation we’ve been discussing, I would set an upfront limit of $300-$500. This allows you to purchase the paint, the trim and the tools you need to complete the bulk of the project. After this, I would allow myself another $50 per week to buy things like the desk, curtains, a new chair, and any decor, more slowly over time. I have found by limiting my purchases and/or setting a weekly budget that I can still move fairly quickly on projects, but my impulse purchases are nearly cut in half. For example, you may purchase a new desk for your office and you have a whole cart of desk additions waiting for purchase. But after using the desk, you find you don’t need that desk lamp or pencil drawer after all. And of course, as always, make sure to consult your budget and finances and discuss your proposed budget with anyone you share money or the space with. I have a personal finance workbook I’ve perfected over the past four years that keeps me on track, I plan to write a post about it, but let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to see! Congrats, you now have a budget everyone is comfortable with! Now it’s time to figure out a timeline.
As expected, your budget and timeline go hand in hand. In the office example, you may have uncovered that color drenching takes longer than regular painting. You know the space will need to be hand painted along the floor, in corners and around windows and the whole thing will likely need two coats. So it may take you two days (depending on the room size) to complete one coat, leaving you about four days to paint the whole room – don’t forget to factor in work and outside activities! You may have a base knowledge of cutting trim, so that process may take you a day, but if you’re learning how to cut trim for the first time, it could take you a few days. So we’re looking at 1 week total for the walls, but add a buffer of about another week. So all in all, the room changes will take you two weeks. I also recommend you plan out your purchases based on your budget and what you’re comfortable spending weekly and monthly. So if you want to buy art, a desk and a chair, this may take you a month, depending on the prices. So the total timeline is looking to be ~1.5 months. This fits within your schedule and budget – great job! Now that you know what you want to spend and how long you want to work to complete the project, it’s time to get some measurements!
Measurements
This one isn’t too hard, it’s not as creative as the other aspects of project planning. This looks like calculating the total square footage of your walls for paint or wallpaper (remember to subtract the doors and windows!), the amount and size of art you want, the size of desk that would work best for you, laying out the box trim pattern on your walls and measuring the total length of all the pieces, measuring your floor for a rug, measure your window for curtains, etc. You should now have a list or a cart(s) with exactly what you need (apart from what you want to salvage secondhand). Keep an eye out for sales going on as well – Sherwin Williams is always running BOGO and % off sales on paint, I’ve never paid full price for paint!
This is a good time to reassess your specifics, timeline and/or budget as needed. If the box trim you chose turns out to be really expensive, look for an alternative within your budget, wait for Black Friday to buy that desk you really want, scour through Facebook Marketplace for cheaper alternatives to the lamps you found at West Elm, you could even extend your timeline to space out payments, etc. I always prefer to find alternatives, slow down or shift my plan to avoid over-spending. Now you’re onto your final step of planning – purchasing!
Purchases
This is another fun step, but can be a little stressful too! But because you set a really solid budget and timeline with which you’re comfortable, the stress should be minimal! Always start with the highest priority, foundational, biggest impact things first. This is anything to do with the walls or floors. So for our office example, this would mean you buy the paint, box trim and all necessary tools first. And as a pro tip, I like to purchase things with a 5% buffer. I have found that 10% is too high, but spot on is often just barely not enough. A 5% buffer ensures you’re not filling your garage with a bunch of half used lumber, but you’re also not making multiple trips to the hardware store. Then as these items come in and you work on implementing this phase of the project, your budget has a little time to recover and you can hit the ground running with your next purchase when you’re done. Pro tip: use the incremental purchases as a small celebration/reward for completing a phase – the dopamine is awesome, especially since you know it fits within your budget!
Another pro tip for the purchasing phase: save anything you can find at the thrift store, garage sale, yard sale, estate sale or Facebook Marketplace for last. That way, you’re more likely to find the item through a cheaper (and more environmentally conscious) means before you buy it firsthand! For this reason, I always like to save decor for last and anything I’d be comfortable using after a wash. For example, I always like to thrift decor, lamps, art, frames, baskets, light fixtures, etc. versus bedding, some types of rugs, certain pillow fabrics, etc. that I’d prefer to buy new. Mini pro tip: I love estate sales for the pure fact that you can see first hand how everything was taken care of! If the home has a musty smell, I might be less likely to buy a blanket than I would be from a home where I can see the blankets were kept in a clean linen closet. Okay enough from me on that, I plan to dive into thrifting tips in another post – let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to see!
Congrats, project planning is done!! Now it’s time to implement everything you meticulously planned, you’ve got this! Below is how my office renovation turned out!
But you know I don’t gatekeep so I figured I could share two more points to project planning that come up after the project is in full swing: Continuation and Celebration. As you’re working on your project, you may find that there are some ideas that pop into your head as you go! For example, you realize your ceiling fan doesn’t fit in with how you renovated a room, or now that you’ve painted, your outdated switch plates stick out like sore thumbs, or maybe you realize the closet in the room isn’t nearly as functional as you need. This stuff happens, and I honestly think it’s a great sign – you’re honing in on your skills, your design taste is developing and you’re finding areas of opportunity all around! In the continuation phase, I recommend you run through the whole process all over again, but on a smaller scale. Find some photos of the opportunity you found, take measurements, put together a shopping list and timeline and put it into action (or add to your overall timeline if you’re still working on the original project). Below you can see an example of when I thought I was done with my own office renovation, but decided to turn our closet into a tea bar with lower storage.
Once you’re completely settled and love your space, it’s time to celebrate! I recommend taking photos and videos along the way to remind yourself of where you started and watch all of the incredible work you’ve done. You could post these photos and videos, compile them into a video for yourself, scrapbook them or share with friends and family! It’s always fun to reminisce on all you’ve accomplished. Once you’re done celebrating, TAKE A BREAK! I’m the first one to hate on boredom, but it can be such a nice contrast to the hustling you just did to complete your project. Let the boredom bring you inspiration through unexpected channels – dinner at an architecturally interesting restaurant, a neat idea for organization you saw at an estate sale, or a beautiful paint/wallpaper combo you saw on HGTV. While you’re taking a break (for yourself and your budget!), shift to small crafts and projects for a palette cleansing short term dopamine hit. For me, this looks like thrifting ornaments and slowly hand painting them while I watch TV, knitting while I listen to a true crime podcast, working on tricks with my dogs, planning and designing a small party at our home, etc.