We all know that being organized can save you loads of valuable time, but can it save you your hard-earned money as well? You bet it can—especially when it comes to decorating and home improvements.
By following these simple steps to organizing your decorating and home improvements, you’ll stop losing your paint chips, wallpaper samples, and magazine clippings. You’ll always have your color scheme, measurements, and product samples ready to take with you when shopping. Another great thing is that you’ll always know the size, color, product code, and manufacturer and stop spending so much time returning items.
1. You'll Need
• Three-ring binder
• Stiff card stock paper
• Index cards or card stock cut into index card size
• Pencil and pen
• Durable metal tape measure
• Graph paper (optional)
• Scissors
• Small calculator
2. Choose Your Holder
Choose a three-ring binder with heavy duty clear storage pockets to hold all your decorating paraphernalia. It can sit on a bookshelf making it easy to put away and retrieve. It also provides a sturdy surface for writing on when I'm shopping and opens out flat.
3. Record Your Measurements
Record your room, window, wall, and furniture measurements on stiff card stock. Since these items are referred to over and over again, card stock is durable enough to stand the test of time. You'll need all these measurements to determine how much you'll need for paint, wallpaper, flooring, and window treatments. Never guess at your measurements or you'll more than likely purchase too much or too little and end up losing money or having to return something.
For your window measurements, draw your window and include the trim around the window. Measure the height including the trim, the height inside the trim, the width including the trim, the width inside the trim, the space between the trim and the ceiling, the space between the trim and floor, the wall space on each side of the window, and the trim widths.
For your wall measurements, draw a square to represent the wall and include the floor moldings, crown moldings, chair rails, etc. Record the height from floor to ceiling, the height from the top of the floor molding to the bottom of the crown molding or ceiling, the width of the floor, crown, and chair rail trim, the space between the chair rail and the ceiling, the space between the chair rail and the floor.
4. Store and Label Loose Items in Pockets
It seems that I'm constantly looking through magazines to get decorating ideas, so when I see a room I really like or a color scheme that attracts me, I tear out the pages and store them in the storage pockets for that room in my binder. I also store all of these items in my storage pockets:
• Paint chips: Write on the paint chip what it was used for (i.e. chair, table, above chair rail, etc.)
• Wallpaper samples: Write on the back of the sample where it was purchased, item number, color code, etc.
• Receipts: Immediately write on the receipt what you purchased and circle that item.
• Warranties
• Product specifications
• Sketches
• Fabric samples: Attach your swatches to an index card.
• Flooring samples
• Countertop samples
• Fabric Trims: Attach your trim samples to an index card.
• Photos: Before and after photos come in so handy when discussing projects with store personnel.
5. Make Your Contact List
Keep a list of important information like phone numbers, addresses, websites, and email addresses of subcontractors and interior designers. Store business cards in the applicable storage pocket.
6. Track Your Budget and Expenditures
Create a table for manual entry with the following column headings:
Item
Date purchased
Cost
Location where item was purchased
Product dimensions
You can download a free budget and product tracker electronic worksheet from http://www.decoratingzone.com.
7. Use a Tote Bag
I highly recommend keeping all your decorating tools in one place such as a tote bag, so all you have to do is pick up your tote bag and go. Here are the items I recommend you store in your tote bag at all times because you never know when you'll need them while you're out and about:
Your decorating binder
Scissors
Pen and pencil
Calculator
Sturdy metal measuring tape
That's all there is to it. Put your new knowledge to good use as you begin new projects or continue existing projects.
Paula Austin Watson is a decorating enthusiast, free-lance writer and web designer. For more ideas please visit Decoratingzone.com and Creativehomemaking.com.
