How to Simplify Home Decorating

If you're trying to decorate your new home or just spiff up your current one, you know it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the choices and decisions. Relax, and simpify your home decorating with a few easy steps.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Buy an accordion folder and fill it with folders designated for each room of your home. This will serve as your guidebook as you choose and buy items. Keep it in your car so it will always be handy.

2. Start a list of people you might need. Include contractors, painters, the lady down the street who makes drapes and the helpful guy at the hardware store. Include phone numbers and emails. Never waste another moment looking up these people in the yellow pages. If you call them often, program their names and numbers into your cell phone.

3. Gather pictures and ideas from decorating magazines and catalogs. File them in your accordion folder in the appropriate category. If you're watching HGTV and see an idea you want to try, jot it down on paper and file that, too.

4. Look through all your pictures and see if there is a pattern. If every bedroom picture shows rooms in neutral colors, that's how you should decorate the master bedroom. Are you running into photos of brightly colored walls? You'll probably want to incorporate some colors that pop into your decor.

5. Decide if you want to decorate your entire home, or you just want to work on one room at a time. Either way can work, depending on your personality and your budget. As long as you have a plan, it will work.

[cadence]

on 10/28/2008 Great tips - you always want to be thorough when planning something like this.