Planning projects: how do you get started?

Since the kitchen project is coming to an end, I’ve been trying to decide what project we’ll tackle next. In my mind, we were going to finish everything by the time I moved in, but with 6 weeks to go, I’m coming to terms with the fact that it’s unlikely.

I could make a case for each room. The weather is (ostensibly) warming up, so I want to do the balcony! It’s important to feel settled, so we should really do the bedroom first. I have 800 things I want to sew, so I really, really want to move the studio to the top of the queue.

But another milestone is looming largely on the horizon that’s informing this decision. Nik turns 30 at the end of April! At first we thought we’d have a party at a nearby venue, but when the location she liked best was already booked, our backup plan became to have it at home. And if we’re going to have it at home, we’re going to start with the dining room.Here’s a glimpse of the dining room during the kitchen renovation. We’ve since moved the table back in, and I’ll have to take some proper before picture this weekend. There are some good bones in the space: the ceilings are high and there are gorgeous ceiling beams, even if someone did paint them a high-gloss brown somewhere along the way. Nik did a mini-makeover a couple years ago. She painted the walls lavender-grey and added faux beadboard. I like it a lot, but so do the cats. They’ve scratched it up, so it’s got to come down. The biggest windows in the apartment are in this room, so I have grand plans to implement one of my biggest design crushes: near-black walls.

I can see the room’s potential, but working with another person who has an equal stake in the outcome is new to me. I tried out Polyvore today, and I’m pretty pleased with the result.

 

Dining Room by projectory

I think it conveys the dark and moody room with gold accents and pops of color I see in the space. I usually just wing it as I go, so I’m curious to see how close my plan looks to the outcome. I have to say, while I found things that were pretty close to what we have (the tables and chairs) and what we want to add (the rug and art), looking at the actual items and prices of things in the set, we are not working with that kind of budget at all. All of our capital went into doing the kitchen right, so it’s going to be DIY ingenuity from here on out!

How about you? How do you go about decorating a new room? Do you plan everything in advance, or add an element at a time until you have something cohesive? Have you tried Polyvore, or is there another more home-specific app I should look into?

As an aside, I am incredibly thrilled that my bed nook project was featured on Apartment Therapy over the weekend! If you’ve recently come across my blog, I hope you’ll consider subscribing (at the sidebar) or staying in touch on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for stopping by!

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Tags: diningroom, DIY, home, home decor, interior, interior decorating, polyvore