How to Decorate without wasting time or money
by Terry Schierer
Here’s the quick, easy way to accomplish Awesome Decorating
Projects without wasting time and effort. During the last 29
years the statement that I have heard the most is HELP ... I don’t know what
to do. Way too many people start a project with out sitting down and
discussing exactly what they want to accomplish in their decorating
endeavors.
This is the same as going to the grocery store hoping you will get some idea
of what you want to fix for supper. You can do it this way but you will
spend way more than you intended. That is what all those center displays and
great looking posters are all about. They are there to entice you to
purchase things you did not intend to purchase.
The same is true in the decorating stores, the high markup items are the
ones you see displayed. They are there to entice you to buy, period!
When you sit down and decide on your focus statement, you gain the necessary
knowledge of knowing what you are going to do and why. It’s the same reason
you make a grocery list before you go to the store.
A Focus Statement - The Critical Step
Now let’s create a focus statement to guide your thinking and enlist the
power of you subconscious mind for the great decorating project you are
about to turn into reality.
Here you decide on you intentions and reasons for decorating this room, or
whatever you are going to change.
Do you want to decorate to please you family, or to establish a new look.
Do you want to decorate to gain the admiration, respect, and envy of your
friends and guests?
Do you want to use the decorating project as a means to bring the family
closer together?
Do you want to do a decorating project that focuses on:
* New chair or new fabric on your favorite chair?
* Replacing furniture to gain better use of space?
* New color for the walls to bring out the accents?
* Plush new carpet to create that warm look?
. Slip covers to get that "shabby chic"look?
* New blinds to replace the worn out mini’s?
* New drapes to replace the ones that are falling apart?
* New swag and jabot to go over existing draperies?
* A pair of tie backs to create a new look?
* New tile in the kitchen and hall?
* New fixtures in the bath?
* Any other single decorating project?
I also want you to create an intention statement by defining the outcome for
yourself and your family as a result of doing this decorating project.
What do you really want from doing this project?
* Do you want your family to feel comfortable?
* Do you want the respect and admiration of friends?
* Do you want to make your home a showplace?
* Do you want to make your home a home place?
* Do you want the new look to change family attitudes?
* Do you want to create a place where your family will want to bring their
friends?
* Do you want your house to be formal?
* Do you want to be known as the neighborhood decorator?
Create a focus statement as an affirmation of your goal for your decorating
project.
This statement will explain exactly what you want to achieve with your
decorating project, who you want to impact and what you want to happen as a
result.
Look at the actual focusing statement I used for this article:
To write an article explaining how to save time, money, and stress when
doing a decorating project by becoming more target oriented, resulting in
praise and admiration from family, friends, and peers while strengthening
the family bond.
Don’t skip this VERY important part of the process!
Take a few moments and sit down with your family to iron out a statement
that feels right for you and your family.
If you can’t state your goal in a totally comfortable way, put the points
you want to accomplish down on paper, do the best you can and then let it go
for now.
Congratulations! You actually completed the most important step in the
entire decorating process.
Now with a focus statement your subconscious mind will work on your project
while you go about you day, take a shower, jog, take a nap -.Whatever!
The power of your subconscious mind can now, like a homing missile, go about
its mission of hitting the target you just placed before it.
See how easy and refreshing this was?
Terry Schierer,
terry@askmydecorator.com
http://askmydecorator.com After 28 years of decorating some of the
higher end homes all up and down the east coast, Terry has sold his business
and is now writing and teaching family decorating through articles and the
Pre-Decorating course