How We Conquer Design Dilemma & Living Room Progress!

I joke with one of my best friends (who also happens to be a designer) about how we run into so many design dilemma's when working on our own projects. We both say it has something to do with loving so many different styles, it makes it hard to pull the trigger. We don't seem to have the same issue when guiding our clients into making design decisions. You just don't have the same perspective when it's your own space or home.

Really, I think we all get like this. Designer or not, when we are making so many decisions in a short time frame, we all can get overwhelmed and doubt our decisions.

Then there is the budget... so much pressure to get it right the first time because who has the money to do it a second? Not me, and I doubt that's how you want to spend your hard earned money either.

So we end up fearful, stuck and with a million design dilemma's.

If I do this will it look like? 

What happens if I move it over here?

I like the color in the store but what about in my space?

The Living Room

A few weeks ago we discussed the living room plans including a large rug, slider door, and our dilemma: the coffee table. Since then we have gone round and round and found more dilemma's, so finally this weekend I created and computer design to try and make final decisions.

Needless to say the computer didn't really help! I (just like most clients) got lost switching things around in an effort to see EVERYTHING I could possibly have and ended up two steps behind where I started.

Our Design Dilemma's

• What size and shape for the coffee table
• The huge brown sectional really darkens the room- so how to lighten things up?
• Will we have too many wood tones in the space and will that make the room look rustic?
• and on, and on....

The solution

So I went back to my trusty solution, a coloring page.

First I take everything out of the plan that we haven't determined. Like the coffee table, rug, and light fixture.

Then I make sure I have all the items in the room that we will be reusing. Like the big brown sectional. These are the items that are non-negotiable (Can someone please help me negotiate with Mitch about the sectional?! Its just not working in this small space lol).

Finally I put in one idea for each dilemma. Which meant a big square coffee table and big drum shade light fixture.

Once I have an initial design I render the picture in black/ white and create a coloring page for printing.

Coloring

You would think I (or anyone else for that matter) could just make six different designs and line them all up to make a decision.

What most of us actually start doing is wanting to mix and match to the umpteenth degree. Its brain rattling, and leaves you feeling anything but confident in your decisions.

So why does coloring help?

There is something about the act of making the little decision on what color to use. It starts to break the ice and build our confidence back up little by little.

If you absolutely hate something... You could always print another.

So you start making these mini decisions bit by bit and then POOF big decisions get made! All of the sudden you see a color you hate, and it lets you know you're going with the second idea not the first.

For us, one little afternoon of putting the page together and then coloring solved pretty much every issue. The big square coffee table? Not going with it at all, and we figured out what we will be diy-ing in it's place with a complete build plan!

The brown couch with greige walls makes for a pretty brown and dreary room, those two things arn't changing . Mitch loves that freaking couch, and the wall color is amazing for little fingers and muddy dogs. What? Just being real over here about the mess of a much used and loved house.

We decided to create a light accent wall behind the couch and even think we may have finalized  a stencil pattern.

The coloring even helped me decide on accent pillows to brighten up the couch.

So you see, for us this process really packs a lot of bang for our buck.

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Some different styles of dining rooms coloring pages are located in this post. Look for different living room styles to print for free in the coming weeks when I get a resource page going with all the free designs you can print and color yourself.

I've been seriously thinking about offering these interior coloring pages for your own personal spaces. Contact me or comment below  if you really think you could use something like this for your design dilemmas, I'd love to work together.

What do you do when your stuck?