If you’re thinking about starting an interior design project, there is a lot to think about. So much so,  it can be totally overwhelming and just shut you down in your tracks. But not anymore, because in this video, I’m going to demystify it for you and tell you about the five things you need to consider before you start your interior design project and all the unimportant stuff can fall away.

Let’s do this, what do you need to consider before you even start designing? Well, if you do these 5 consideration points, I promise you will start to align your thinking, feel a lot more focused, and a lot more calm all through your project.

The first thing I want you to do is something called “define your scope.“ That’s when you literally write out, what the project is, what you plan to accomplish so that you know if you hit the finish line. Are you going to do a total gut to your kitchen and little facelift in the bedroom? Are you going to totally redo your living room and do a facelift in your son’s room? Define what your project is. Big or small, write it down. I’m a big believer in the journal or in the binder.

Once you’ve done that first step “defining your project,” step no.2  is really going to make your life easier. You are going to “determine your schedule.” That’s right, step 2 is your timeline or schedule. To determine that, start at the endpoint. When do you really want this project to be completed? Then from there, look at the calendar and work backward. How long do you think it will really take you to complete this project and you need to be brutally honest. Do you work full time? Or are you working part-time? Are you raising a family? Are you retired? How many hours a day do you think you can really give this project or how many hours a week do you think you can give this project? Make it realistic, make it doable. Start with your end date, work backward, and plot each month what you think a realistic amount of time would be that you can actually devote to working on this project.

That brings us to no. 3. The third thing you’re going to do is “inventory.” This is where you’re going to make an actual line-by-line items list at everything you’re using in your project. Maybe you’re redoing your living room but you plan to reuse your two pieces of art, name what they are, two chairs, list what they are. Get out your iPhone, take photographs of what they are so they can go into their project file or binder. Inventory is everything that you’re going to be reusing in this project, listed because that brings us to number 4.

Number four is  the“budget.” You need to, at least at this point on your project, set your budget range, from x to y. What is your bottom line spend or topline spend? And make sure you calculate by including those items that are already in inventory. We own them, we don’t need to rebuy them.

And that brings me to number 5. The fifth consideration that you always wanna take time to do before you start your project is your “Team.” Consider the team, who’s on it? Is it just you? Is it you and your significant other? Is it you and some other buddy that’s going to be helping you through the project? Are you hiring a professional? Are you hiring a contractor, a subcontractor? A painter? A kitchen group? Name your team, get all of  these defined on paper. It aligns your thinking.

Define your scope, define your timeline, define your inventory, define your budget, and define your team. Do that and you’re going to be ready to head off to the races to a gorgeous design project.