As I mentioned recently, I’m already starting to think about the final look and feel of my future guest bedroom/home office.  When I start to get an itch to decorate a room, my brain really DOES NOT STOP with the planning stage.  I will actually lose sleep, lying in bed knowing I NEED TO GET UP IN 4 HOURS and yet, my brain will be going, “Should I use some kind of wallpaper? I do really like that one I saw the other day… or how about that one I’ve always wanted to use?  Yeah, but if I do that, then my colour scheme needs to change slightly… Or maybe just a splash of that fabric… oh that means that great desk chair would work perfectly… I wonder if I should splurge on a really expensive desk or get that one at Ikea I saw… I wonder how big that one was… I should get up and get the tape measure out so I can be sure it’ll fit…” OH MY GOD SHUT UP ALREADY.

While my boyfriend will shake his head in disbelief at this admission, at least you guys understand, right?  I mean, a big blank room just FULL of possibilities!  The mind boggles at the thought.

Because I’m really at the very beginning stages of our journey and I’m not entirely sure where we will end up, I thought it might be useful to talk through how I tackle a decorating project as it happens.

The first step, naturally, is finding your inspiration.  For this,  I normally start at Pinterest (and if you’re not using Pinterest yet, why the heck aren’t you?  And if you aren’t following me already, let me just say that 3600 people CAN’T BE WRONG.  Ahem.)

The first thing I did was check out what I’ve pinned on my Pinterest Board called Home Offices Workin’ It. If you are going to start any decorating project and you’re a little lost on where to begin, it’s a great tool to use to see what appeals to you most.  Now, there are obviously some anomalies but what I noticed was a bit of a pattern…

Many of the pins showed a lovely little brass anglepoise lamp.  I’m obviously attracted to these things.

Did you notice as well that how many of the offices I’ve pinned have white desks?  Something else for the list then.

A collection of eclectic accessories is also a common theme.  Not just a place for files or a pencil holder – we’re talking interesting vessels, bunches of flowers, beautiful trays.

Brass accessories are also pretty common.  Well, I probably already knew that one but it’s nice to know that subconsciously, I’ve pinned images that contain these elements.

Another thing I noticed is how many of them had some kind of an inspiration board.  While I love Pinterest, there’s something rather attractive about a physical pinboard with an array of inspirational images.

I also noticed a lot of pretty ‘practical items’ too – so lovely pencils, stylish staplers, beautiful stationary, gold paperclips.  All these things have gone on my list.

Lastly, you may be as surprised as I am that there were few with bold wallpaper or dark walls – we’re talking a lot of white with pops of feminine colour, pretty accessories and plenty of gold and brass…. So while I do love a deep, intriguing room as you know, I’m thinking mostly white walls and a fairly neutral base with great artwork, an inspiration board and fabrics and accessories to bring in pops of colour.

Now that I have a direction in terms of style and a few of the elements I’m considering, it’s time to start the measuring up – what do I have room for? What is the best placement of furniture?  What things do I need to have and what to I just want? And so the process begins…

Have you noticed any other patterns in my inspirational images?  How do you go about tackling a room redesign?

Image credits:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15