The five stages of the decorating process

The Five Stages of the Decorating Process

While decorating is a creative process, there's also a practical side to it that's crucial to stay on top of, especially if you're designing for clients. Following these key steps is fundamental to keeping a big project orderly and on track.

01 Conceptual Stage

At the beginning of any project, you need to work out the mood you want to create and where it'll sit in terms of style and taste. You'll probably start with quite a wide view of what the project could be, but your aim is to narrow this down to something more focused. This is when you'll be studying books, finding inspiration and making mood boards.

02 Schematic Stage

Next, you can use your mood boards as a springboard for starting to plan the furniture – look at different ideas and options for how the room might take shape to help you land on your final choices.

03 Design Development Stage

Once you've chosen the key elements, like the sofas, you can move into looking at the granular details such as exact fabrics, paint colours and accessories. This is when you'll also need to start considering the budget and looking at the viability of what is in your design documents.

04 Ordering and Procurement Stage

With everything finalised, you can begin to go through the process of ordering, buying and sourcing each element. It can be helpful to have a logistics document going, to keep track of delivery dates.

05 Installation Stage

The fun part! Make your design a reality and put all the elements together in their intended places.

Designing for Yourself

If you're decorating a room in your own home, it can still be hugely helpful to follow these five stages. I would recommend going room by room, keeping a creative document of all your ideas and inspirations as well as a 'business' document that keeps track of budgets and order timelines.

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