Home design planning: Stop scrolling through Pinterest/Instagram and do this first
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Home design planning should be super fun, but in reality it can get very overwhelming, very quickly.
If you’re finding it difficult to pin down a vision for your home that works for the differing tastes and practical needs of you and your family, let me be the first to tell you… it’s hard to create a home design plan that fits. And that’s coming from someone in the industry!
Not only are you trying to build a coherent design that flows through every room, you’re trying to decide what to do with difficult spaces that may be small, dark, or odd in shape. You need the right level of storage, it needs to suit all of your tastes, while also being a practical space… and come in on budget.
Even bright and airy, straight-forward-in-shape extensions seem simple to design at first but they always throw challenges…
To an untrained eye, the design choices become paralysing and you’re never sure how it will look once it’s finished, which can lead to uncertainty with most decisions.
But in the thousands of hours I’ve put into my career in interior design, I’ve honed tools and techniques to reduce overwhelm and build a clear vision.
I promise you with a few simple actions you can reduce overwhelm and tackle your home design planning with confidence and certainty.
Why you need to avoid Pinterest/Instagram when you start home design planning
Before I work with homeowners, they tell me they turn to Pinterest or Instagram for ideas.
At first, it’s an exciting exploration. They discover so many beautiful rooms, colours, and layouts to consider.
But fast forward a few weeks into building pinterest boards and they’re no clearer on the style they want or the decisions for their home…
Do any of these recent DMs I received sound familiar?👇🏻
“Fi, I’ve lost so many hours on Pinterest trying to find out what my style is”
“Help! I’m in a rabbit hole of Pinterest and insta accounts!”
“I just keep changing my plans based on what catches my eye that day on Instagram / Pinterest”
“I have so many ideas and loves for different styles, I can’t identify one to settle on, so my house is a mish-mash of things I see on Pinterest!”
Pinterest and Instagram are great at a certain point in your home design planning, but it doesn’t give you answers and can do more harm than good if you use them at the wrong time in your project.
Start your project doing this instead 👇🏻
If you’ve found yourself getting magpie tendencies and you’re overwhelmed with choice, you need to pause on your Pinterest/Instagram scrolling and do important investigative work that happens in professionally run projects, before you visit the app again.
Every client I take on, and every student that works with me through my home design online course, we begin the project with investigative work. It starts the project off on the right foot.
In my 1-on-1 work this looks like me having a kick-off consultation with the client to talk to them in depth about who they are as people, how they like to live, what works and doesn’t work about their home currently (and previous homes). It’s a 2 hour investigative session that allows me to identify what they’re naturally drawn to — and I bloody love it. I feel honoured when clients tell me about intimate parts of their lives and what they love.
The exercise arms me with a list of desired outcomes, emotions (how they want to feel in the home) and forms the brief for the project. It’s the most important part of our work together.
You should be starting your project in the same way. For example, in my home design course I take the very same consulting approach with students, but I guide them virtually rather than in person. Students end up with a clear understanding of themselves and their desired outcomes for their project, crucially before visiting Pinterest/Instagram. That comes later.
This is crucial for your home design planning
I see a clear difference in the projects that start with this practice versus those that rely on Pinterest to give them ideas from the start:
You discover your style that’s true to YOU not photos of other people’s homes
You end up with a more cohesive design, not mis-matched
You end up far less overwhelmed, with the ability to single out designs that feel right for your home
In my honest opinion, the reason why people get magpie tendencies on Pinterest, overwhelming themselves with possibilities is because they haven't done the upfront work that's essential to determine their desired outcomes.
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There’s a time for Pinterest and Instagram – but when?
Don’t get me wrong, Pinterest and Instagram are fantastic tools for homeowners and I regularly use them in my practice too but there’s a right time for them.
In fact there’s a liberating exercise in Home Design Lab where students form their vision board after doing this investigative work – they pull together visuals that explain their unique sense of style and it’s a fantastic reference point for them throughout their projects.
In conclusion, before flocking to these platforms, get a strong understanding of who you are, what you want from your home, and understand what style makes you tick with the information you draw. This is how you will reduce overwhelm and start making decisions with confidence and certainty throughout your project.
Home Design Lab will be opening this week if you’re interested in joining – so take a look at the page and add your name to the waitlist for details about when we’re opening.
If you can’t wait to progress your project then I also offer a free 3 day email series called Design Your Home – the right way! with advice on how to prevent mistakes and develop a cohesive style which I hope will further help your project and reduce overwhelm.
Thank you so much for being here and reading this blog, I hope it’s helping you!
Fi xx
