If we had to name the best thing in our design arsenal it wouldn't be having our Pantone Book memorized, or knowing the name and year of every piece of furniture.
So what's the one trick that helps us more than anything else? Click through the jump to find out!
One of the best tricks we have found when designing our living space is proportion. Most of our truly great furniture finds have come from random places while we were out and about... not from when we have "left the house determined to buy a sofa."
Say you are out at a flea market and you come across an amazing French Provincial couch that you think would be the best thing since sliced bread in your living room. You drag it home, wrangle it through the door frame, scoot everything out of the way... only to find out that it's really 3 inches taller than it should be, or 4 inches deeper than it needs to be, or one shade greener than it can be to work with your room.
So you're stuck selling it on Craigslist, or in the paper, before you can find another one. And then the whole process starts all over again.
Because we've found the best inspiration for our homes is usually found in unsuspecting places, one of the things that has helped us most is to have our house in our back pocket (figuratively of course).
We have taken card stock and adhered color swatches and floor plans to them. A jump ring keeps them all together, so when we want to know how big our entertainment center really is... it's all right there.
By having this on hand, be it in the glovebox of your car, your purse, man bag... whatever the case may be, it can save you a ridiculous amount of headache and second guessing.
You will want to include basic information like the size and layout of your rooms, color choices (fabric swatches are perfect for this!) and sizes of existing pieces of furniture.
Other things that might be helpful are window heights (in case you are curtain shopping), height from the floor to the bottom of your window (in case you need something low to fit under it), and the location of your electrical outlets and floor vents (which are things we rarely think about, but end up being a pain later on).
Don't worry if they are hand drawn, they are only reminders of what's back at home, although if you want to wow the sales associates, feel free to Photoshop until your heart's content.
You can also laminate your layouts so they are spill resistant, although a note of caution, the color scanners at the hardware stores, are unable to mix paint accurately if they have a coating on them. If you would like that extra layer of protection, consider putting your paint chip on the ring lose so it's able to be used when needs be.
All of these things are nice to have on hand, so when you find "the perfect piece" you will know before you get it home if it will really work in your space.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
love this idea!
view smileydq's profile
brilliant! i am definitely borrowing this idea.
view anh-minh's profile
I am not only borrowing this idea i'm sharing it with my friends!
view rosablanca5's profile
clever!
view kdkaboom's profile
wow what great idea. I'm glad I'm not the only one who just happens to find furniture while out and about instead of master planning from the start!
view laure's profile
ooh - good idea!
view hessilou's profile
A. MAZ. ING!
Sarahrae, you are a genius.
This is going to make moving and starting over from scratch so EASY. And probably extremely rewarding. :)
Now I just have to hunt down those damn jump rings.
view sparkle's profile
Love it. Will use it too :)
view M2JL's profile
It's a great idea. I did the paper layout of my apartment (this was before I had a computer) with all the measurements. And I'd measure anything before bringing it home. I used to carry a larger measuring metal tape.
But guess what I carry now? I carry one of those paper measuring tapes from IKEA, which are located with the pencils and the paper lists right when you come in (should be at all stores).
Pick one up and add it to your collection of things to take. It's only 36" long, but it's better than making that wrong guess.
For the rooms, many items can be transported to the paint store...curtains, a sofa pillow, a tiny snippet of thread or carpet tuft in tape...so that you can color-match your furniture to paint chips.
You only have to do it one time for the furniture and big rugs, but once it's done, you have the main colors of your furniture in your collection of paper things.
It helps prevent the "OMG-this-isn't-even-close-to-the-color-I-have-here-at-home" problem.
Fabric swatches are ideal, of course, as already mentioned. But there are a whole lot of things that simply do not have fabric swatches available.
view #9's profile
I'm moving into a new space at the end of the summer, and I'm not in the same city! I'll have to get a friend to run around with a measuring tape, because this is an *awesome* idea.
view jrochest's profile
You know what makes me really sad...I don't think I would need the measurements written down. I have memeorised the measurements of so many part of the house. Shop assistants always look at me funny when I mention the size of a cabinet or something. Its hilarious!
view Peachy Keen's profile
Very cool- I carry paint chips, but this takes it to another level!!!
view Lexipup's profile
This is a great idea! I have a 3ring binder, actually 2, soon to be 3. One are floorplans and colors of my existing house and is about 1" thick. the other is a dream book filled with ideas that i want to implement in my home. i have a million pages of AT posts, magazine pages, newspaper clipping and the like stuffed in that 3" binder. As of late i have begun to collect garden ideas in a folder that is will be starting a new binder for. But this post's idea will allow my home to travel with me. i tried to memorize some measurments like Peachy Keen but alas i end up with drapes that are 2' too short or blinds that are too long i needed this post cuz my "manbag" is hurting my shoulder and wrinkles my shirts. I love AT.
view thedirtyshow's profile
I decided I was going to make a plan before starting my next design project and I just found these great kits by Canvas Home Basics - Room Spacing Kits that have furniture stickers that didn't require me to sketch or draw. The kit had everything I needed to create a design board like they show on the design shows on HGTV. I was able to try 3 or 4 different ideas for the furniture placement before deciding which one I like the best. I found more on these on this website www.homespacing.com. They might be a little bit big to fit onto the pocket size floor plan but could work if they were a little bit bigger. They are in 1/4" scale. I am glad to see some great ideas out there to help with furniture planning. Thank you.
view margaretoneal's profile
On a smaller scale, I've an image in my phone of my main items and a small file that details room & item dimensions. I've always got my mobile handy!
view Gursk's profile
this is so simple yet genius...
these are the kinds of posts that make me love AT...
view Jess2nola's profile
I absolutely LOVE this idea, but I'm far too lazy to do it. Besides, where's the challenge if you take all of the serendipity out of the hunt?....
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.....~:o)
.....
view quiltmaster's profile
great idea! I am sooooo tired of flipping thru the little notebook I carry with me, with notes & measurements scribbled all over it. hope you don't mind...I have to share this on my blog. will credit AT of course
thank you sue
view solsticehome's profile
I'm not spontaneous enough with my furniture purchases to need the dimensions of my room, but HOW have I never thought to do a little swatch book with all our house colours in it? Such a great idea! Never again will I have to guess!
view littleinkpot's profile
What if you didn't paint the house yourself? How can you get an accurate reflection of what color paint a room is when you didn't start with paint chips?
view OMG's profile
Great idea. I would also include the width of the doors. Wouldn't want to end up with a couch stuck somewhere like in that Dirk Gently book :o)
view doro's profile