How I Plan for a DIY Room Makeover

Planning for your home update should be done a little differently from what a designer might do, but you can still use some of their process to make your room come together seamlessly. Here’s how I plan for a DIY room makeover.

Undertaking your own DIY room makeover usually requires flexibility, resourcefulness, and a strong vision. While there are definitely methods and steps that are considered “correct” in the design world, it usually makes more sense to go about it a bit differently than a professional designer would when you’re working on your own home, for practicality reasons and to keep your budget in check. While you have the luxury of time and of being in your space everyday, you may find that you don’t have access to quite as many resources as a designer would have, and that can create some challenges when it comes to achieving the look you’re after. You also live in your space every day, and this can cause a lot of people to feel overwhelmed by the whole process of making a functional and aesthetic change in their home. It can be difficult to picture a style change in a space that you’re so accustomed to, but I find a few simple steps make the process much easier and more fun, too.

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Start With the Vision

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Having a strong vision for your space is so important. While designers and architects might make use of 3d modeling and rendering services to help them and their clients visualize how the pieces in a space will come together, when you’re taking a DIY approach, having a handful of photos to guide you can be so helpful. I recommend choosing a few specific photos rather than gathering pictures of hundreds of different spaces to help you maintain clarity and focus when it comes to what you want to achieve.

Think first of all in terms of sight lines and elevations. These are usually larger room shots, captured symmetrically and straight-on, or photos that allow you to stand back and see the whole room. 1-2 of these photos is sufficient for the planning process for a room. Next, gather a handful of photos that you feel capture the mood and tone of the room you dream of. Finally, include photos of 1-2 details you’d like to see in the space. These can be hardware, millwork, finishes, fabrics, or styling vignettes that you love.

The Designer Approach

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A designer will often use a structured approach to choose items for a space in a specific order, allowing decisions to flow logically from one item to the next, often working from the ground up. Many designers follow a process that has them choose rugs, flooring, and cabinetry first, followed by any major textiles and accent fabrics for the space. Once those are sorted out, they’ll move on to furnishings, wall colors, lighting, and finally, decorative accents.

You’ll notice that the wall color choice comes fairly late in the process, which allows designers to ensure that what they choose will work with all the fabrics and flooring finishes that they’ve already selected. DIYers will often make the mistake of choosing a wall color first, and this can lead to a lot of frustration throughout the process when trying to make fabric and finish selections work with a unique, pre-existing wall color.

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The DIY Approach That I Follow

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There’s an essential first step to my method that is a bit different from what most designers might employ, and that is that I always start with what already works in my space first. Since I always make it a priority to choose timeless pieces for my home with the goal of having furnishings that will last me a lifetime, I usually already have quite a few pieces that already work well in a space and that I know I will be keeping. Even if I’m ready for a big change in a space, and want it to feel completely different, I keep a lot the same. This makes my home update projects more affordable overall, even if I splurge on a few really special new pieces, and it means that my decorating projects are always a little more sustainable as well.

The Next Step: Add the Pieces That I Can’t Say No To

When someone enlists the help of a designer, it’s often because they know their space is unfinished, or very much in need of an update, but they just don’t know where to begin. Or sometimes that aren’t even sure what they like or what they think looks good and want a little extra inspiration and direction.

For me, as a DIYer, if I’m starting to plan for a room makeover, its usually because I have a vision, and have often fallen in love with a special piece or two that I absolutely can’t live without. These pieces that I can’t say no to are the next items that I layer in to my decorating plan, after deciding which existing items I’ll be keeping.

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Complete the Space From The Ground Up

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Once I have the inspiration nailed down, the pieces that I’ll be keeping, and the pieces that I absolutely have to have, I move forward with the design plan in much the same way as the traditional designer’s approach, by working from the ground up, choosing flooring, fabrics, furnishings, wall color, etc..

This can sometimes make it feel like I’m working backward a little bit, and can require a bit of extra time to find everything I need, but since I’m working in my own home, and not usually on any kind of deadline, this is usually just fine. 🙂

Sometimes it can be hard to find the exact right bedding or lampshade to work with the curtain fabric that I’ve fallen in love with, or to choose a rug when almost everything in the space has already been decided upon, but usually, when I’m meant to find the exact right piece I’m looking for, I will. And it’s usually when I least expect it.

There’s some legwork involved in making it all come together, and definitely a bit of luck, but having at least a bit of a structured approach really does help to create a space that feels polished, cohesive, and complete.

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