Are you addicted to decorating? Do you find yourself wanting everything you see in the store? Luckily, you aren’t the only one.
I teach and train individuals who want a career in the decorating industry. When you start a career in this field, one of the things you need to learn, believe it or not, is how to shop. After 17 years of doing this, I know a thing or two about shopping! 🙂
Here are some shopping tips from a professional to help you enjoy your trip without losing sight of the end goal!
1. Focus, Focus, Focus: To those of you who are addicted to shopping and decorating, listen up! When it comes to shopping for your home decor, take it one room at a time. Otherwise, you’ll becoming overwhelmed and give up. Make a list of what you think you will need so you don’t get distracted along the way.
2. Work Large to Small: We always want to start with the accessories, right? Wrong! Meanwhile our furniture is not in the right place so we are buying things we may not even need. After you have your furniture and it’s arranged correctly, then you can better determine if you need a rug. If you buy the rug first and the furniture is not arranged, you may end up needing a different size. Now is the time to make sure that everything you purchase functions. Can everyone sitting around the couch put down a glass or a cup of coffee?
3. Lighting: Overhead lighting is not enough. You need at least three lamps to successfully design a room. Once you finish with lighting and the other items at the top of the list, then you can purchase artwork and accessories.
This is a guest post from The-DSA Master Trainer Carol Bass of The Practical Decorator. Check out our DSA class schedule to register for redesign and staging classes with Carol!
