Welcome to Heardmont

Happy Monday everybody!  We have a very special guest on the blog today.  Organizer extraordinaire Alana.  I hope you enjoy the tips she has to share! 

Hello, Heardmont-ers!  My name is Alana and I am the woman behind the blog: Bella Organized Interiors.  First of all, I’d like to thank Meredith for having me! You are an amazingly talented woman and I’m honored to be here.  So, from the bottom of my heart… thank you! {virtual hugs!}

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for organizing and decorating.  I’ve been so blessed to be able to turn that passion into a business that allows me to help others find stylish solutions for their organizing needs.  Today, I thought I would share ways to organize your decorating inspiration and projects since I know many of you who read this blog are avid DIYers, too.

Tell me if this scenario sounds a bit familiar to you:

It’s time to roll up your sleeves and jump into your next home decor project.  Problem is, you can’t find that paint swatch you chose for the kitchen wall color or that fabric sample you pulled for the living room curtains.  The estimate you put together for hardwood flooring in your bedroom is buried somewhere under your mail pile in the entryway and you can’t remember where you put your level so you can hang the pictures for the gallery wall you’ve been dying to create.  The project hasn’t even started and you already want to pull your hair out.  So, what do you do?

Before you ever lift a sledgehammer to demo or pull out the paint brush, you probably spend countless hours pouring over books, magazines, and websites looking for inspiration to create a space that is uniquely yours.  Problem is, searching for that all-elusive inspiration can mean piles of torn pages and one or more cluttered folders on your computer’s desktop.  Avoiding the scenario above begins with how you organize that inspiration.

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The obvious solution is the good, ol’ standby: the inspiration board, a.k.a. a bulletin board {or cork wall, in this case}.  This option is perfect for keeping up with pages torn from magazines or paint swatches nabbed at the home improvement store, but what about all of the fabulousness to be found on the internet {especially all of the chic goodness that Meredith puts out here at “Welcome to Heardmont”…}?

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I’m sure you’ve heard Meredith, along with many other bloggers {myself included} sing the praises of Pinterest.  It really is an amazing way to organize all of the wonderful inspiration to be found online.  All you have to do is create a separate virtual board for each project or room, which makes my organizing-obsessed heart skip a beat.
Both of these options are wonderful for gathering general inspiration.  But when it comes to putting the pieces together for an upcoming project, some extra organization measures must be taken to ensure that you don’t pull all of your hair out {after all, your hair is beautiful as is}.

So, you’ve gathered inspiration and now you’re ready to begin to make some decisions.  You’ve picked out a paint color for the walls and made your fabric selections for your furtains, furniture and throw pillows.  You’ve chosen the perfect rug and sketched out a great layout.  Make sure you don’t misplace the pieces to your decor puzzle by keeping them all in one place.

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My favorite solution is to purchase a binder and some sheet protectors.  That paint chip and those fabric swatches can be taped/stapled to a plain piece of paper and slipped right inside on of those sheet protectors.  You can take {or print out} pictures of any pieces of furniture or accessories that you wish to use in the room.  Plus, all notes, sketches, receipts and any other related paperwork can slip inside it’s own sheet protector as well {or, you may find it more handy to glue a large envelope to the inside of at least one side of the binder}.  If you’ve got several projects going on at once, simply purchase dividers and label them accordingly {ex: “living room”; “dining room”} or you can always give each room it’s own binder.

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If binders give you flashbacks of high school {thus making you break out in a sweat}, another great option is to use files.  A portable file organizer, such as the one above which can be purchased at The Container Store, works great for keeping your decor “stuff” separate from your household and financial “stuff”.  If you have more than one project going on and you really want to keep things streamlined, you can color-code the file folders {ex: blue is “living room”, red is “dining room”} or buy one for each room.

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If you’re someone who prefers to stack paperwork, you’ll probably appreciate this option.  The great thing about an art box is that all you have to do is lift the lid and toss the receipt/paint chip/floor plan sketch inside.  Plus, it is just as portable as the file box.  Downside?  You may have to dig all the way to the bottom to find what you’re looking for.  But, hey, if that doesn’t bother you, then go for it.  It definitely beats having everything scattered throughout your house.

However you choose to organize your inspiration and paperwork, I know that you all are a creative bunch and your projects are going to turn out beautifully.  If you have any further questions about how to organize your decor {or anything else for that matter}, you are welcome to email me at bellaorganizedinteriors{at}gmail{dot}com.  Also, feel free to stop by my blog: Bella Organized Interiors for daily organizing inspiration.

Lots of Love,