Create A Dream Design Notebook

Design is a process and requires clear vision. We are bombarded with options and styles, this is both wonderful and overwhelming. If you don't have a clear vision of what you want you will not be happy with your efforts. I suggest beginning your journey with a dream design notebook, to hold all of your inspiration.

I use a beautiful 12X12 scrapbook. The pages are bigger and give me more room to spread out. My book started with a journal entry that simply talked about how my dream house felt. I didn't even mention color, fabric or style. I wanted to understand the mood. I thought I would start with an entire dream house but this quickly became too big and overwhelming. As I worked the book naturally narrowed down to my dream master bedroom. This allowed me to really focus. Consider these elements when assembling your own book.

• Start with a single room you are passionate about, master bedroom and bath, or a kitchen or family room. You will be able to fill a book dreaming up one room.

• Find a fabric you love and work within the colors of that material, if you struggle to find a fabric you start gathering samples of fabrics you like. As you gather many of these one may soon stand out as a very favorite.

• Journal out the mood you are trying to create, consider the activities that will take place in that room. Mood and Function are always the first things to determine when creating a space.

• Be sure and include poetry or lines from your favorite song, scriptures or favorite quotes, anything that reflects the mood you are seeking to create. 

• Gather tangible pictures you can cut and paste into your book. Pintrest is lovely, but there is nothing like scouring through magazines and cutting out pictures then pasting them into a book you can hold in your hands as you sit on your couch and turn each lovingly made page. It's also fun to share with good friends.

• Include descriptions and pictures of as many aspects of the room as possible, including accessories and even the type of music you would play or scents wafting through the air. 

• Be ready for your ideas to change, the beauty of this notebook is that your ideas will evolve, and you get to make mistakes and find out what works on paper first, without busting the bank!

Have fun and take your time, this is a project to enjoy! My dream master bedroom notebook has expanded into two books and I've been working on them for the last four years! It has been a delight for me to create these books and has helped me develop my style immensely. I hope your book will give the same to you!