I’m a very visual person, so as I’ve developed my ideas for my dream house and the rooms therein, I’ve clipped articles and pictures from magazines to help keep my vision alive.

I started out with a file folder chock full of loose papers.  I think I called it “Home Projects” or something, and I even decorated it with a hammer, even though I can’t draw to save my life.  Rather than my design dreams, these were projects that I wanted to try one of these days, like making a mosaic tile table, or building a birdhouse, or stripping and painting an old chair.

The next thing I tried was a bound book, or blank book, more like a journal.  It was bright green with polka dots, which I thought represented my style at the time.  In here I clipped pictures of furniture and other items I wanted to have in my home someday, along with rooms I saw in magazines.  But pretty soon, this became too bulky–a spiral might have worked better.

But then, there was no way to really organize it into anything.  I wouldn’t know how many pages I’d need for each room, and there was no way to include business cards of designers, realtors, or other contacts I wanted to keep in touch with.

Thus began my search for the perfect organizer for home decorating.  Lo abd behold I found it.  The first model I came across really encompasses much more than decorating projects—it ammounts to a complete record of your home.  It has several components including a tabbed record book for “spaces inside and out” as well as an accordian file to store loose paperwork.  (A basic accordian file was going to be my next route to store magazine clippings of ideas.)

Martha Stewart offers printable PDF reference planners on her website.  These are great for tips and can be put into a binder, but don’t offer any sheets for notekeeping or storing other paperwork.

The most elaborate system seems to be the KelliKit, which includes videos, and various art supplies for choosing furniture, space planning, and color technique.

If you’re just concerned with holiday decorating at this point, Better Homes and Gardens offers an online planning guide that actually starts six weeks out from Christmas, but still has timely and useful information to offer.

Even with all of these elaborate organizers available, I will still probably find myself stuffing odd pictures and articles into my various books and folders.  Either way, it’s still fun to dig them out every couple of years and ask myself why in the world I ever thought some outrageous lamp or chair would look good in anyone’s house, much less my own.

Last 5 posts by KellyThacher

• O Tannenbaum . . . - December 23rd, 2009
• Lighting a Candle - December 22nd, 2009
• All For Show - December 21st, 2009
• Faking it with Flowers - December 20th, 2009
• Color Clinic - December 19th, 2009

Author: Kelly Thacher

Kelly has been a writer since she was in grade school where she received early recognition for her Young Author's project. Magazines like Home Entertainment, Luxury Consumer Electronics, Vertical Living, Luxury Home and the Robb Report were happy to have Kelly's editing talents on various projects. A series of career twists and turns has offered her invaluable experience in journalism, magazine and book publishing, and fiction writing.

Kelly Thacher has written 30 articles for us.