Tired of procrastinating about your big home makeover? I know I was. For four years I’ve been meaning to restyle my boring old living room. But I always found excuses not to. I’m too busy, we don’t have the money, it isn’t so bad after all… you know, the usual.
Do you have the same problem? Then you should try these tips:
1. Bring in a friend
Use the buddy system for boring or scary adult tasks
I keep in touch with my best friend Erica via Gchat. When big things happen -- breakups, an upcoming interview, travel -- we absolutely talk... Read more
Peer pressure, is there anything more motivating? After four years I asked one of my best friends (Dave) to help me redecorate my living room. We would do the entire project ourselves, from start to finish.
The help from Dave was amazing — he really motivated me to finally take action and see some results. He described his method as having non-zero days: doing even the simplest task is better than doing nothing at all.
2. Step by step
At first, redecorating the entire living room seemed like a daunting task. There was so much to do. But by breaking the project up into simple steps, it looked much more manageable.
We used Post-it notes to write down all the necessary steps: store the furniture, remove the old floors, repaint the walls, etc. We put all Post-its on a wall. Once a phase was completed, we took the Post-it off the wall and shredded it (this was very satisfying).
3. Preparation is key
When it comes to redecorating a room, preparation is very important. You should always keep the end result in mind and think about how this result can be achieved. I already had an idea in my mind. I tried to put it on paper, but my drawing skills are terrible. Luckily, there are several interior design tools available, such as:
Use these room planning tools to test ideas before committing to a zebra-striped dance den
Let's jam on online design tools -- they're SUPER helpful when you're planning decor, because how else are you going to figure out how to... Read more
With these tools, I could design a virtual living room and see what works and what doesn’t. Some ideas were definitely cut because they didn’t look good.
4. Set a deadline
Deadlines can be motivating or give you extra stress. For me, it was the former. I decided that on March 16th, the new living room should be finished. Why? Because that’s when we’re hosting a birthday party. Having a definite date was the perfect incentive to finally start my living room makeover.
How did you finally motivate yourself to start your own makeovers?
I really like the idea of non-zero days. They are relevant to so many parts of my life right now. (Did I pick up all the toys one time today? Did I do a few dishes? Did I do even the most simple step on my current for-fun project? Did I read one chapter?) Maybe I should make a chart so I can check things off as being non-zero.
I also loved the idea of non-zero days! Any small task is better than nothing. I often get bogged down with how much I need to do, especially if it’s a big project, that I wind up getting overwhelmed and not doing anything. This is great advice! Instead of beating myself up that I didn’t cross every single thing off my to-do list or knock out a huge section of a project, I can applaud myself for doing one thing, taking one step…and I would guess that this kind of attitude has a very positive snowball effect over time, and might make me more productive in the long run.
Love the idea of having a deadline. Even if you don’t make the deadline, you’re still farther along than you would have been without it. My deadline for decorating my library was the day of my book club. I was hosting and knew I’d want to show it off. It’s still not DONE done, but it’s the vast majority of the way there and that makes a difference. I’m still searching for some additional art and stuff, but the things I did have got framed, organized, etc. All the rest is just gravy!