designing your space : questions.

These days I am absolutely obsessed with redecorating our home. We are at the point right now where we do not know whether or not we are staying in Portland or moving to New York, so all my decorating ideas have to be put into a notebook, stored for the future. So now I am taking the time to fully plan out what kind of design we are going to go for. My husband and I have very different tastes (he's the classic historian and I'm the modernist), so we are trying to find the balance between the two (which has led us to something like this - thanks Greg!)

All of these home design thoughts made me think about a bunch of questions that should be asked to figure out which direction one should go when trying to decide how to design their space:

1. Do you spend a lot of time in your home? Are there particular rooms that you will be spending the majority of your time while at home?
2. What kind of mood would you like your home to reflect? Calming? Energetic? Sexy?
3. What are your favorite eras of design? Do you prefer Victorian, mid-century, art deco, etc?
4. What colors are you drawn to? Do you prefer whites and neutrals or would you rather go for bold and bright?
5. How much space do you have to work with? How many people will be living in your home? How can you work with that space to make everyone comfortable?
6. How much money to you have to work with? What is most important for you to spend your money on to make a noticeable change in your home? Wallpaper? A new couch? Different flooring?
7. What inspires you most? Are you constantly inspired by sixties French films? Do you love gorgeous graphic design? Are you a fashion obsessie?
8. What will you be spending your time doing while you are at home? Will you require an office to work/craft in? Are you a cook/baker? Do you spend a large amount of time watching films and television?
9. Do you like to entertain and have parties? Will you require a large table? Extra seating? Storage for party supplies?
10. Above all, who are you? What's important to you? What are you favorite things in life? How would you like your home to reflect who you are?

Great resources:
-Apartment Therapy (always inspiring).
-Grace's sneak peeks.
-Magazines: Domino, Blueprint, and Elle Decor.
-Desire to Inspire weblog.
-Flickr groups: Interiors, Fresh New Spaces, and Corners of My Home.