Style like a pro: Decision Fatigues

Plan your strike. Get your colour palate locked and loaded.

No, not a typo.  I am indeed using dramatic military vernacular for this particular topic.  The topic that is the never ending despotic tyranny of “consumer choice”.  

Hundreds, thousands of choices. All marvellous. All waiting for you to meticulously sift through to find THE perfect piece for you home.  Before you know it, you have 157 grey modular couches on your short list with not even a glimmer of a final decision…Sound familiar?  Those of you that have attempted to DIY their own interiors will know what I’m putting down and it’s something I hear quite often from my clients.  They thought “how hard could this be?”  They donned the fatigues, unholstered their credit cards and waded into the swampy (but oh so pretty) marsh of the homemaker centre only to met by a formidable barrage of choice, running at them like hungry Raptors in a jurassic cornfield. Panic sets in, the white flag hastily goes up and suddenly that old ratty couch isn’t so bad. 

I’m a Libra (not an astrophysicist) and decision making is oft fraught and laborious.  Don’t even picture me sitting hunched over the menu like a mad scientist trying to decide which entree to order whilst my fellow dinner guests slowly loose their will to live.  Yet burdened with this terrible affliction, I work very happily in a profession where decision making is king.  But how?!  How do I efficiently pull together a coherent concept, choose furniture, paint colours and battalions teeny weeny little decorator objects without succumbing to design paralysis?  

Put down that Ikea catalogue and read on my dear Comrades, your lounge room needs you.

Laser Like Focus.

You know that look your pet gives you when you’re scoffing pizza on the couch?  That’s focus.  Those steely determined eyes, watching and studying every minutiae of movement, intricately tracking that slice of pizza from the box to your face (and probably down your t-shirt).  Body motionless but tense, ready to strike when opportunity falls from your mouth.  Doubt that you will accidentally drop an entire slice on the floor is never entertained.  Success will be theirs. If not by your careless greasy hands then certainly by the sheer telekinetic power currently being employed by Walter the Puggle.

Be like Walther the Puggle at dinner time when entering the furniture store.  FOCUS. You know you want a modern light grey modular lounge.  “Of course!” says the sales assistant who promptly walks you over to the most perfect and comfortable grey modular you’ve ever seen. GET. IT…..But wait! The sales assistant seductively asks “But have you seen these…?” Your hairs prickle with curiosity, the sales assistant gestures their arm like a tv game show hostess and suddenly a savanna of couches is revealed, all different, all beautiful.  None being a grey modular couch. Now, you’re questioning your plan. Those hours you scoured instagram, measured the room, argued with the other half, gave Walter a bit of pepperoni and said it was the last one, re-measured, given Walter another bit of pepperoni and finally agreed to a solution have now gone.  Hastily surrendered in the face of new and completely different options.  Why? Because they’re simply there.  

Remember, pizza box, face.  Don’t be distracted! Be like Walter. You knew what you wanted and it’s here, waiting for you. Perfect…the store has metaphorically dropped THE most perfect slice of pizza on the floor.  Be. Like. Walter. Snaffle it now without hesitation knowing in your heart it’s what you wanted in the first place and it’s perfect for your house.  Let some other gormless schmuck be ravaged to death in the sofa savanna.  You have the inside scoop, you haven’t won the war yet but the first battle can be notched up as an allied win.

Spidy Senses.

“Let’s just make sure there’s not a better option”  …I hear this a lot. And as Paul Keating once said, this concept “is a shiver looking for a spine”.  Usually mine.

Choosing fabric and colour samples can be overwhelming.

Sure, getting the best option is super important. But that best solution is something you’ve probably already discovered when pulling together your overall colour scheme. Sitting in a showroom with a sales assistant helpfully hovering like an impatient Blackhawk chopper (desperate to make a sale) whilst you’re engaged with a weapons grade toddler tantrum is not the time to start exploring an entirely new design concept.  Then the sales assistant parks a troop carrier of fabric sample books and proceeds to lob grenades of designer fabrics at you in an effort to be “helpful”. Suddenly you can’t decide between the teal velvet, hot pink corduroy or cobalt blue boucle.  What happened to light grey?!  Put down all the other sample books that aren’t grey…Except maybe the one with the cobalt boucle.  Maybe we should just have a look…

I won’t lie, once you have “the colour” locked in, then there’s “which shade?”.  Even talking humble grey we have a kaleidoscope of choices.  Shark grey, charcoal, flint, pavement, graphite, smoke, pewter…I could go on. I won’t.  I do have a client at the moment who delights in the unnecessarily fruity names we creatives come up with for simple colour names.  I’ll admit, it’s become quite a fun game to come up with increasingly ludicrous names for our colour palate and highly recommended to lighten the mood…But I digress.

There’s only one piece of advice I have here.  Trust. Your. Gut.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve laboured over 50 shades of porpoise (not a typo, a legit colour) with clients just to end up selecting the first one that caught our eye…only now it’s dark outside.  Now, I’m not saying don’t look at the various shades, it’s your duty! But if you thought light grey was the colour, then look at the light grey options. Don’t even bother looking at the darker shades. Choose from the handful you do want, not the gazillion you don’t.

In closing.

I guess the nutshell sales pitch here is trust your judgement and your plan and remain focused.  You decided a light grey modular was the right choice weeks ago, then built a whole room around it.  Don’t go a changing now just because you saw a lovely but totally unsuitable day bed.  Approach everything from here on in with blinkered determination to succeed in the face of choices overload.  Trust me, I’ve been there and done the alternative many times before learning this particular war game. And once you engage these strategies, you’ll be sitting on your new couch eating pizza with Walter in peaceful bliss in no time.

Happy styling!

Dave xx

On another note, Ii’s my hope that these blogs give you practical info to help style your own master piece, intended to be delivered a light and entertaining way.  How am I doing?  If you love it, share it with those you know would love it too. If you hate it or want to me to discuss a particular topic, don’t be shy!  I love all feedback so send me a message.  I have a 3 part series outlining the entire design process which should be a good summer read…and helpful too!  Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get all the latest info AND 10% off your first purchase.