One of the projects I’ve been working on lately has me thinking a lot about the design process, specifically as it relates to putting a room together and how to avoid decorating regret.  I’ve been pondering the order in which choices and purchases should be made and I’ve realized that most people, including myself at times, go about putting a room together entirely backward. Think about it with me…  You’ve been browsing the internet or flipping through decorating magazines or perhaps binge-watching your favorite design show and now you’re ready to tackle your room.  It’s time for a makeover!  What do you immediately do? I think it’s fair to say that most people pick a paint color. Right? You pick out paint chips and paint swatches on the wall and the room makeover has begun!  I think we all go straight for the walls because it’s the easiest, biggest bang

Dear Reader (to the one who keeps making the same decorating mistakes), We should start a club.  We’ll call it the “I have not learned my lesson” club or the “Oops, I did it again” club.  (Hey!  We have a theme song if we call it that.) We can have meetings and everything. “Hello.  My name is Marian.” Psst.  This is where you say, “Hi, Marian.” “I just had to repaint my walls for the third time, because I have not learned my lesson.  I know I should buy test pots and paint a swatch to make sure I like the color first, but I feel like swatches are for weenies and I’m not scared of color and I want my walls painted yesterday, so I’m going to buy $75 worth of paint and spend an entire day painting a room that I’ll hate by dinner time.” I imagine a

Dear reader, A few minutes after I put my sons to bed a few weeks ago, I heard the sound of feet on the steps. “Mommy?”  My oldest son had crept out of bed with something on his mind.  I walked around the corner to the bottom of the steps.  “What is it, buddy?” Earlier in the evening, we talked with him about buying a new bike.  He had outgrown the one he had in ability and size.  I thought he would be dreaming of the new bike, but instead, he was distressed about the fate of his old one. As we got into the conversation a bit further, with a frog in his throat and tears welling up, my tender-hearted nine year old confessed, “It’s just sometimes hard for me to let go of things that I’ve had for a long time and I really enjoyed.” His moment of raw emotion