Defining Your Vision - Part 2
You've gathered a ton of images, and you've been looking over them to pick out what really attracted you to them. Now you're starting to further define your vision by deciding on your design direction? It’s time to edit what you’ve pulled.
Start grouping the images by style.
Maybe it’s a light and dark kitchen, or a contemporary and traditional. And out of all those images, some may stand out a lot more. And after you’ve grouped them together, maybe there are some that you don’t like quite as much as the others. So, remove them. Just get rid of the ones that you thought you liked and now within the totality of everything else you’ve pulled you don’t like them quite as much.
The ones that you have gravitated towards more strongly become the drivers of your overall style for the space.
Even if the whole picture isn’t something that you’re gravitating towards anymore, there may be a small element within that image that speaks to you. Keep it but put it in a different pile or on a different board. Consider using it as we layer design elements to create the end design.
After you’ve culled images and you’ve included only the ones that speak to you, look again at the whole combination of what’s left.
Are there similar colours, overall tones, styles? If there are, fabulous! You’ve got some consistency there providing a foundation for the overall design.
If not, try grouping them in a different way – maybe look at blending some styles together – for example Traditional with a Modern twist. Or look at the boards that you do have side by side and evaluate if you have a stronger reaction to one over the other. If you’re still stuck, get some input from someone that you trust and who that knows you well, and that you feel has good taste.
Caution: sometimes too many voices in the mix muddy the waters.
Make sure you don’t ask too many people for their opinion because all of a sudden you’re back to square one and you have no idea what you’re doing again.
Define your vision
After you’ve narrowed down some options and have a bit of a clear direction, gather more images that meet that vision path that you’ve started down to try and flush out some more details for the space. And really start dissecting each image for each of those detail elements to create your final look. Continue to hone until you love every single image.
Now you can name your look.
By pulling the top few images you love, use 5-7-word descriptors of each to help describe your vision. Some examples might be clean, bright, warm, open, modern, or cozy, colourful, maybe it’s a family space. Knowing and being to describe your style intent will help you when you have to sift through all of the options out there for every single element that goes into your space.
The more easily you can communicate your vision with clarity to the people you choose to collaborate and interact with, whether it's a contractor or the sales people when you source the items, the greater the chance is that they can nail it.
For more information, check out our podcast All Things Renovation at www.AllThingsRenovation.com. The second series of episodes focuses on kitchen renovations.