Home Decorating 101: Inspiration

With the basic information for your room figured out -- its functions, scope, and budget -- you can start dreaming about the perfect room and looking for inspiration.

Make a file of photos from magazines, set up a board at Pinterest or weheartit, or use an app like SnapShop to collect photos as you scout furniture shops and showrooms. Either virtually or in your physical world, create a dream board that gets all the things you love in a room together in one place.

Then look for the patterns, the touchstones.

If your examples are all blue and white, it's safe to say that you want a blue and white room. Sometimes it's not so simple, though. Your ideas may all be quite different at first glance, in which case you have to search for the common thread.

Maybe your room should be romantic, or you like an Asian influence. Perhaps it's not so much colour or style that brings all your favorite rooms together, but clean straight lines and organization. Maybe you prefer an upscale look, or a high-fashion effect.

It can take a lot of hunting and gathering to get a clear idea of what you want in a room, but it's worth the trouble. Knowing exactly what you want beforehand saves time, trouble, and money, as well as increasing your chances of getting exactly what you want.