Furnishing a home is no easy feat. People often underestimate how long it takes to furnish a whole room, let alone a whole house on their own. From scrolling online or hunting in stores, to fully furnishing and decorating a house to one's liking, the process is anything but speedy. There are hundreds of decisions to be made, often resulting in half-completed tasks and feelings of frustration. In the end, the house may still not look like a Pinterest board or the image they had envisioned in their heads. Let's explore this dilemma.
Time and Patience
It takes homeowners, an average of 3-6 months to execute a full room design. Surprised? You are not alone. Many prospecting movers are baffled by this statistic and the dedication it takes to make a house feel like a home. From personal experience, we're not. Achieving a cohesive style takes one of two things when it comes to interior design: knowing where to source items from and the know-how to put it all together.
Too Many Choices
6 months seems like a lot for one room, so what gives? We break it down to the sheer volume of choices being offered. Often times, homeowners are excited to start the design process, but when they hit the stores or start scrolling online, they quickly become overwhelmed. The retail market is so saturated that choosing one couch can feel like climbing Mount Everest.
Your mind travels back and forth, assessing your options and the pros and cons of each one. Soon enough, you feel like a whole weekend has passed and you are no closer to solving the perfect couch mystery than you were before the hunt began. You think to yourself "does this couch suit my needs, will it fit in my space" and my personal favourite, "can I find better?" The hunt drags on until your room is left haphazardly put together or your mission is altogether abandoned. For many of our clients, this experience is common and it is why they reach out to us for help.
The Psychology of Indecisiveness
Psychology Today explain this phenomenon with indecision as a direct outcome of fear — fear of making the wrong decision. The more options you have, the more uncertainty floods you. Add a spouse or roommate into the mix and your desire to please them heightens this indecisiveness, causing you to play the elimination game between options. That white leather CB2 sofa you envisioned may no longer seem like the clear-cut choice now that you found out your spouse hates leather and vetoes your decision.
Fear of making the wrong decision is common. So how do you combat this fear?
Our Solution
At White Dahlia Design, we believe that having choices is great, but having carefully curated choices (based on style and budget) is better! We've found that providing our clients with 2-3 solid options to choose from during the decision-making process, alleviates stress. We source items that narrow down the hundreds of options flooding their feed daily. Plus, our 3D models take the guesswork out of their design project by providing them with a realistic representation of their completed design. This allows them to feel confident in their decisions.
Cross fear and uncertainty out of your interior design process. We can help you create the home of your dreams, one room at a time!