Recently, I was working with consumers on their window coverings and room settings at a retail store. Since I didn't have the luxury of visiting them in their homes, I asked the consumers to bring in pictures, paint chips, wallpaper cuttings, carpet and upholstery fabric swatches. This would help me get a visual impression of their likes and dislikes.

As a designer I have a great imagination but am somewhat handicapped when a consumer tries to explain their room to me with adjectives like "kind of blue" or "sort of a green" or "it's just beige." Do you know how many shades of beige there are in this world?

This is a two-fold problem. The first problem I see is consumers getting frustrated trying to make the decorator understand what they want. I have seen consumers waving their hands wildly as if their hand motions could magically make the decorator envision the room they were describing. The second problem is the decorator's problem of trying to understand what consumers mean when they make comments like, "It's just a standard window," or "I want it to look romantic," or, maybe, "My window has another window above it and it's a funny shape."

Recently, on a trip to the East Coast, a consumer dumped a canvas bag on my table. Out came a torn piece of wallpaper, four tufts of the beige carpet, a rumpled piece of sofa upholstery, an arm cushion cover and a paint chip that had a half-eaten butterscotch disc stuck to the back of it. She then started searching through her purse to find the window measurement she had written on the back of a grocery list, only to find she couldn't remember if 64" was the width or height of the window. She was not the first customer I've seen that "disorganized" her room's information in this manner — but at least she did have some clues with which I could work.

Then I thought about an article I'd written many years ago for Better Homes & Gardens - Window & Wall Ideas magazine. It was all about how to organize your home's details. I thought, "I need to talk about this again."

In the article I explained that homeowners needed to visit an office supply store to buy some accordion-style file folders. I recommended the Velcro closure type with 13 pockets inside. They are inexpensive (less than $10) — so buy two. I then instructed them to do the following: Label the first one "Ideas." Label the second one "Our Home." Label each inside tab with a room in their house.

Let's first think of the Idea folder. Are you like me? A "magazineaholic!" I love to read all the decorating magazines. It used to be after I read a magazine it would either go into the "recycle" pile to get passed along to another person to enjoy or it went in the "save" pile. This "save" pile kept growing — multiplying like rabbits. Then if I did get the time to go back through some of the "saved" magazines, I often wondered why I saved them in the first place! That was before I organized my first Idea folder.

Now when I see an idea I want to keep, I tear it out and it goes into the appropriate room section in the Idea folder. If you really like to keep things neat, keep a small pair of scissors in your file.

I also file brochures in my Idea folder. Maybe you are considering Vignette® Modern Roman Shades for your family room when your tax return comes in. By putting that brochure in your Idea folder, not only will you know where it is, but you will also have all the proper information you need to make the best buying decisions. You can get ideas and suggestions from a variety of places. I just tore an article out of the newspaper on new bamboo flooring. I filed it in my family room section. I've also saved how-to articles just in case the mood strikes me.

Now take your Idea folder with you when you go shopping or to see your decorator. I would have loved some of my customers to organize their thoughts and ideas in this fashion. No more "sort of green" and "kinda blue."

Remember I said to set up two file folders. Are you ready for the second one labeled "Our Home?" It has the rooms labeled just like the first one. Only this time, as you decorate your home, you put samples, swatches, paint chips and carpet samples in the appropriate sections. If you have brochures of your furniture, put those in too.

Also, I will recommend that you do a "bird's eye" drawing on graph paper of your rooms. For example, in the bedroom I would map out where the bed is, put in the dressers, chest of drawers and nightstand, and mark where the closet, windows, doors or anything else is in the bedroom.

Now, and this is important, the "Our Home" folder goes in your car and you will love the reason why. Let's say you stop at a department store and notice there is a sale sign on the sheets you've had your eye on; the price is right and you wonder if the color of yellow is the correct yellow for your bedroom. If the "Our Home" file folder is in your car you will buy with confidence because you will have your wallpaper or paint chips tucked into the master bedroom file section.

So the next time you go into the store, pull out your Idea folder and share your ideas with the salesperson. And remember, "A picture is worth a thousand words!"


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