How to Plan & Execute an Interior Decoration Project
Whether it’s your guest bedroom, downstairs lavatory or your garden room, using paint or wallpaper to transform your interior will help make your home beautiful. You might feel excited by the prospect of gathering inspiration and ideas, but completing your project can often seem like a daunting task.
Although it can be tempting to order your paint and wallpaper as soon as possible, it will pay off to plan your project in stages and test colours in situ before committing.
Read our expert tips to help you undertake your decorating project and guide you through the painting journey with ease.
Step 1 – Gather Inspiration
Gathering inspiration is a great way to really focus your mind on the colours you want to use, as well as trying to determine the look and feel of the space you want to create.
Pinterest and Instagram are brilliant tools for online inspiration – not forgetting interior design magazines such as Architectural Digest, Elle Decor and House & Garden which are all great sources too. Start ‘pinning’, ‘saving’ and ‘mood-boarding’ away, get creative! For further inspiration, Browse our Inspiration section.
You should have a good idea of what kind of colours you want to use in your scheme by the end of this process.
Step 2 – Request a Colour Card
Before you order any sample pots or paint, make sure you order our complimentary colour cards online. This will give you a full overview of the colour range and it will demonstrate how the colours look in real life. All of the paint colours on the colour cards are handpainted chips, so this is exactly the shade that the colour will be on your walls.
Remember, colours that appear on your screen will always look different in person and it will vary depending on the device and screen resolution. Ordering a colour card will eliminate any concerns from the very start and help you to order the correct Sample Pots too!
By bending the card you can use our handy ‘flying chips’ to compare the colours next to fabrics and existing furniture you may already have in your scheme.
Step 3 – Ordering and testing Sample Pots in situ
Now you are ready to order your 60ml (2.03 fl oz) Sample Pots. This is a really important step because:
- You need to see the colour on a bigger expanse and in situ. Although the colour chips are the exact colour, they are very small in comparison to your wall.
- Colour changes throughout the day. So we recommend painting out a piece of card and placing it around the room and viewing it at varying times throughout the day. You’ll be surprised how this can alter how the colour reads.
- Colour can appear warmer, cooler, darker or lighter depending on the natural and artificial light in your space. For example, what looks like a warm grey in a south facing room, may look a littler cooler in a north facing room.
When your sample pots arrive, we would always recommend painting them out on a large expanse (ideally a Ledger sized card) and paint at least two coats to achieve full depth of colour.
The finish is our Absolute Flat Emulsion which is perfect for testing colour on your own walls as it dries quickly and your brush can be easily washed out in water.
Step 4 – Choosing and ordering your bespoke colours
When you are 100% on your colour choice and you have identified a suitable finish for your project, you’re ready to order!
Our order process is personal. Your order will be picked and tinted by hand, then colour checked by a member of the warehouse team before it leaves our distribution centre - ensuring total colour accuracy.
Little Greene colours are tinted to order, which means we cannot accept returns.
Wall: Yellow-Pink
Door frame and Baseboard: Lamp Black
Step 5 – Get decorating
Get decorating - using this five stage process, your home will be planned with perfection.