How I stay focused when decorating: the post-it list saga

I love lists. I make lists for everything that I need to do (to do list for the day, for the week, for the month, groceries, what I want to buy from Target etc). It makes me feel organized. However I am really not that organized. I am afraid I am very easily distracted when it comes to working around the house. For example, I may start folding laundry in the family room and then take one pile with me into the bedroom to put away and get distracted by how disorganized my vanity looks. Thus, the rest of the folded laundry is neglected until I finish putting away all my makeup and hair bobbles. It drives my hubby nuts.

Unfortunately I have this same issue when it comes to decorating my home. We moved into our new home a 5 months ago after some cosmetic work (new wood floors, painting, replace half the kitchen). I began with making a list of the overall big things I wanted to do in our home. And then I organized my list by breaking it down room by room. Once I had that list going I went even further and added all the little things I wanted to do in each room as well.

Needless to say seeing all these words in my ever growing "to do for the home" was overwhelming. I started feeling discouraged even before I began. I decided to take it step by step and tackle one room at a time. However, various needs for one thing here and one thing there threw that plan awry. Now I have a house full of half finished rooms.

I am not one of those people who feels the need to have everything complete as soon as possible. I feel that decorating a home takes time and evolves as you live there and your needs for each space become more apparent. However, I do have an overall vision for my home and I want to make sure I don't get lost in all the projects and end up regretting that there was something I didn't get to.

So, I decided to make my lists more visual. Rather than keeping my lists hidden in various notebooks or on my phone I made little post-its with my to do and to buy goals for each room. My home is a work in progress and it is my hope that these notes will keep my progress on track.

~T