How to “fail your way to success” in interior design.

Have you ever start a project with a million different ideas in your head, only to feel overwhelmed and frustrated because you can't seem to settle on just one? If so, then you're in good company. Even the best interior designers go through this process—it's just part of the design process. The key is to not get too bogged down in the details and to trust your instincts. Here's how I do it.

I call my design process the COD design process. It stands for "Collect", "Organize", "Do". First, I collect ideas, inspirations, scraps of fabrics and other mementos that reflect a feeling, mood or color I love. Then I organize them into rough categories, such as: “Neutral Farmhouse”, “Modern Loft”, or “French Country”. I pick up every memento and ask myself, “which category should this go into?”, and if it doesn’t go into any, then I make a new category and place it there.

Slowly, the samples start taking shape. At the end of the day, “Neutral Farmhouse” may have 20 inspirations underneath it, “Modern Loft’ only 2, and “French County” may have 9.

If this were the case, “Modern Loft” and “Country” will have “Failed”. They get removed because your samples didnt flesh them out enough. The winner here would be “Neutral Farmhouse”.

Do you see how this works? By creating categories and “testing” them to see if you inspirations have enough strength to be the basis of your house, you can quickly decide which direction you should go in.

Once I have found my direction, I then start my “To do” list. For example, maybe I need to find a flooring that will work with my new found theme. I would then take my inspiration to the retail store and see what my options are and start over with the C.O.D. process. Collecting wood samples I like first. Second, organizing them into themes and then making a decision (or “Doing”) on which belongs in my design.

This might seem like a lot of work, but it's really not. And it's definitely worth it when you see the finished product and know that everything came together perfectly because it was meant to be.

So next time you're feeling overwhelmed by all of your options, remember my COD design process—it might just be the key to helping you find your design inspiration and achieve success. Trust your gut and don't be afraid to let some of your ideas fail along the way—you never know which ones will end up being your masterpieces.