Be Inspired...

6 Proven Tips To Help You Find The Inspiration To Finish That Project

We’ve all been there: you began your project with bundles of enthusiasm, setting about the tasks with drive and vigour. But then you take a break, or you wear yourself out, or perhaps become distracted by another idea.

Trying to revisit your project feels akin to wading through water. You can never truly get back into your stride, and before you know it, your project falls by the wayside. You need inspiration to come along, slap you round the face, chuck a cold glass of water over you to get you back on track (metaphorically speaking of course: we wouldn’t want our make-up running now would we?). Here are a few ideas to turn that wasted inspiration around and start accomplishing your interior design goals.

Magazines

A quick way to kill your motivation is to burn yourself out. Trying to do too much is not always a good thing, so make time for rest. Put your feet up with a cup of tea (or wine depending on how the day has gone) and flick through a magazine. Inspiration can pounce at any time, but a good interior design magazine can stir your imagination immediately.

Magazines are a hot bed of inspiration and a superb way to get ideas whilst relaxing. I keep a folder that is filled with pages pulled out of magazines, pictures that caught my eye and provide ideas when I need it. Look at the picture, try to figure out why you like it, what part of it appealed to you? Once you know that, who knows, you could find yourself back on track to completing your project.

Take a Walk

Inspiration can strike when you least expect it, but it can be provoked by a long stroll. Not only is it good exercise, it is a way to clear your head and take your mind off the matter. I always find my best ideas come to me when I least expect it, and taking a walk certainly helps.

Be Prepared – Lightening Only Strikes Once

I once had a friend who would wake up in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea, grab a pen and scribble it on the wall next to his bed. In the morning he’d wake up to gibberish scrawled across the wall above his pillow and no idea what he had meant to write in the first place.

The moral of that story is to always have a means of recording those ideas. Download a note or voice memo app to your phone, or carry a notebook and pen if you’re old-school. You don’t want to let that idea pass you by, and don’t kid yourself you’ll remember it. You don’t have to log entire passages of text, just a headline is often enough to get you back on track. A quick flick through the notes on my phone produces a variety of weird and wonderful ideas:

• ‘Thunderbirds visit Scotland’


• ‘A trip down memory lane’


• ‘Carrot cake’


• ‘Deep violet, bright green’


• ‘Autumn walk in the woods'

Now to you that seems like I’ve lost my marbles or at least the beginnings of a bizarre beat poem. But to me they provoke the idea that has been filed away in my head, so I can return to those notes and eventually turn those ideas into a reality. If I had left them to pass me by, I’d probably never think of them again.

Throw a Paint Party

Going it alone can be boring; no wonder you can lose your way. So, get your friends over, put out a few beers, order in a pizza, crank up the music and have some fun while you work. We suggest doing the intricate parts of the job before you crack open the beers, you don’t want to deal with flecks on paint on a window sill in the morning. Load up the rollers with paint and watch them go – the job will be done in not time.

Keep On Keeping On

Sometimes you just need to crack on, make a start. If you have a mountain of jobs ahead of you it can seem futile to even begin them. However, taking one task at a time is the easiest way to tackle the problem. Take on the big problems first, get it out of the way early on. You’ll be making life easy for yourself further down the line, and you may sleep a little better.

Take a look at the DotcomBlinds blog

We are always filling our blog with ideas, inspirational pictures and nifty How To guides, so if you’re ever lagging in the motivation department, come take a look at our posts and peruse our website – there is something for everyone! We pride ourselves on providing useful and practical information and working hard to give you the quickest, clearest answer. If you need help simply get in touch with us and we’ll go the extra mile to get you going again.

We also provide free fabric samples, so find a blind you like the look off, add the free fabric sample to your basket and checkout, and we’ll have our little snippets of inspiration on their way to you in no time. Take a look around today!