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    • I'm Christina, a full-time web developer with a dog sitting business, home renovations, and a blog on the side.

      This blog is about restoration and decorating of our houses, currently a 50s New England ranch, previously an MCM, and before that our Little Victorian...and the homemaking in between.

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Little Victorian

Modern Homemaking

Decorating file

June 23, 2014 How to decorate

Happy Monday!  I’m sharing a tip today that I’ve been using for years: a decorating file.

Whether you’re currently decorating your house or not, it’s very helpful to have.  All of your paint colors and fabric swatches can be kept together in one little folder.  It’s my favorite way to keep track of paint chips (and you have the color on-hand if you need to go buy more).

It’s also small enough to fit into your purse, so if you’re out shopping for new pillows or curtains, or even something big like a sofa, you’ll have pieces of your room with you to make sure the new item will work.

Make a decorating file to keep paint colors and fabric swatches in.

Mine is a coupon organizer from an office supply store (the closest thing I could find online is this).

When I get a gallon of paint, I always grab an extra color card to add to the file.  If you’ve ordered your furniture or linens online, you can often get fabric swatches from the retailer mailed to you for free.

Organize paint colors in a decor file

Other good things to keep in the folder are dimensions of rooms or pieces of furniture, for example, if you’re shopping for a new media cabinet, it would be helpful to have the size of the TV handy.  Adding an inspiration photo or two would help keep you on track to if you use the file while you’re out shopping.

This little organizer only took a few minutes to put together and cost $6, and has saved me a ton of time and guessing if something will work.

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  1. Leena

    June 24, 2014 at 8:47 am

    Cool tip, thanks.
    I’ve lost all the paint chips we had from this house, I think I threw them away.

    Reply
    • Christina

      June 25, 2014 at 5:14 pm

      Ha, in the minimalist game? 😉

  2. Heidi @ One Creative Mommy

    June 25, 2014 at 11:32 am

    Great idea. I’d kind of feel like a professional designer with a file like that! Your home is beautiful, by the way.

    Reply
    • Christina

      June 25, 2014 at 5:13 pm

      Thanks, Heidi! It does kind of feel like that. 🙂

  3. homestilo

    June 29, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    Clever…and more practical than having to consult a spreadsheet for a paint schedule all the time.

    Reply

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Before Footer

Instagram post 1954635154032227347_41625446 Update: the MCM is officially sold! We did eventually finish most of our restoration/renovation projects. I'll share the updates in the coming months as we get settled in to our new place. 😁
Instagram post 1936301391955267835_41625446 House update! The realtor is still confused about why "it's such a popular house." When she arrived yesterday for a showing, there were 8 cars in the driveway. 😃

We had three offers the first day, one of whom hadn't even seen the house in person yet.
Instagram post 1932692622239115367_41625446 Surprise! The house is going on the market today. (Long story that I'll fill you in on when I have more than 2 seconds.)
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But we're once again with a realtor that calls our house "unique" instead of calling it a Mid Century Modern. 🤦‍♀️
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We can't count how many locals came into this house and mentioned that those windows should be removed and walled up and the beams cut off. And then it would be a "normal" house. 🤯
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Still can't really identify with people in this area. 🤷‍♀️ SO happy to be going back home to the East coast TOMORROW!
Instagram post 1861928617807120725_41625446 Right? 
We're getting back into the house restoration and we'll be working on the powder room in the master bed. 
Guys. It's bad. Swipe to see.
And we're going to try to make it pretty with a super tiny budget of $100 in 4 weeks and we're joining the #100roomchallenge to keep us (me) motivated.
Instagram post 1771210588098165470_41625446 The bedroom design is starting to come together thanks to Craigslist and Goodwill. 
#OneRoomChallenge
Instagram post 1770640194664543996_41625446 Our poor aloe plant is so gnarly and gangly. But at least I haven't killed it in the last 4 years! Anyone know why it's growing so ugly? 
#oneroomchallenge #uglyplants #prettylamps
Instagram post 1769902316464548672_41625446 Roscoe got his (pretty bad) spring haircut today. Good thing he still has a gorgeous face. #baddogmom
Instagram post 1766833228649559910_41625446 When you try to comment on Instagram and your phone is sure you meant excrement instead of excellent.... #Lovely #ThanksPhone This picture isn't too lovely either, but I'm sharing it anyway.  It's the still-in-progress dog bed we made this week during the #OneRoomChallenge Details about it are on the blog!

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