Thinking about designing your home? Learn what to clarify first so design decisions feel confident, intentional and aligned with your project.

Whether you’re renovating or building new, and whoever you’re working with, start here before you design anything, so your drawings support your lifestyle, budget and long-term decisions.

This is Part 2 in the ‘Start Here’ Mini-sodes Series.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! And welcome to Episode 386.

So often I see homeowners, excited about their project, instinctively moving straight into design. 

This episode is about slowing that moment down, and understanding why the work you do before you design has such a big influence on what is created – whoever you’re working with and even if you’re DIYing your design.

The urgency to start working on design drawings usually comes from a mix of excitement and fear. Excitement about finally seeing something take shape, and fear that if you wait, costs will rise, opportunities will disappear, or you’ll somehow fall behind.

But it is important to gently challenge the assumption that drawing plans is the best or most productive way to respond to that urgency.

This episode is part of the ‘Start Here’ Mini-Sodes Series, designed to eliminate assumptions, gently challenge unhelpful beliefs, and help you focus on what actually matters first, before momentum and excitement carry you too far ahead.

Now that you understand the four phases every project steps through from what was shared in Episode 385…

In this episode, we’re talking about the thinking that needs to happen before anything is drawn. 

Because design doesn’t start with creativity. It starts with clarity.

Without clarity, drawings can feel reassuring, but they often give a false sense of progress. They look like decisions, but they’re shaped by assumptions that haven’t yet been tested.

So let’s dive into Part 2 of the Start Here series, ‘Before You Design Anything’.

I can completely understand why homeowners rush into design. 

Often you’ve been thinking about renovating or building for months, sometimes years. If you’re like most people, you’ve explored and juggled a huge range of ideas, even collected resources and inspiration that speaks to the kind of spaces you love, the aesthetic you’re drawn to, the types of inclusions and features you want in your future home. 

Some get really concerned that, once they bring a design professional on board, they’ll lose a level of control over the project, and be led by that professional’s agenda. So they feel they have to put together a Mood Board, or plan sketches or another visual way of demonstrating their desired design, style and goals. 

Others feel they’ve been patiently waiting for the chance to make some visible progress, and drawings or sketches reassure them. They test what’s possible and they also provide something that can be shown to builders for price estimates. 

But… if that design work is led not by your intention, but by a designer’s or builder’s agenda, or without a framework shaped by your values or the most strategic way to optimise your budget, site and lifestyle… then it can be the most unhelpful place to start your project (and a big waste of time and money).

So, let’s talk about the shifts that need to occur before you begin designing, so you can get it right.

Firstly, rather than being solutions focussed, shift to what your intention and goals are.

Ask yourself these kind of questions:

What are you really trying to change or improve through this project? 

Rather than a list of rooms, what lifestyle are you hoping to create? 

What are the personalities, activities, habits and loves of those who’ll be in this home, and what are the ways you all want to feel each and every day? 

How will you intentionally communicate this, so it can be intentionally created as your home design evolves?

Move from being solutions focussed to intention focussed, and you’ll start thinking differently about your home design process.

Next, shift from ideas to constraints.

I’m a firm believer that there’s no such thing as the perfect home – only the perfect home for you. And that home optimises what’s possible for your budget, your site and your lifestyle. 

Many feel that, if only they had more money, they could have their ideal home, but even a bottomless budget has to meet a bunch of constraints, such as the site conditions, local rules and regulations and building codes and standards. 

The beauty of constraint is that it actually enhances creativity. And when you understand especially what your site requires to create a home design that suits it, the way the sun moves over it, the local climate, weather, topography and natural features, you’ll create a home that not only feels great, but also is more energy efficient, sustainable, comfortable, less costly to run and maintain, and more durable long-term. 

Plonking any design on any site means you’ll miss the amazing opportunities available to you through site-specific design.

Lastly, shift from certainty to awareness.

We love to seek certainty. When you instead embrace a mindset of flexibility and resilience, and create an awareness of how you operate, your own needs and wants, and disrupt what’s being fed to you with all the polished, glossy after images of homes that don’t look lived in, your design process will be much simpler. You’ll be able to understand the context of your project, and find the specific answers you need. And you’ll be able to define what enoughness means to you, so you can build or renovate in a more efficient, smarter way.

In my experience, the regrets that most are seeking to avoid in their finished home, the concerns about forgetting something, or designing something that causes long-term frustration… they’re created through a lack of personal interrogation and investigation. 

Those regrets aren’t just about making bad decisions. They’re about making decisions that don’t actually suit or serve you, because you haven’t given yourself the time or opportunity to learn more about what you really want and need.

When you choose to take the time to learn about yourself and think about your home design and future lifestyle, before you begin designing, you’ll find you:

1. are more likely to find an aligned professional team that really understand you 
2. their aligned expertise then expands what is possible for your project
3. you feel far more able to confidently understand and assess what’s working and what’s not working in your home design
4. which means you can move more quickly through the drawing part of your design phase

The design process then becomes meaningful rather than reactive. 

Your productivity is used in the best possible way. 

And given those lines on a page will become the floors, walls and roof of your future home, your ability to help create them more intentionally – whoever you’re working with – helps avoid regrets long-term.

So, my hope is that, when you step back and look at what we’ve covered in this episode, the pattern is clear.

Design decisions don’t get simpler to make when you rush them. They get clearer when you understand your intentions, your constraints, and what actually matters to you. Then, design stops feeling like guesswork and starts feeling purposeful.

Taking this time before you design doesn’t slow your project down. It helps you move forward with far more confidence, and with fewer regrets later on.

So, where are you right now in your own project?

Are you feeling that pressure to draw something, to see progress, to make it real?

And are you responding to that urgency with clarity, or with assumptions?

RESOURCES

If you’d like support in taking this thinking further, there are a few ways to do that. 

If you’d like support in taking this thinking further, there are a few ways you can do that.

If you’re getting confused by how to create a home design that genuinely supports the way you want to live and that also suits your site, my mini-course, ‘Happy Home Design’ will help you with early design thinking and investigation.

And if you want guidance and support right through all four phases of your project, providing you with the steps, tools, resources and personalised help to navigate complexity, manage risk and avoid costly mistakes, then HOME Method is where you’ll find the community, coaching and education to support you every step of the way. 

Also included in HOME Method are my much-loved Room Notes, capturing 30+ years of design experience across hundreds and hundreds of homes, and sharing the key design strategies, recommended dimensions and architectural insights so your home design suits you now and into the future.

Note: This episode is for education and general information only, and it’s not a substitute for personalised professional advice.