Your first DIY decor project can turn costly even before you get started. A basket full of fabric, rope, adhesive, wooden rings, dried blooms, paint, cardboard, and tools that seem logical at the hardware store but perplexing at home. It’s much easier to choose a small decor project you can use to experiment with your style, your technique, and your space before accumulating a lot of new supplies.
Start by identifying where the finished project will live. A shelf, a tray on a side table, a wall niche, or an awkward hallway corner offer useful parameters. Think of it this way: a wall hanging needs a point from which to hang, plus plenty of open space around it. An arrangement of a tray needs plenty of space for things to sit without competing for it. An accent for a table shouldn’t interfere with the table’s primary function. Once you’ve identified a place for your project, it becomes more concrete and the shopping list shrinks.
Pick one primary material and one complementary material. For instance, a small wall accent could use rope as the primary material and a wooden dowel as a support. A picture frame could have cardboard as its foundation with ribbon accents. A table centerpiece could be a tray filled with dried grasses and paper accents. This helps keep the project in its scope. Juggling multiple materials and finishes, like fabric, rope, paint, dried flowers, beads, and wood, in a variety of different colors often makes the project hard to finish well.
Before you spend more money, make a miniature material board with the supplies you already own. Combine two complementary patterns, one primary color, and one accent color. For example, a sample of fabric swatches with a paper scrap, a little rope, and a piece of painted cardboard could teach you more about your color scheme than hours of shopping. And be sure to look at those swatches as you normally would; don’t just judge them under office lighting. Paper, paint, texture, and dried flower arrangements behave differently under natural light than they do under artificial light, as well as against dark versus light backgrounds and different wall tones.
Size is another consideration for keeping your initial project small. A beginner might think of doing a large wall hanging, then find they’ve spent too much time measuring, cutting, tying, and shaping it. A smaller version teaches the same lessons without adding more pressure. Make a pattern to try out different sizes on the surface of your wall or table. Then, take a few steps back from your work area and see if the project is too small or too big. If you find the size to be disproportionate to the space, adjust your pattern before you make your final cuts.
Your first project is not meant to be your grandest. Rather, it is to give you the chance to do a few useful things: measure with a ruler, trace with pencil, cut a line, glue a strip, knot a rope, or place an element in a composition with a good sense of balance. These skills come in handy in a number of decor projects. A small tray arrangement can teach the art of composition. A simple wall accent can teach you scale. A decoration for your shelf can teach you restraint.
Once you have a possible first project, ask yourself three questions before you purchase new supplies: Will it fit in an appropriate spot? Can I make it with one main material and only one or two accent materials? Can I try out the color, texture, or size with what I already own? If your answer is a yes, the project is small enough for your first one. When it’s finished, that piece doesn’t have to transform your room entirely. It will serve only to give you the opportunity to produce one accent that displays your ability to make a better choice, a cleaner finish, and a better sense of where a new decoration belongs.