Takeaway: 5 simple steps to help you identify the feels and functions of your home
The Pursuing a Homier Home series is back with the third installment of Phase 1: Laying your Foundation. So far, you’ve determined your personal definition of a homier home and you’ve written down why this pursuit is important to you and your family. This post will walk you through five simple steps to formally capture what you wish each room to feel like and how you wish it to function. Determining these feels and functions is essential to making purposeful decisions when choosing home decor and furnishings.
Before you begin...
1. Review your Homier Home Definition
If you haven't gone through phase 1, step 1 in the pursuing a homier home outline, this is the time. In order to get a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve in your home, you need to have a working definition as a guide.
Once you have located/created your homier home definition, copy it down at the top of the guiding worksheet (found via the link below). My definition of my own homier home is an inviting, warm, cozy space in which beauty meets function.
2. Review Why You Wish to Pursue a Homier Home
Reminding yourself the purpose your home serves will help lead you to be more intentional about how you want your home to feel and function in relationship to that purpose. This was phase 1, step 2 of the pursuing a homier home outline.
Your why is the catalyst for all. the. things. Be sure to take the time to address your why in order to make determining your feels and functions that much easier and more focused.
Let's Get Started!
How to Best Determine the Feels & Functions for Each Room in your Home.
By writing your definition and why statement, you began with the end in mind. This is step is an extension of that, but with an emphasis on each individual room.
The rooms of your home should coalesce, but they all serve a somewhat different purpose within your home. Allowing yourself to get specific on the feels and functions within each room will help you when we get to the next phase of creating a homier home, the action plan. On to the steps...
Step 1: Print your Guiding Worksheet.
Make your life easy and print out the exact setup you will need to walk your home. You can complete these steps without the guiding worksheet, but it does have everything already mapped out for you.
If you would rather use a notepad, start by drawing a line down the middle of the paper with the headings of feels on the left and functions on the right leaving room in the left margin to write your room name.
Step 2: Proceed to a room in your home with your guiding worksheet and a pencil.
Before beginning this process, make sure you are at home and have at least half an hour to an hour to take the walk through. The ability to stand in each room will make this process much more real rather than completing this from afar.
Where you start this process within your home does not matter as much because you will be completing your home-walk in its entirety, but I would suggest starting in the room you wish to change first to get the juices flowing. Also, it will probably be better to use a pencil in case you want to rearrange or alter anything after the fact.
Step 3: Jot down your answers to the guiding questions.
When you are in your first room, consider the guiding questions below to help you decide what words evoke the feels you want and the functionality you need in that space. It is definitely okay to have multiple functions per room, but make sure they are realistic and fit most purposefully in that particular room.
The best website I have found to help with the feeling words is here. Some examples of functions could be to recharge and relax, specific tasks, such as laundry, and/or to spend quality time with family, to name a few. Write down any notes you feel relevant in the notes section for that particular space.
- How do you want your family to feel in this space?
- How do you want your guests to feel?
- How do you not want your family/guests to feel?
- How do you want your family to use this space?
- What do you do or plan to do in this room?
- How do you want your guests to be able to use this space, if applicable?
- How do you not want this room to function?
- What should not be done in this room? What room should it be done in?
Step 4: Repeat step 3 for every room in your home.
After each room, if you are using your own notepad, draw a line under your notes to divide them up. Be sure to label each room in the left margin for when you go back to review your notes.
As you move from room to room, if you feel there is a function that currently resides in one room, but would work better in another, add that functionality note to the room it should be in. This will help you keep track of what you wish to rearrange, remove, or include in the various spaces. Also, if you think of anything of note that you wish to remember later, add that to the note section as well.
After the first few rooms, the answers to these questions will start to become second nature. By the time you are done, you will have a full deck of feels and functions for every room to refer back to when the time comes to redecorate.
Step 5: Review and revise your notes.
Each room should have a set of descriptive feels as well specific functions listed in the bulleted sections of the guiding worksheet. While you are reviewing this list for each room, ask yourself, "Do the feels and functions align?" And, "Are these realistic in relation to the room they encompass?" If they do not align, go back to that room and see if you can revise the feel or function to help the two align more clearly.
The review portion is important because you do not want to look back at this document later and not know what you meant by a particular comment. So, take this opportunity to feel really good about what you hope to achieve in each room. If doesn't feel right or doesn't sound doable, consider changing right now - just be in the room when you make the changes for the full emersion.
Your turn!
Share your experience on how this process worked for you by leaving a comment below. Be on the lookout for the next step in the Pursuing a Homier Home series, Create a Home Color Scheme! #pursuingahomierhome
