We all have obstacles to contend with, whether it’s in our design projects or just life in general. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are or how big or small your budget is, you will face obstacles.

I discovered an obstacle the other day when I tried to fix my bed…

Here are some design obstacles that I can think of off the top of my head…

• Little or no money
• Project fails
• Not enough time, due to a job, kids, or other obligations
• Health concerns
• Planning an eventual move
• Lack of consensus on design plan with significant other
• No inspiration
• Fear
• Any combination or all of the above

There are probably countless other obstacles that can prevent one from making a house a home. The question is, do you want to make changes to your home?

If the answer is yes, then the obstacles can be overcome. But on your terms. In your own time.

Don’t feel pressured to be like anyone else.  No one but you truly understands the obstacles you’re facing.  Don’t let those obstacles prevent you from making your creative dreams come true. Sometimes we need to release ourselves from expectations – the way that others think things should be or the timeline they try to impose on you, or even expecting too much of ourselves.

Little or no money

Get resoureceful! I’m not ashamed to have limited funds and you shouldn’t be either! There are plenty of freebies or cheap options out there.

Consider these…

• Scanning your neighbors’ trash, or as it’s known in trendy design circles – Dumpster Diving! You know the old saw…one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Put it to good work! One of my favorite pieces is my zebra ottoman, which I pulled out of a neighbor’s trash pile and revamped to fabulousity!
• Accepting hand-me-downs – Sure your mother-in-law’s chair might be super-frumpy, but recovering it with your fave fabric will make it frumpilicious!
• Shop Goodwill and other local thrift shops – Never know what you can find!
• Repurpose to create new things, like I did to make this “plant stand“.
• And never forget how inexpensive spray paint and wall paint are. Save your pennies and splurge on the paint, which can make the crappiest tchotchke look awesome!

Project fails

All I can say about this is plenty of my projects are failures. I guess that’s how we learn. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it seems that a lot more design shows are beginning to share the inner workings of how they put together their designs and how they stage rooms, and many are now also sharing project snafus. That’s refreshing. Because if even the big-time pros with a design staff have an occasional project fail, then why wouldn’t you and I?

My thought on project fails is learn from it and move on.

Not enough time

Yes, we live in a busy, busy world, where sometimes it feels like our lives aren’t our own. A 24/7 place where we’re always connected, companies suck up more and more of our personal lives, kids are overscheduled, and we’re generally encouraged to go, go, go.

I get it. I live it. But somehow we have to steal some time back to make our nests a place of calm respite. To make them a place we love to be. Our favorite place in the whole world.

I don’t know how to tell you how to make that happen, other than to say that we need to get comfy with doing things in small increments of time and maybe not finishing the project today. I am the Grand Pubah of Unfinished Projects, the Queen of Curing, but eventually the important stuff rises to the top of the heap.

Learn to pick the important stuff off the top of the heap. Eventually, your vision will be realized. Besides, design is an always-changing, ever-moving target, right?

Health concerns

There are plenty of people out there, quietly suffering with health issues that can zap their energy and ability to start or finish projects. Even if they have amazing ideas, they may not be able to bring their ideas to life.

If you have a health issue that slows your dreams, just do what you can when you can.  I have struggled with this too, and often wonder if I’ll ever get my old energy levels back.  Perhaps not.  But I’m not going to let it stop me.  Does it slow me and my progress down?  For sure.  But I just keep on trucking, sometimes moving at a snail’s pace, but always continuing to dream about my future projects, and I hope you will too.

Planning an eventual move

Yeah, you’re busted. Just because you’re planning to move in 6 months or a year or ten years, doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for feathering your nest.

You have two choices. You can leave your place bland and impersonal because you might be moving eventually, or you can make it into a place that you love, starting today!

Lack of consensus on design plan

It’s called compromise, baby.

No, I don’t mean the kind of compromise that we both decide to like my ideas always. (Although wouldn’t that be awesome?)

If you and your signif other can’t agree on one project, I’m guessing that there are plenty more projects to start on that you do agree on. Move on to something different and come back to this one later. Maybe one or both of you will have a change of heart or your overall vision will change.

If that doesn’t work, there’s always couples counseling.

No inspiration

Can you say Pinterest? With Pinterest and all of the design blogs out there, none of us have any excuse not to get inspired.

Don’t have ideas? Then copy someone else’s and apply them to your space. Eventually, you’ll get inspired with your own ideas or offshoots of others’ ideas. Go for it!

Fear

We’re all afraid to some degree. What if it doesn’t work out? Then you’ll learn from your failure (see Project Fails above) and move on and try again. If you’re really fearful, start small. Something small and inexpensive isn’t going to destroy your world if it goes wrong. But if it goes right, it may just rock your world! So…

Just Do It!

The message here is to do what you can, when you can. Let yourself off the hook if you don’t work at the same pace as others. Forgive yourself and get comfortable with who you are and your obstacles won’t seem like such difficult problems to overcome.  They’ll eventually become part of the terrain that is your life to navigate. Don’t worry, you’ll be great!