I’m sure most of us have a few handbag staples – tissues, gum etc (my bag seems to go forth and produce its own lip gloss colony – I put one in and a few months later, its multiplied to at least half a dozen!) But, when renovating and/or decorating, there are a few things you should have on hand to help make the process easier:

1. MEASURING TAPE – pretty self-explanatory

2. RENO/DECO NOTEBOOK – It’s what’s in the notebook that really matters…

Even if I haven’t started working on a room yet, I might still have a vision of what I’m going to need. It’s amazing the number of times I’ve been out looking for one product and stumbled across something else that would be perfect for another room and been left high and dry without knowing dimensions or space measurements to know if it would fit. How many times have you been somewhere and thought, yeah it’s great, but do you think it would fit? Yes, you can always go back but if the item is on sale, discontinued etc, chances are it could be snapped up quickly and gone forever.

Hey, I’m a multitasker, what can I say! Plus it’s just a hassle to back track.

As I’ve been doing this house on a budget these are the types of measurements I carry around in case I stumble on a bargain  – rug sizes, height of bed mattress in case I spot bedside tables, dimensions of the space above the fireplace in case I spot a mirror, room dimensions, ceiling heights for pendants, window heights and widths including height of possible curtain rails, height  between ceiling and bed head for artwork etc. The list goes on.

What I also include are any paint swatches should I be trying to colour match soft furnishings and pics I’ve ripped out of mags for no other reason than to keep me on track with my vision!

It might sound stupid but it’s amazing how many times I’ve referred to it and it certainly saved me a lot of time and hassle oh, and grabbing a great bargain.