Preferences and priorities brief

The page every later decision is checked against: what the plan is for, who it is for, and which room comes first.

Part 1: The brief

Goals are sentences about the home and the people; if a goal names a color you love, keep it and add what the color is for. Constraints are facts: a number, a permission, a deadline, each person. Inspiration is a place where images are kept, not a list of things to buy. If a field was filled from your setup, it is a starting point in the course's words; rewrite it in yours.

Part 2: The household

One row per person who lives here or has a say, in their own words where you can get them. Disagreement is information, not a problem; Modules 6 and 10 use these rows to give each person something real.

Part 3: The first project

The room you will do first. Module 1's four criteria: one room, used often, fixed elements known, a change that is visible and cheap. If the room you most want to fix misses one, write it in the "why this room" field as the goal that comes second, or say why you are starting there anyway.

How to use this sheet

• Write the goals first, as sentences. "The living room should feel settled in the evening" can be checked against a sample in the room at nine at night. "Sage walls" on its own cannot. If a goal contains a color you love, keep it, and add what the color is for so the goal can be checked.
• Constraints are facts, and a fact you do not know yet is a to-do. "Not sure whether the lease allows a repaint" goes in the permission field with "ask by Friday" beside it.
• Keep inspiration and shopping apart. The inspiration field asks where the folder is and what the images have in common. Nothing is bought until Module 9 (samples) and Module 10 (purchases ranked by effect per dollar).
• One household row per person, in their words. "I want it calm" and "I want some real color" can both be true in one room; the rows make the two wishes concrete enough to design for.
• The first project is a rehearsal, and usually not the hardest room. Test the candidate against the four criteria before you write it in; if it misses one, either pick a room that passes and note which room comes second, or keep it and write down why and what extra testing it will need.
• When a goal changes, keep the old wording. Add the new sentence after the old one with a date rather than replacing it; knowing what you used to want is part of knowing what you want now.
• Check later decisions against this page. Module 6 (palette), Module 10 (what to change first) and Module 11 (the final review) each ask whether a decision serves a goal written here.