I own an interior design firm with several large interior design projects on the go at a time.
I’ve also renovated two houses I own (actually in the middle of both renovations currently).
Whether managing multiple interior design projects or one, a key component to a successful project without going crazy or blowing your budget is being organized from start to finish.
While I’m an avid Apple Notes fan, that doesn’t cut it. I like digital, so spreadsheets are the way to go IMO. After all, spreadsheets handle tedious tasks such as calculations which makes them superior to printed planners.
When I started my interior design firm, I bought as many interior design planners and spreadsheets as I could find. Some were decent but nothing was as comprehensive, yet still simple to my liking. So I created my own for my design firm and personal use.
After using it successfully, I decided to make it available to the public. I also decided to share all my findings about what I consider the three best interior designer planners in spreadsheet form since I tried many of them.
The 3 best Interior Design Planners (in spreadsheet form)
I’ve purchased and used every spreadsheet interior design planner I could find. Here are my five favorites.
1. The RenoRevolution Planner by Home Stratosphere – An Interior Design Planning System
Obviously, I’m biased here but I’m certain you’ll love it as much as I do. The concept behind the design was to make it “project” based, where a project is a room or a specific change spanning multiple rooms such as flooring, windows, etc.
When we manage interior design projects for clients, it’s largely organized by room or space but some aspects of the projects are stand-alone such as new flooring or painting which isn’t costed out by room but by the entire job.
What do you get?
It’s 28 worksheets. Keep in mind 20 of them are project templates. Most people would not use all 20. The worksheets include;
- OVERVIEW: Sets out status and amount spent for each space / project for the renovation and runs a tally at the top.
- SET UP: Most others lock this. I didn’t which means you can fully customize the wording throughout your planner.
- TO DO NOTES: Nothing fancy but could be usueful.
- QUOTES TRACKER: This is for tracking quotes from trades and services such as plumbers, flooring companies etc. This is handier than you expect because it can get messy otherwise.
- SUBTRADE TRACKER: Use this to track status and costs for any service or trade you hired.
- PURCHASES TRACKER: Track every purchase such as furniture, tools, furnishings, accessories, etc.
- PAINT TRACKER: This nifty sheet makes it easy to track all paint swatches / colors you’re using. You can insert images/swatches and track the price.
- PROJECT PAGES (20 OF THEM): This is the meat and potatoes of this product. You can track trade and purchases for each space or multi-room project (i.e. flooring). All the costs tracked auto-update on the OVERVIEW worksheet.
- Training videos: With your purchase you get several short training videos showing you exactly how to use this sytem.
=> Click here for The RenoRevolution Planner
2. Home Renovation Budget by Sheetivity
Sheetivity’s Home Renovation Budget is my second favorite Google Sheet based home renovation planner and tracker. The reason I like this product is like my spreadsheet planner, it’s organized by project. Offering separate sheets for every space or individual project within a renovation is critical for properly organizing and planning a home remodel.
What exactly does this planner provide?
You get the following:
- Instructions: Instructions are very clear.
- Summary: This is your financial summary of the project. It pulls figures from the individual ten project pages. This is why I included this (not as good as my system but it’s decent).
- Compare Products: Somewhat useful. I did not include any comparison sheets and instead opted for a sheet to track purchases.
- Compare Contractors: Compare up to 4 contractors foe each category. I could see how this is useful.
- 10 Dedicated Project Sheets: The sheet for each project is fairly simplistic but it will do the job.
=> Click here for Sheetivity’s Home Remodeling Planner
3. Home Renovation Planner by ImperfectOrgxxx
ImperfectOrg came close to creating a very good home renovation budget. As you can see, it too is project-oriented and it’s very well done but falls short by not providing dedicated worksheets for each project.
If you’re not fussy about having dedicated worksheets for each space, this is a very good system.
Here’s what you get:
- Project Dashboard: This is the financial overview. It’s quite good breaking down by each project and showing total budget numbers.
- Brainstorm: Not a bad inclusion. Not something I’d use but I think this is well done and worth including. A nice touch.
- Project List: On this sheet you set out each project and indicate what the project is (room). The problem with this is it doesn’t provide for non-room centric projects such as windows, flooring throughout the house which is costed out by entire project and not necessarily room-by-room.
- Project To-do List: This to-do list is well done but seems overkill for me. It certainly doesn’t detract from this product.
- Expense Tracking: Very well done. Can organize by project which is good.
- Vendor Contact Info: Also well done.
- Quote Tracking: Useful for sure.
All-in-all an excellent remodeling planner and tracking system but not my style.
=> Click here for ImperfectOrg’s Renovation Planner
