Meet Diane Dean:  I met Diane when we attended the same church in San Diego. She is a woman I admire, a multi-gifted woman who honors God. Whether teaching a Bible study or showing women how to create a lovely, inviting home within her budget, Diane knows what she’s talking about.

“In our early years of ministry, we were on a tight budget and I had to be creative as a homemaker,” Diane said. “Friends always asked me for help with their homes. In my mid-thirties I decided to go back to school and study design. I see my business as a ministry. “My mission statement is ‘Making homes a haven to those who live there and a joy to those who visit.’”

Though created to help women work with store sales associates, Diane’s tips, below, are helpful for anyone wanting to UPGRADE her home. [Notes in italics are Dawn’s]

Suggestions for Successful Shopping

1. Consider your budget. This will enable your design consultant to point you in the right direction. Interest-free financing is often an option.

Pretty things shouldn’t cause worry-stress over how you’re going to pay for them; but Diane says, “Budget shouldn’t be an excuse for not having a ‘haven.’ With some planning and creativity, that can happen on any budget.”

2. Make a list of your priorities. Few clients can buy everything at once. Start with your basic requirements and build off of them.

3. Share the priority list with your design consultant. This allows the designer to help you with your master plan.

Even if you don’t have a consultant, you can make a master plan. Pray over and make wise decisions to fit that plan.

4. Measure your space, including doorways, the fireplace hearth and windows. Important: Bring the room measurements with you! If you are buying bar stools, know the height of the counter.

5. Bring fabric samples and paint colors with you. Also bring photos of your room and furniture you want to keep.

6. Cut photos from magazines of rooms that you like. Make notes about each photo and what appeals to you about it. For example - is it the furniture style, the fabrics or the colors? Or is it the flooring and the accessories?

Diane also suggests taking a camera (or cell phone with a camera) and tape measure to consultations and shopping.

“Keep everything in a tote bag in your car and you will always be prepared,” she said.

Diane Dean is a ministry wife, mother, grandmother, Bible teacher, seminar and retreat speaker, and designer for Diane Dean Interiors, LLC (www.dianedeaninteriors.com).

Her blog, www.dianestraditions.blogspot.com, is a potpourri of information from her personal experience and she welcomes questions.