By KARAN MINNIS, Guardian Lifestyles Reporter

If you've ever seen the HGTV series Trading Spaces or Design on a Dime, it's easy as a new homeowner to believe that decorating is simple when in reality for most people it's not. Thanks to these shows, one may be under the impression that white sheets are the new trend for curtains or that in all cases, a can of paint can do the trick, when it can't.

This is why, according to local designer Linda Wisdom-Stubbs, the owner of The Decorators Den, located on #84 Christie Avenue, just off Tonique Williams-Darling Highway, new homeowners should always have a good guide and a good budget to work with before starting any design project.

"Homeowners in our society are now beginning to appreciate when we, as designers or professionals, say to them 'tell me what you can afford'," she says.

"Thanks to some of these shows on HGTV, Bahamians are beginning realize that having a good budget is really the way designing should be done. And that alone will improve the quality of designs."

Explaining that one major problem affecting design is that homeowners view interior design as an afterthought, Wisdom-Stubbs says that homeowners should really be contemplating the interior design of their home from the time it is actually being built.

"However, the average person doesn't do that," she says. "Normally they would wait until the house is completed and then they - the homeowners - would realize that they don't have sufficient money to really decorate the house the way that it should be done. And all of this could be solved by budgeting for the decorating, which should be determined from when the house is under construction."

Adding that a reasonable budget should range from 20 to 40 percent of the home's total value, Wisdom-Stubbs says this kind of budget will ensure decorations and furnishings for an entire home.

"It should be understood that in order to complete the interior with proper furniture, window coverings, and accessories, that will be what you'll need," she says. "But for the most part, especially here in The Bahamas, that kind of budgeting is never really done. So my suggestion is that the budget should always be determined upfront. This way you know what you can afford, especially when dealing with a designer.

"Another problem is that in our society a lot of persons believe that when a decorator asks for a budget upfront, it means that they are going to take you, or that if they quote a figure that is excessive, the designer is going to charge them according to that. But that's not the case.

"See when a designer asks you for your budget he or she is trying to determine at what level and cost they should begin to research the products and services that you are going to need to have your home properly designed. So if you are able to establish a budget, it will save time, especially as some people have a caviar taste and on a tuna budget. That's why we ask that you set up a budget, and once we make a happy medium on cost the designer can really select products to create the rooms that you desire."

Adding that this is not the case with all customers, Wisdom-Stubbs says that some clients will walk into a store or a showroom knowing exactly what they want and they will have a budget.

"These persons will walk in and tell you want they want and what they are prepared to spend, which is great, but rare," she says. "These are usually the people who believe that money is no object, but then you have the others who are counting pennies and you can tell this based on the kind of questions they ask, the level of knowledge and what they expect. But the good thing is that everybody basically has an idea of what they want. The problem is that they don't have the ability to pull their ideas together to formulate a room.

"Therefore, they come to a designer and it is the designer's job to take them through that process. But the homeowner has to have an idea of what they want and what they can afford to spend. So I always impress upon people even if you're going to approach a designer or take your project on by yourself, predetermine that budget and then you will find that you wouldn't overspend or that you won't end up spending all the money to buy furniture when some of that money should be for window treatments."

Another problem she sees is mindset.

"I always see the homeowner who would go to Miami and they would go to El Dorado Furniture, Rooms-To-Go, or any of the popular named furniture stores and they believe they're saving money by doing that and selecting furniture themselves. But really, they are just wasting money. They do not take under consideration that jumping on a plane is a cost, renting a car that's a cost, staying in a hotel, that's a cost, and then you actually purchase the furniture then you have the furniture shipped, which that's another cost and then you pay the freight and the duty. They get excited and blinded, when in reality sometimes it pays to shop at home or better yet sometimes it pays to allow someone else, like a designer, to have the headache of doing all of that.

"When most of these homeowners do it their way, they go over and they spend, they get all excited and they spend all this money buying a bedroom set that will cost them about $10 - 15,000, and when the bedroom goes into place they will call in somebody like a designer and they want to spend less than $800 to have window treatments done. That's not balanced at all. This is why if you go in most of the homes in The Bahamas, you will find fabulous entrances on the outside of these beautiful homes but inside it's years before they're able to afford to furnish those homes and years before they are able to put draperies at those windows. Why? Because they didn't plan or budget properly.

"This is why you pass by these beautiful homes and they have sheets hanging in the windows, but thank goodness that Kelly's is now selling those inexpensive blinds so at least they have something to fall back on that doesn't look tacky at the windows anymore. But the point is that if you were able to really sit down and budget properly with a professional and determine how the money you have available to spend should be spent, then you would find that you would have a bedroom set that is better priced and at the same time, you will also have proper window treatments, a nice area rug and some accessories. This means that just by budgeting you'll actually be able to furnish your home in no time."