As we find ourselves back looking at the walls around our home, the interior genius in you is kicking back into play.

Lucky for you, you can go back and read all the older how-tos that I’ve written for specific spaces and contemplate how you might tackle one of the spaces before the Christmas rush starts.

But how do you go about planning a project when you can’t go shopping or meet with tradies? What you do have up your sleeve is time. Time and renovations don’t usually go hand-in-hand.

We mostly get approached by people who want a refresh and want it as soon as possible. The beauty about having time is that your design process won’t be as rushed, you get more time to plan, budget, lock in limited stock resources and prepare for the main event.

When we are consulting with overseas clients taking out a new build or renovation project in New Zealand, the first thing we advise is to create a Pinterest board of all the design aspects you like from other renovations and products from all around the world.

You will start to find a reoccurring theme of things you are drawn to for example gunmetal tapware, light or dark schemes, or whether you like concrete over stone.

Fundamentally you are making a wish-list to start your shopping journey from. This is a good exercise to do with your other half so you both articulate your ‘love and loathe’ list.

Now your head is in the reno game, it’s time for the technical side of the renovation planning. Dust off that measuring tape and measure your space. This is a great exercise to do with your children too.

Make sure you account for windows, ceiling heights and any obstructions that could affect your design. Once you have this nailed, it’s time to go online shopping.

Start with one component and find two choices for each and save clearly into a product folder so when it comes to actually seeing physical samples you have a back-up option if you don’t like it in person.

Feel free to email shops and showrooms to ask more specific questions and down the track they can send out samples to you or send a video tour of the product.

At this point, book in a zoom with your chosen design professional to go over your initial thoughts, share the dimensions and they start planning.

While professionals will do a physical site measure when possible, working from your photos, a video and drawing is more than enough to get it to the final design phase.

Designers and tradies can price remotely so you have a pretty good idea of where everything sits.

Site visit pending, may bring a few tweaks to the pricing and design but a minor adjustment is to be expected and at least you aren’t at the start of the process, especially if you need council drawings.

Lastly, make sure you do some budget and time planning on your side.

A kitchen renovation takes about three weeks of construction site mode, and a bathroom full renovation about nine weeks.

When would be your ideal month to start the renovation? How does that align with tradies’ availability?

And are you able to have conversations with your bank prior to organise funding facilities; so when you need to press go, there is nothing stopping you from creating a space that enhances your wellbeing and lifestyle.

- Laura Heynike is director of Pocketspace Interiors