If you want to see a likeness of your decorating project before you begin, and have a ready reference to show sub-contractors and suppliers, make an elevation drawing. An elevation is a drawing of a wall with its passages, windows, fixtures, cabinet work, built-ins and decorations. Scale elevations can be sketched on quadrille pad, drafted with a ruler, or developed with any graphics program on your computer. You don't need a fine arts degree or previous drafting experience to do it. A convenient scale is 1/4 inch = 1 foot. On quadrille paper, each square in the grid is 1/4 inch and can represent 1 foot of wall space. Drawing is quick, but making changes is more work. I suggest that you draw the elevation using as much detail as possible, include electrical fixtures, moldings, sconces, wall lighting as well as bigger elements. Xerox your drawing then decorate over it. Your single elevation will act as a stage for experimantation. Just decorate over the copies.
Drafters use scaled rulers and drawing edges with a movable mechanical drawing guide to make their renderings. Drafting is about the same as sketching but a little flasher. Making copies of architectural elevations and then decorating over them will also save you time in your experimentation.
©2006 Michael L Hill Sr