Interior Designer Creates Home Project Organizer

ST. LOUIS, MO. – “After seeing my clients and students bring me their home decorating ideas, magazine pages, fabric swatches, paint chips, tile samples and furniture photos in paper sacks, zip lock bags and shoeboxes, I knew there was a market for this product,” says Patrice Barge-Munden, the owner/principal designer of Patrice Munden Interior Design, a full-service residential interior design firm.

Barge-Munden created “The Home Project File,” a durable, heavy-duty three-ring binder that allows do-it-yourself decorators and home renovators to collect and organize all their ideas, samples, materials, product information, measurements and costs (for up to six rooms or projects) in one convenient binder.

“The key is to carry this easy-to-use tool with you in your car, so you can shop with confidence and save time, money and frustration,” explains Barge-Munden. “How many times have you not had what you needed to make a good buying decision? You find some discontinued blinds, but you don’t have your window measurements. Or, you see some potential tile for your bathroom, but your paint chips are at home,” she recounts.

“Or, you stumble on the perfect fabric for your old chair, but only six yards are left. If you don’t have your upholsterer’s phone number, you can’t call to ask if he or she can squeeze out what’s needed to refinish your chair. Now, when you take your binder in your car, you’ll have all your information at your fingertips.”

The Home Project File contains:
• Six blank “Room or Project Pages” to record ideas, notes, progress and important product/store information, and to track costs and budgets
• Graph paper for drawing up room, window and door measurements to scale and to record exact measurements
• Six large acid-free, transparent pockets to hold photographs, wood and tile samples, fabric swatches, product information, receipts and more
• A contractors’ page to list names, phone numbers, hourly charges and bids of electricians, plumbers, painters, installers, etc.
• Six pages of her own designer tips

“I believe that every person has his or her own style and taste; they just have to be encouraged to develop it,” says Barge-Munden. “I like to serve as a facilitator for my clients, to help them reach their dreams and continue to beautify their home themselves.”
Having taught design courses at St. Louis Community College, “My goal is to encourage do-it-yourselfers to trust their instincts and to love the home they’re in now, to make it their dream home.”

The Home Project File is available for $24.99 at www.thehomeprojectfile.com Barge-Munden also sells the product to realty companies and home décor stores and has plans to market it nationwide via home decorating magazines and television stations.

“I also want to encourage users of my product to email me or to send photos of the rooms they’ve created,” she says. “I’m eager to see their creations and I welcome their input and ideas to make this resource even better as we expand our production into national markets.”
Barge-Munden began creating and sewing her own window treatments while her husband served in the military in Italy. A Virginia native, she opened Windows and More in Williamsburg, Va., in 1989. After various moves and motherhood, Barge-Munden earned her interior design degree and worked at a St. Louis design firm.

In 2002, she began her own business, Patrice Munden Interior Design, and has taught interior design classes at St. Louis Community College. She updates older homes and transforms homes of all types for new uses.

A member of the American Society of Interior Designers, she served as Education Committee Chairperson for the Missouri East chapter and has been featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In 2007, she published “The Home Project File: A Decorating and Remodeling Organizer.”