Just being organized will be no substitute for having a clear idea how you want your entire house to look. Will you be re-using any furniture/curtains/rugs? That will give you a starting point. If nothing but your clothes is coming with you, then you really need to think about the total look for your house - find lots and lots of pictures of rooms that appeal to you and figure out why.

As an interior designer, I usually start with a fabric - often one I'm going to use for curtains. It's often a print - there is my color palate. Or I start with a really spectacular rug - again, there is my color palate.

What one does NOT start with is a huge sectional done in brown or black leather and build from there!!! And yet we see this time after time on GW - "What can I do to give my room punch?" Send back that awful sectional! No one wants to hear that...

Ask your builder for a basic schedule of when he needs which selection finalized. It doesn't have to have exact dates - just an order of what to choose first, next, last. That helped me focus in on the item that was most urgent.

A friend bought me an expanding tabbed file folder that I carry with me everywhere. It holds a piece of my stained trim, paint samples, flooring samples, etc. I also store business card or other information that subcontractors or stores might give me. Came in very useful.

We have a binder that we have kept since we began designing our home 4 years ago. We have tabs such as: Permits, contract, exterior, kitchen, bathrooms, etc. Yes, it is a large binder! :) We enjoy keeping it up to date, and have information at our fingertips when needed - and many photos! As for our samples, we have set aside a bookshelf to store them. It happens to be near our front door, so they are convenient. We started selecting finishes and fixtures as we were designing the home, beginning with the flooring, and we modified several things as we completed the process.

We had most of the finishes and fixtures selected by the time we signed the contract with our builder. We wanted to make sure we were on the same page before we hired him. We actually chose him because he appreciated our thoroughness, while the other contractors we interviewed dismissed it by saying that there would be plenty of time to decide on the details. We feel our builder has a good sense of what we want. We do not intend to make any more decisions "in the field" than we will need to. Of course, we know that there will be some, but it is comforting to know that many decisions are made and put in writing from the start. We are not the type to change our minds once we have decided. Plus, we have had 4 years to discuss the plans!

If all goes well, we will be breaking ground on Monday!!!! I would love to hear what you decide to do to stay organized.

I used an expanding heavy-duty, accordion folder. I could slip small samples, catalogs, paper work, business cards and lots of small copies of our plans inside. I still have it and will pull it out when needed. It was easy to put into the car when going out to make selections or meet with people.

You don't need a binder. You need a finishes board. :)

@anitaladyrose you must be so excited!! Good luck! I hope all goes well with your construction. I should definitely gather all my catalogs and brochures and get them centrally located. @imstillchloecat, thanks, I knew there had to be a name for it. Now I have to google more on that :) But I like the idea of an expanding file folder for contact info, small samples and brochures as I pick them up. Eventually my top picks will make it to the finishes board.

Thanks all for the help!

A large accordion folder would be a great idea for all the papers, catalogs, etc. Ours are just in a stack on my desk with a few file folders for things like research on appliances. We're far enough along in our build that it would be pointless to start now. I did cart around samples of flooring and cabinet doors for awhile. Now the large stuff is on a 6 ft folding table in my living room. It's quite attractive. :-)

Congratulations on starting your build!

I like mini's approach. It would help to keep things from getting lost and accommodates photos. Samples should go on a board for each room or for the exterior.

If you are starting construction you should only be selecting finishes. The contractor who said, "there would be plenty of time to decide on the details" is not being realistic. There is never enough time.

I use a big zippered school binder with sections that have small pockets in the dividers to hold receipts and notes - you can use zippered pencil cases to hold samples of things.

And a calendar, and a note pad so you can track when you talked to whom.

10 years ago, I kept everything in a binder with tabs. As nini suggested, I also had a totebag with various samples.

This time I expect to use a hybrid approach.

Inspiration pictures of rooms I like are a bit scattered--pinterest, here on Houzz, and in a OneNote notebook. I can't see myself printing those out unless there's something specific that someone else needs to keep. It's easier to keep them there and carry my iPad around.

Because so many ideas are in 3 places, I may decide to make a consolidated spot for them on my website so that they can easily all been seen at once, or try to consolidate them on Houzz. Ideabooks are great.

For papers and things I want to hold on to, I'll probably go to a 3 ring binder with tabs for those. Like nini, I put the elevations in the front/back plastic sleeve cover of the binder and the floor plan in the first section.

Thanks all for you help. I can see how carrying samples in my car will be handy and save space as we'll be moving in while family during construction phase, so space will be limited. All great ideas!

One other thing that has been really nice is that I have our final plans on my phone stored in Google Drive. That way, when I'm talking to various vendors, just asking questions or whatever, I have quick, ready access without taking paper copies. Sometimes you just want to pull up the dimensions of a room to discuss lighting, or show someone how rooms relate to each other. It makes it really easy to email plans, too, when necessary.

I have a notebook in which I'm storing all my house details. It's divided into sections for contacts, land, permits, plans, appliances, utilities ... and then it has a section for each room. Each room section contains dimensions, paint choices, etc. and print-outs of tile, etc.

My secondary storage item is a tote bag, which only has a few samples at this point but can hold plenty of samples of tile, hardwood, etc.