Free template
Free Interior Design Project Timeline Template (with Order-By Dates)
Phases, tasks and a Gantt chart that draws itself, order-by dates for long-lead items, and a client decisions tracker. For Excel and Google Sheets.
Plan it backwards from install day
Every design project has one date that doesn’t move: the week the furniture goes in. Everything else is a consequence of it. The sofa with a thirteen-week lead time had to be ordered in August. The client’s decision on the vanity stone had to happen before the joiner could start. The painter has to be out before the rugs go down.
Most timelines get written forwards, from the kickoff meeting, and they fall apart the first time a supplier quotes fourteen weeks instead of eight. This one works backwards from install, so the dates that matter tell you when they’re in trouble while there’s still time to do something about it.
What’s inside
Four tabs:
1. Timeline
Every phase from discovery to reveal, one row per task, with an owner (studio, client, builder, supplier, trades). Set a start date and a length in weeks, and the end date and the bar on the chart draw themselves. Install week is marked in red down the whole chart, so anything that crosses it is obvious.
2. Order-by dates
Enter a long-lead item and its quoted lead time, and the sheet tells you the last safe day to order it. Anything already ordered gets an expected arrival and a flag if it's going to land after install.
3. Client decisions
Every decision your client owes you, what it holds up, and the date the timeline needs it by. It counts down, and turns amber a week out. Share this tab with your client; it does the chasing for you.
4. How to use
One page, including the ten-minute Monday habit that keeps a timeline a plan instead of a wish.
Filled in with a demo project (Harborview Residence) so you can see how it works, then clear it and use your own.
Download the timeline
Free. Email required, and we’ll send the Excel file. It opens in Google Sheets and Numbers too.
Why we’re giving it away
Useful on its own, until you are running three at once
Mortar is project and budget management for interior designers. Every item in Mortar carries its order date, lead time and expected arrival, and it flags anything that won’t land before the build starts. Your client can add the project calendar to their own calendar. The spreadsheet does the same maths by hand.
So the template is free and useful on its own. When you’re running three of these at once and the dates live in five places, you’ll know what we make.
FAQ
- What are the phases of an interior design project?
- The template uses seven: discovery, concept, design development, procurement, construction and site work, installation, and reveal. Rename or cut them to match how you work. Furnishing-only jobs usually skip construction.
- How long does an interior design project take?
- It depends on the scope and, mostly, on lead times. A furnishing project with custom upholstery is often five to six months from discovery to install, because the longest lead item sets the pace. That's why the order-by tab exists: it shows you which single item is your real deadline.
- What's an order-by date?
- The last day you can order something and still have it arrive before install: install date, minus the lead time, minus a buffer for freight and receiving. The template uses a two-week buffer you can change.
- Excel or Google Sheets?
- Both included, identical. Use Sheets if more than one person updates it.
Run your next project on one list. Get your evenings back.
Load a real project into the trial. Paste a product link and watch it fill itself in, then open the portal your client would see. You'll know within a week.
- Fully self-serve
- Cancel anytime