Many have asked me over my years of design practice what they should know when they are ready to hire an Interior Designer. My hope is that after reading my article you will take from this the answer you were searching for.
See to it that you use the 5 questions presented in this article to help you make an informed decision.
– Do you feel you lack the skills for home decorating?
– Have you made home purchases but they are still in the closet or garage because you don’t know what to do with them or where to put anything?
– Are you at odds with a spouse or roommate when it comes to decision making for the design project at hand?
– Are you having a hard time agreeing with your spouse or roommate when it comes to home or apartment decorating?
– Are you unsure of your personal style and exactly what you like when it comes to home decorating?
If you’ve answered yes to any of the questions in this article, then it is possible you could use the help of an Interior Designer. You won’t regret your decision I promise.
Interior Designers have the know-how and the expertise when it comes to interior spaces. Now you may think you know how, and perhaps some of you are pretty good with the DIY (do it yourself) projects, but the truth of the matter is, most of us simply aren’t. So for that reason alone should you seriously consider hiring an Interior Designer because the bottom line is mistakes will cost you more in the long run.
Now I’m not saying that all Interior Designers are alike on the contrary. If you ask five Designers about how a room should be designed, you will get five different answers!
So how do you hire the right Interior Designer? First ask friends or family. Word of mouth is great advertising for any Designer. Perhaps a co-worker has had good experience with a Designer.
Look for a Designer that displays confidence in his or her abilities and your Designer should respect what YOU desire as a final end result in your interior space.
Meet with your Designer before hiring them. Many will advertise their services on personal websites. Most Designers offer free consultations, which is an informal meeting to break the ice and get to know your Designer. Your Designer will use this meeting to get to know you as well and hear what you desire in your interior spaces.
A good characteristic to look for in a Designer is confidence in his or her abilities. Also a Designer should be a good listener to your desires and needs for your design project. State clearly what it is you are hoping for and your Designer will know exactly your personal style.
It is not so important as to how long the Designer has been in practice, rather that he or she is on the “same page” as you.
Ultimately the goal of the Designer is to keep the client on track. But the connection or “synergy” must exist between Client and Designer and so personalities must work well together.
Interior Designers will bring together special vendors to the table to help get your interior project done. They are invaluable because they know who to go to and most importantly who not to go to. This in-depth knowledge is exactly what the Client needs. Most consumers are not privy to this information and may end up hiring the wrong team of people.
You can ask for referrals from your Designer, although not all Designers are willing to give that information out. It’s a privacy issue and most clients won’t allow the Designer to give out their information.
Interior Designers work with many budgets and at many different price ranges. They usually charge by the hour and at prices as low as $50 dollars an hour to $300 dollars an hour.
