What Should You Do Before Hiring An Interior Designer?

Embarking on an interior design journey is such an exciting process and one that should be undertaken with enthusiasm and preparation. As an interior designer and decorator who has been in the industry for over 13 years now, there are a few things I have discovered that I believe you should keep in mind before hiring an interior designer. Some of these may seem obvious and some may spark some inspiration in you to start your own journey towards finding the right interior designer for you. Undertaking an interior design or decorating project is a big life decision and one that should be researched and thought about before hitting the ‘go’ button! Hopefully today’s post will help you take some steps in preparing for your own decorating or design journey and make hiring an interior designer a more comfortable and inspiring decision!

Research Interior Designers That Service Your Area

This may be an obvious one, so I thought I would start here. When we embark on any new journey our immediate inclination is to head straight to google and look at page 1 of the results. My tip is to go through each designer or decorator that pops up first but also head to pages 2 or 3 of Google as well to ensure you have done thorough research on the extensive designers available. There are many different types of designers so ensuring you select the correct one that services your exact needs is essential. For example, interior designers or decorators can specialise in everything from new builds, renovations, interior design, interior decoration, soft furnishings, styling and more. So, I recommend heading straight to their ‘services’ page to ensure they offer the type of design service that suits your project perfectly. Next, have a look through their portfolio, google reviews and ‘about us’ page to ensure you like their overall vibe and style. Finally, Instagram is a great source for researching interior designers as they’ll often be more active on this platform and post the behind the scenes of the day-to-day running’s of the business and updates on current projects.

Look Into Different Interior Design Styles

Researching different interior design styles is a great place to start when thinking about transforming your home. Throughout history there have been a number of design styles that reference certain eras, decades, geographic locations or lifestyles. Design styles vary in popularity, and we often see them cycled in and out of style throughout a 10-20 year period. For example, you may remember that Scandinavian style had a resurgence in the 2010’s whilst ‘Mid-century’ and ‘Palm Springs’ styles have been popular the past few years. Whereas there are certain design styles such as ‘Coastal’ or ‘Farmhouse’ that tend to always be in vogue, yet the elements used within the style will change and evolve given the current trends and colour palettes. For example, coastal has always been huge in Australian design yet in recent years we’ve seen it lean towards a very minimalistic beige and white colour palette in contrast to the blue and yellow coastal palette of the 90’s.

Gather & Curate Your Inspiration

One of the aspects we go over in every new client consultation is the inspiration and images they’ve seen that they love or are inspired by. More often than not clients have too little inspiration rather than too much. The more images you have to show your interior designer the better as with each image we start to piece together the overall vision and feel you are looking for in your home design.  Find that sometimes clients can be hesitant to share an image if they don’t like every aspect of it, but I always say as long as you can specifically tell me what you do love, that’s all I need! For example, you may show me a photo of a living room, but only love the sofa colour and shape, not the styling of the space as a whole. If you can describe what you love about the photo or share how it makes you feel, is all we need to go off to gain an understanding of your vision. My favourite places to look for inspirational images for interiors are Pinterest, Instagram, Interiors Magazine, Coffee Table Books or Display Homes.  

Consider Your Budget

When considering the budget for your project it should be split into two parts. The first being what you would like to spend on the build/renovation/furniture/decorating aspect and the second being the design fee you would like to pay your interior designer or decorator. The latter is often an afterthought when undertaking a project, but it is essential in working out your overall budget and how much you’d like to spend on the project as a whole. When conducting your research on Interior Designers near you (step 1), be sure to look at their services and don’t be afraid of getting in touch to ask for an ‘investment guide’ if available. If the budget is tight, but you would still love the help of an interior designer there are many talented designers that are starting out in the industry that often offer lower rates as the interior design industry generally works off an experience to rates ratio.

Once you have completed the above steps and feel confident in taking the leap to hire an interior designer or decorator get in touch with the one or ‘ones’ that you love best! Keep in mind that interior designers only take on a select number of projects per year so the sooner you get in touch, the better! If you found yourself on this blog or my website (welcome) and would like to take the next step in reaching out to hire me as your interior, then get in touch today. Simply fill out the contact form on my website for more information. I’d love to help you bring your interiors project to life!