Are you thinking about hiring an interior designer for your project? We will help you find right person for your future interior design project. You will know to ask right questions and see if he or she is compatible with your personality and wanted design style.
Basicaly you need interior designer to use his/her skills to improve the look of your home by using right color, accessories, and many more things to get what you wish and pay for.
However some interior designers by my expirience can be complicated to work with. By nature interior designers “know everything” and don’t want you to interfear with upcoming project. They want you to see end result and nothing in between.
My approach as interior designer and furniture reseller would be much different. I want my client to interact with his or her decisions every single step. This way we gain mutual trust between eachother and projects tend to become much more personal and better at the end.
At the same time I respect client wishes and value their time. If they don’t want to interact and leve me free hands and some budged, I am happy to be creative as well.
Before meeting an interior designer, you should prepare a list of some essential questions and your thoughts on how you want your room to be designed. Some possible questions to ask include:
What is your budget fo your project?
Be carefull – some designers tend to earn a lot of money buying furniture for you. If you are not super rich, you should get aware of furniture and accessorie prices you order. Some designers even don’t want to work with you, if your budget is to small or you don’t let them to buy furniture for you. Lot of designers have agreement with shops around your place and they by any mean want to design furniture out of their collection.
If you see something interesting somewhere on web during design proces, let designer know to include it in your future design. Remember you pay us to think but with your allowence, we can also suggest and buy furniture on your behalf. Our main focus should be finding right furniture, colors and accessories to work all together in same place.
Ideal designer would take time to go shopping with you or send you links /list of items that would be needed for room he designs and let you to nagotiate and buy from certain shop.
He would Just invoice you designer fees for his or her service.
You should be realistic on the amount you want to spend and quality of the pieces you will het with that amount. Designer will have knowledge to tell you estimate budget needed after telling him your wishes.
However, there are some cases you’ll be forced to raise your budget. Let’s say that you thought Granite countertop would be right choice for your kitchen but after designing all elements around we see that with Corian we can get exactly what we want and wish for to be at the end. This is totally normal and your planned budget should be around 80% of total money planned for your project including designer fees.
What are interior designer fees?
Interior designer fees vary a lot depending how “popular” designer You Hire and what are his or her references. With designing celebrity homes fees tend to skyrocket threw thre roof.
Therefore, it is essential to ensure that you’re okay with the fee requested by the interior designer before hiring them. Don’t leave it as a suprice. Some designers may even oger you free service if you buy furniture from o threw them.
Yes, you deserve beautiful home, but don’t go for what you cannot afford. Noname designer straigt out of college will give 110% to make you proud so don’t under estimate them. Experience matters but at the same time don’t over spend service. Rather spend more on quality furniture. Never make rash decisions while choosing the best interior designer. Check few of them and go for an interior who’s ready to provide the best services within your budget.
What Style is your Interior Designer Specialized on?
First ask yourself what is your favorite style? Let us say you like minimalistic overall look. Search for those who can show you some examples, past references of similar styles projects. Never go for those interior designers who say that they’re specialized in all interior styles. Everybody have certain favorite design style they tend to put in their upcoming projects.
If you hire someone straight our of college, it is normal, he doesn’t have references but his or her price should be more affordable. If you hire some well known designer, check his projects first. Best interior designer would always be one who has specialized in a specific design type and has passion about it. Therefore, take your time and find right one for your needs. You don’t need to know, what is your style called. Check his or her reference photos and decide if this is something you would have or not.
Check designers social media accounts, portfolio and reference sites. Try to find as much informations as you can about them before meeting them in person. Be prepared.. I would avoid those interior designers who claim to know everything. Go for a designer that provides a unique style and vision you need for your home
How Does The Designer Get The Required Pieces?
The best interior designer is the one who has great trade connections and who will offer you different possibilities and adopt your needs and budget. Lot of designers have access to so called exclusive trade items. Therefore, by selecting this kind of designer, you’re promised of getting exclusive wallpapers, fabrics, and trims. Your home will look unique and eye appealing.
Also, these items will stand out and make room look really special. But you need to note that trade-only items come with a disadvantage too. For example, you’ll realize that trade furniture comes at relatively higher prices, hence the reason why you should not rely only on the trade only items. One of most famous sites is eporta. By my opinion best designers are those who can make out of inexpensive furniture amazing design.
If you give person with no interior design knowledge unlimited budget and told him to buy only designer peaces of furniture, I am quite sure, your room would look pretty good. Most of expensive design peaces are quality made and look amazing so combining them together is much easier then searching for something inexpensive but great looking.
Are You In A Position Of Buying Each Item Required?
For those interior designers who always source trade materials, they’ll advise you to buy all the required items at once. The main reason for this is that they always receive huge discounts whenever they buy all these materials at once.
Therefore, for those with an extended purchasing plan, it is essential to keep the interior designer updated. Some designers will end up purchasing all the required items at once and then sell them to you whenever you need them. However, you need to ensure that the designer purchases only the items that will last for a long time before expiring. By doing this, you’ll ensure that the purchased pieces are not going out of stock before you’re ready to use them.
For those interior designers who I like more and who look out od the box, will search for peace everywhere. They will do their best to find unique, affordable and great looking peace for your upcoming design. They will be in touch with you all the time and keep you posted with project workflow.
Does The Designer Offer Full-Service?
It is always essential to go and search for someone who will be available during the entire process. Here, full service means that the interior designers will provide several services such as:
- Renderings
- Controlling purchases and delivery
- Measurement of spaces and photography
- Making several shopping trips with you as customer
- Checking final installation
- Styling your room with the required accessories
- Organizing meetings with the contractorsFloor, Floor plans, In-home consultations
- Keeping all the furniture until the last day of installation
There are many more roles played by the interior designer during your project. All this are advantages when hiring local designer. He or she will be ready to provide all the services, and many more within the agreed and as per your needs. If you pick interior designer online or far away from you, he will provide you only with design plan and renderings of your room so you can copy idea in to reality. Ask yourself what best suits your needs.
Ask your future interior designer for past references and short explanation of style used in them
Before hiring an interior designer, it is essential to check some of their past references completed within your budget range and style. Since this is a common question to every interior designer, they should be ready to answer it confidently with a portfolio of their previous tasks showcasing various rooms and aesthetics.
You’ll realize that each designer has his unique style and its own unique quality skills. Some feature bright colors and bold patterns while others feature amazing lighting arrangements and traditional furniture. By reviewing the portfolio of the interior designer, you’ll determine if they can complete your project or not.
How Long Will The Project Take?
There are some cases where you’ll want to get the project completed within the shortest possible time before a big occasion. Also, there are cases where you’ll want to relocate to your new home, and you want to get some basics completed now and then add other pieces later.
It is essential to know when you’ll want your project to be completed. For the case where you’re in a super rush, avoid the custom pieces and instead go for the ready-made or in-stock retail store items. Other than this, by knowing your timeline, designer should realistictly tell you how much time he needs to get and design your future room or house.
What Is The Communication Process Of The Designer?
The communication process is another essential question to ask, especially for getting in touch online woth designers further away from your home. You’ll notice that there is a restriction on the communication process, mostly for the companies that have employed several designers. Here, these companies will not allow communication with these designers to take place anywhere else other than from their platform.
There are cases where the messages will go unanswered or get lost on the process because of technical glitches in the company’s platform. Therefore, before hiring an interior designer, you must ensure that there is a flexible mode of communication with them. This problems won’t happen if you hire designer localy.
Is Interior Designer Ready To Provide Post-Install Support
Finally, you need to choose an interior designer who’s ready to offer installation services after completing the assigned project. Never select an interior designer who goes missing after delivering the final design.
The best interior designers must provide one to two hours of post-installation support , depending on the package of the client. This means that good interior design must schedule a time to answer the client’s questions after delivering a shopping list, styling instructions, floor plan, and mood board.
The meeting can take place either through face to face discussion, or via a phone call, email, or video call. Therefore, whenever the client gets stuck, the interior designer should be ready to offer the needed help.
Final Thoughts – who is your best interior designer
Hope now you know the main questions to ask before hiring an interior designer?
Hiring best interior designer is not something you need to take for granted. Ensure that you take your time before hiring one since the decision determines a lot on what you invest and the result you’ll get. Designing your home can be fun or difficult task, depending on your personality.
With the help of a professional interior designer, this can less stressed and happy experience. Now you know main questions to ask them. Take your time and you’ll end up choosing the best interior designer for your project. These questions will guide you selecting trustable person who’s capable of changing the look of your home or room.
Don’t get worried if the design process takes a longer time than expected. A slow design process is the best option since it ensures that your home becomes your dream home.
Thinking about designing your kids room. You can read my out of box inspirational tips on recent blog post here
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