Why Hire An Interior Designer?

The Benefits…

Ok, would say this wouldn’t I… but in all seriousness there really is a huge value in hiring a professional to help with your project. Whether you are building a house from scratch, renovating an old property, remodelling or just doing up a single room, it is very tempting to think that you can save money by doing the interior designing yourself. This, however, might be a false fallacy. An interior designer can help with much more than choosing paint colours, among other things, they can help with:

• Floor plans created just for you to suit your personal requirements from the room
• 2D/3D renders so you can visualise a room before splurging on it
• Mood boards and design boards to nail the design before any outlay
• Painting schedules to hand straight to painters for zero confusion
• Joinery plans
• Electrical and lighting and plans to hand to the sparky – again, mitigating mistakes!
• Upholstery and window dressing plans – not only will they help choose fabric but also what type of
• window dressing, the length, linings, curtain headings and trimmings
• Sourcing of fittings, fixtures and equipment
• Kitchen planning
• Bathroom planning
• Liaising with tradespeople
• Purchasing items, often at trade rates so can pass a discount to the client
• Art and accessories sourcing
• Styling, to pull the room together at the end

The plans outlined above are created outside of the scope of the architect. These plans are then used by tradespeople to provide a quote and work accurately from. Without these plans there is a risk that the builders will work to ‘provisional’ or ‘PC sums’ , which can take a project over budget and over target completion dates. The interior designers plans will help towards a much smoother build.

So, to conclude my whole hearted and shameless bigging up of the interior design trade, although there are costs involved with hiring an interior designer, there is nothing more disheartening, wasteful (and not to mention expensive) than having to re-do elements of a home mid-way or after the builders have finished due to functionality or style grievances. With your interior designer, this expense can be avoided, plus the savings they can often pass on through buying items at trade prices can often work towards mitigating their fees.

Winner winner chicken dinner.