5 "Secret" Advantages of Hiring an Interior Designer

Most people know that interior designers can help you pull together a color palette or find some great furniture pieces, but did you know hiring an interior designer can help you in a lot of other ways? I’m sharing five less well-known services I offer that will lighten your renovation burden.

If you have found yourself Googling the question “Should I hire an interior designer?”, you are probably at the threshold of a big change in your life.

I would guess you are in the beginning stages of building a home or planning a renovation, and it is both exciting and terrifying at the same time! There are so many decisions to make, and you want to be sure that you will be happy with your investment. You are considering hiring an interior designer to help, but you might be feeling nervous, wondering if the extra cost will be worth it.

I am here to assure you: Yes, it is!

Now, you may think this is just a blatant attempt to justify my existence and career choice (it totally is--let's be honest), but I truly do believe that my job description goes much further than helping you arrange decorations on a shelf. My job is also to make your life easier during your construction project. A lot of people who haven't worked with an interior designer might not be aware that the advantages go beyond getting a coordinated color palette and furniture layout. Let's discuss a few of the ways that I can help lighten the stress load of building or remodeling a home.

1. Creating and Sharing the Vision

Whether you are doing a complete overhaul or gradually making changes one at a time, having a well thought-out plan is essential to create a well-designed home. However, people who haven't done home design before are often overwhelmed with coordinating the many small details involved. How do you take 200 inspiration pictures from Instagram and Pinterest and boil them down into a defined concept that will work in YOUR home? While it's my job to help you sort through all the noise and create a specific vision for the look and feel of your home, it takes more than creative ability and good taste to pull off a large design project.

First, it's imperative that I clearly communicate the ideas in my head with clients in a way they can easily envision. To do this, I have many different tools at my disposal. I use digital concept boards, floorplans, elevations, and other construction drawings, physical samples of fabrics and finishes (flooring, tile, paint swatches, wood stains, etc), and even perspective drawings or 3D renderings to help you virtually “walk-through” the space and see how it will look from any angle. As you see all the details come together, you will be more confident in your investment and excited to see your design come to life!

Second, I will organize all those hundreds of details into concise documents that will relay the information to your contractors who will be performing the construction work. This is an important step that keeps the nuts and bolts of your plan organized and easily accessible. It allows information to be shared easily between multiple people, and protects your investment if work is done that doesn't reflect the designated plans. Does this make for a lot of paperwork? Oh, very much, yes! It has been said that 80% of an interior designer's job is paperwork, and only 20% is actually design. The upside is--I am doing all that paperwork so that you don't have to!

2. Details, Details, Details!

What makes the difference between an elegantly designed home and one that is a carbon copy of the latest trend? Design details. Architectural features like fireplaces, built-in cabinetry, flooring layout, finish carpentry, and ceiling design are sure to give your home that designer “wow” factor you love in magazines and TV shows. As someone who studies both classic looks and the latest trends, I have a vast catalog of information to draw on to pull these concepts together in a coherent and beautiful way.

When designing these details, I am always particular about proportions, balance, materials, transitions, and consistency. Does the style flow consistently from room to room? Is the fireplace/furniture/artwork/ light fixture the right scale for the home? Are we using the space as efficiently as we can?

These supposedly small details stacked together will have a significant effect on the look and feel of your home. They can either make or break a design. If any of them is off, you may not be able to put your finger on what is wrong right away, but you will be able to feel that something is not working. I put a lot of time into analyzing all these details for you so that your design features will become the perfect focal points you love in your home.

3. Being the Best Kind of Know-It-All

I am still surprised now and then at just how much information an interior designer is expected to know. You have to be a true “jack-of-all-trades” and have a good working knowledge in a large variety of areas. I really had no idea what I was getting into when I first decided to go back to school for an interior design degree. They didn't cover all this stuff in the HGTV shows I watched! I've learned a lot through school and work experience, and at the risk of being a little self-indulgent, I'd like to share with you a few topics that were covered in my academic and practical education.

In college, I studied color theory and the principals and elements of good design; design history from ancient Egypt to the modern day; human ergonomics and how it relates to things like kitchen layout, cabinet height, and stair measurements; how to determine the amount of light required for different rooms and different activities; and the structure and characteristics of different kinds of fabrics. After I graduated, I worked several months for a custom cabinet manufacturer and learned about cabinet parts, styles, materials, and construction. I then worked for a residential drafter and learned about exterior trim styles and materials, roof pitches/slopes and how they make a house look modern or traditional, window selections, etc. Later, as an Associate Designer designing model homes, I learned the process of construction and how it affects the order in which decisions need to be made. I refined my product knowledge of common housing finishes and materials (How does engineered hardwood differ from solid hardwood and can you put either one in your basement? Should your grout match or contrast with your tile and how wide should the joints be?), and learned how to organize and perform an entire home installation within a few days (I know a lot of tricks!).

I have spent years studying all these home design issues and there is always more to learn. Most people don’t have the time or energy to invest into gaining that knowledge when they need a home refresh, so I am more than happy to share what I have learned in order to benefit my clients. Making a decision is ten times easier when it's an informed decision.

Do I know everything there is to know about design and the construction process? Absolutely not! As I said before, there are so many things to know, it can boggle your mind! But what I don’t know, I know how to find out. Save yourself the overwhelming feeling of navigating a construction project without a guide and hire an interior designer!

4. Communication and Project Management

When you build or renovate a home, you rely on multiple contractors and tradesmen to turn your design concepts into reality. It is essential to be able to communicate clearly with them from the very beginning in order to keep the client, designer, and builder all on the same page throughout the duration of the project. This ensures more accurate bids, fewer change orders, and a predictable final product.

It is the rare exception to complete a construction without any little surprises popping up along the way. You know, those tricky design dilemmas that only reveal themselves once you start pulling down walls and tearing up floors? A lot of times it is necessary to make some changes on the fly in order to work around these unforeseen issues. Good contractors are very skilled at what they do, and usually know how to resolve these challenging problems, but they can sometimes make decisions without the complete design in mind. I can work with your builder on ways to adapt the work while remaining true to your design plan.

5. Curated Resources--Better Stuff, Better Value

There are millions of products available in today's market. Many of them look stylish and attractive, but can't hold up to the wear and tear of daily living. The average consumer may not know how to recognize the higher quality products among the other options out there, so they have to depend on the reviews of previous customers in order to feel more confident about making a big purchase.

Our society today lives and dies by online reviews. Most of us wouldn’t dream of buying anything any more without checking how many stars it got and what other people thought of it. We hope that our fellow online shoppers can offer us personal insight into a product's true value. This is especially true of home goods like furniture, rugs, artwork, or window treatments, which are often significant investments.

Unfortunately, we usually don't know anything about the people posting most online reviews, so we can't always rely on their opinions to guide us. Many reviewers install or use items incorrectly, against the manufacturer's instructions. Others write the review within a short time of purchasing the item, so they can't give you an accurate portrayal of the long term value. Still others have actually been paid to give good reviews. Without knowing who is reviewing the item or why, we can't always use online reviews as a reliable source of information.

Enter your friendly neighborhood interior designer. You probably already know that we can be a great resource for the most up-to-date styles and hard to find pieces that might not be available locally. I have access to many trade-only vendors that offer the latest looks in home furnishings and décor. Many of these products have customizable fabrics, finishes, and styles, to give your home a uniquely individual look in your favorite colors and patterns! Just using your designer as a personal home goods shopper will save you hours and hours of online scrolling time.

But wait! That’s not all! In addition to finding great-looking merch, we designers make it a priority to find you the best quality products you can get for your budget. I personally research the brands I offer so that I am familiar with their warranties, their reputation, and whether they are known by other designers for their quality and customer service. I hope to be the source you can trust to find home goods and materials that will live up to or exceed your expectations.

Are these advantages really all a big secret?

Well, no, not really! It's not like this stuff was written in invisible ink on the back of the Declaration of Independence! But if you haven't worked with an interior designer before, you might not be aware that you could get all these services and more! If you have more questions about how I can help reduce the hassle and stress of your design project, click HERE to schedule a free phone consultation with me!

Also, stay tuned for my next blog post, in which I'll be talking about the three tiers of design services I offer. There's a big difference between a single room refresh and a large home makeover. I offer interior design services at three different levels to accommodate any size project. Which one will be right for you? I am going to be starting up a newsletter so that helpful articles like this can come straight to your inbox. I'll post the link when it's ready! Ciao! (disclaimer: I don't speak Italian.)

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