Hiring an Interior Designer

Hiring an interior designer can be a daunting process. After all, changing the look of your home is an important decision, and often it requires a pretty sizeable investment. You want to create a look you can be comfortable with, and proud of, for a long time to come. But who can you trust with the job? Never fear –if you keep these few simple ideas in mind, you can rest assured that the interior designer you hire is going to be the right one to make your vision for your home come alive.

Do Your Homework

Before hiring an interior designer, first you need to decide exactly what job you have to offer them. In what rooms will they be working? Who uses those rooms, and what are the main activities that happen in the rooms - is the room a TV room, where comfortable seating and easy viewing of the screen are the number one factors to keep in mind? Is the dining room for formal dining only, or do you plan to eat your meals there nightly?

Now is also the time to decide a budget and a timeframe in which you want the work to be completed. You can automatically weed out anyone who charges too much or who can’t meet your time constraints.

Spend some time going through magazines, browsing through furniture shops, and checking out friends and neighbors’ homes to get some ideas about styles you like/styles you want to avoid. If you have something specific in mind and can go in with pictures or fabric swatches, great. If not, don’t worry, your designer can work with you to come up with ideas, but it always helps to communicate any strong preferences/dislikes.

It might also help to go into meetings with designers with measurements of the rooms in question – remember, the more information you bring to the table, the more you are likely to get out meetings with your potential interior designers.

Interviews

Now that you have gotten all of your information together, the next step is to interview interior designers. Interview several designers so you can compare style, price, and personality. There are a few points you will want to be sure to cover in your interviews to help with your decision:

• Ask about education, experience, and any professional accreditations that may hold.

• Ask to see a portfolio of previous work, and ask for references.

• What is their price structure/how do they determine their fees? Do they feel they can provide the service you want within your budget?

• Exactly what services can they provide and will you have to bring in outside help for any portion of the job (for instance, painters)?

• Can they accommodate your timeframe?

• How will they communicate with you/how often can you expect to be updated on the project?

Of course, one of the most important aspects of choosing an interior designer is personality. Are you comfortable with this person? Will you be able to work closely with them and communicate all of your likes and dislikes effectively? Don’t neglect this part of the decision process.[1]

Hiring the Interior Designer

Once you’ve found the designer with whom you want to work, give them the job! But first, get a contract together. If your designer doesn’t have a standard contract, than write one up yourself that you will both sign. Make sure the contract includes the agreed fee for the job, the timeframe in which the job is to be completed, and the specific tasks the designer will perform. Again, if you are writing it on your own, it doesn’t have to be flashy or long. As long as it spells out the agreement and is signed by both parties, you’re good to go. In everyone’s best interests, work should not begin until a contract is in place.

But How Do You Find a Designer?

Word of mouth is a great way to find a good interior designer. Check with your neighbors and friends and find out if they have had any good (or bad) experiences with any local interior designers.

The American Society of Interior Designers’ website allows you to search for interior designers who are approved and accredited by them. ASID also has local chapters, contactable through the website, to help you with any questions you have along the way.

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