Up on the blog this week I'm getting real about the work I do as an interior designer.  We live in a nation where everyone seems to want an Instagram-worthy or Pinterest-level home to spend their days in. With that, the interior design industry has changed dramatically. Interior design, originally thought to be only for the ultra-rich, has become more and more accessible and desirable for the middle-class.

I’m here today to set the record straight and let you guys in on a little secret: working with an interior designer doesn’t have to blow your budget and will often cost less than doing a project yourself at the end of the day! That being said, in order to get the most out of your experience, there are a few things to keep in mind, which I’m going to circle back on towards the end of this post. But in the meantime, let’s talk about how we designers can help save you some money.

LET THE EXPERTS HANDLE IT

We all have our areas of expertise and it is so important to focus your time and energy on those specific areas so you can grow both personally and professionally.  I recently hired a painter to paint my entire home.  I had never hired a painter for my own space before.  What I learned immediately, was that by hiring a professional to handle something I didn’t have the time to do right myself, I freed up so much more time to focus on my own work. I now apply this to almost every area of my life, and it’s made me so much more efficient and happy.

If you too are a believer that “time is money”, this the first example of how a designer can help you save. Let’s get real…furnishing an entire house, or even a condo, is a TON of work, especially if you want to do it right. There are so many details to consider: What size furniture will fit the space best? What size area rugs fit with the furniture layout? What type of fabric should you have on your sofa if you have kids? How do you create a cohesive palette throughout a house? Which light fixtures will work with your space? Where do you even begin with accessories and artwork? What window treatments are right for your room function and window size? Would furniture be better or custom built-ins? 

This doesn’t even begin to cover construction-related projects. If you are doing any type of renovation or new build, PLEASE do yourself a favor and get a professional designer on board. To put it bluntly, “you don’t know what you don’t know”. Why stress yourself out trying to learn everything when you can hire a professional who already knows what they’re doing? Construction is a huge investment, so you want to make sure it’s done right, and done once.

As interior designers, we do this type of work every single day. We have formed valuable relationships with vendors, contractors and fabricators. No offense but, I guarantee we can do the work 10 times faster and 10 times better than you would be able to do it.

Photo Cred:  Pinterest

MISTAKES ARE NOT CHEAP

I'm currently working with a client who purchased several pieces of furniture that unfortunately do not work in her space.  She wanted to get furniture into her new home as quickly as possible and because of that she settled for pieces that she doesn't really like and quite frankly are either too big for the space or just are built with poor quality.  Now she is re-doing all of the work with me.  Yes, this is an extreme example, but these things happen! If you work with an interior designer, the first thing we do is create a cohesive palette and a concept for your project. By setting a the design concept right from the start, we are ensuring that your entire design will tie into the same look and everything we source for the project will work together. From there, we’ll create layout studies, to determine what size furniture we should be sourcing, and at that point, we have a clear plan and know exactly what to source and where to look for the right pieces.

Going back to that “you don’t know what you don’t know” motto, if you do a project on your own, chances are you are going to be making mistakes along the way and learning valuable (and expensive lessons). Designers have learned these lessons already and take the guess-work out of things. We’re able to propose options confidently and know how to execute and deliver exactly what we envision.

Photo Cred:  Pinterest

DESIGN DISCOUNTS

If you know anyone in the trade industry, you may have heard of a glorious little thing called trade discounts. It’s true, designers typically have trade or wholesale accounts that allow us to purchase furniture and materials at discounted prices. That said, every firm operates differently in their pricing model, so this is an area where I certainly can’t speak for everyone. However, here at Delia Designs, we typically sell product to our clients for less than retail cost, meaning you literally save money by working with us. Additionally, interior designers are able to purchase from vendors that everyday people can’t get access to and that often means you get a MUCH higher quality product for the same price that you would have spent if you just went to West Elm and you won’t end up with the same living room as your neighbor. Who wouldn’t want that?

Photo Cred:  Pinterest

NOT EVERY PROJECT NEEDS AN INTERIOR DESIGNER

In the residential design world, there are generally three structures for interior design services:

FULL-SERVICE DESIGN

CONSULTATION DESIGN SERVICES

E-DESIGN

Full-service design gives clients the full “interior designer, hands-off” experience. Again, every firm operates differently, but in general, a full-service design firm will propose layouts and palettes, source furnishings and décor, coordinate fabrication/execution for built-ins, custom pieces, and any construction/finishing work to be done, and will also handle all procurement and installation to deliver a finished space for the client to enjoy. In my opinion, you get the most out of your dollar with a full-service designer because you save yourself time, mitigate any opportunities for mistakes, and often get access to trade sources. That said, full-service projects often require larger budgets just because there is so much involved. In order to really get the most of the experience and make it as beneficial as possible for all parties, you need to have an appropriate amount of money set aside for a full-service project, and a designer can typically guide you with this at the start of a project.

Realistically, not every project is a good fit for a full-service interior designer.  Sometimes, clients simply want a professional to give advice on paint colors or an overall palette for a project and they want to handle the rest on their own or they know they need to keep costs really low for a project. In those cases, a consultation service is probably the best fit, and you can meet with a designer or even a decorator for an hour or two and get what you need. This is best especially for more hands on clients who want to do a lot of the work themselves. This is not the type of project we at Delia Designs take on.

Alternatively, if you have a smaller budget for a project and still want a designer to do the actual sourcing for you, you can go the E-Design route and get a proposed design for a space and a shopping list from a designer for a lower fee, but typically the designer will be pretty hands-off once that design is delivered.