- Do you have a friend with good taste who says he/she can help you with your home improvements?
- Did you go to a fun furniture store, and have the salesperson offer to come to your house to help you with furnishings?
- Are you working with an architect who hasn’t mentioned you might need a designer to review his plans, or help you with the interior design process?
Beware…of the interior designer in disguise….
Everyone has a small voice inside telling them they are an interior designer..
Unfortunately that can be a detriment to you if they are not…
A certified, experienced interior designer is just that! Certified, credentialed, and experienced. They are skilled professionals working as consultants to provide their clients with the best design for their particular project. Their motivation should be only that…to find the best products, finishes, and materials to create the best design.
It should have nothing to do with a person simply having “good taste”. Many people have wonderful taste, but that has nothing to do with space planning, sourcing product, working through structural details and being able to tie all the elements together to create a successful interior.
It is easy to be inspired by a fun retail furniture store. When the salesperson offers to come to your home to help you with your interior…make sure you find out his/her credentials before you start buying furniture. I have been the “fix it” person so many times, when a client calls and says the furniture store rep came out and then left when they realized either the project was too involved for them, or that the style would not be conducive with the products that store was selling A professional interior designer may work in a furniture store, but not all furniture salespeople are interior designers. So make sure you ask. Otherwise you might find yourself with a house full of furniture that doesn’t fit, or a room that looks like a furniture showroom instead of a reflection of your taste and lifestyle.
And lastly, if you are building a new home, and are knee deep in the planning stages, be sure to ask your architect if he works with an interior designer, or can recommend an interior designer. The most successful interiors are ones that are the result of a collaboration of the architect and designer. Many times the architect’s vision is from the outside-in, while the interior designer’s perspective is from the inside out. The best of both gives you, the client the greatest product.
So interior designers come in many disguises…don’t be afraid to make sure you have the “real deal.”