One question I get asked all the time from clients, friends, and really anyone who inquires about Interior Design is: Why should I hire an Interior Designer when building or renovating a house?
The truth is if you are looking to build or renovate a home, the benefits out weigh any negatives. The most obvious reason to hire an Interior Designer is, of course, to have a professional create a vision for your home based on your style and your wants/needs. While you may know what you like, you may not know exactly how to bring it all together without it feeling like a jumble of styles. This is where we come in to take everything on your wishlist, every style or trend you love, and bring them all together in a cohesive package.
Another benefit of hiring an Interior Designer is gaining an additional set of eyes on your project to make sure everything runs smoothly. Sometimes contractors and tradesmen miss things, having an Interior Designer can ensure this does not happen. This also relieves you, the homeowner, from having to hold them responsible for making said mistakes. This in itself is an invaluable resource that should be taken advantage of!
At the end of the day if you are spending all this money to build or renovate your home, wouldn’t you want to make sure that every cent is well spent? Having a professional to monitor your project, your budget, the contractors, etc. will not only be money well spent, but it will also SAVE you money in the long run. Yes you have to pay more in design fees upfront, but the avoided mistakes and design plan from the beginning will save you from fixing any issues or anything that was missed. With an additional professional onboard, this will ensure your project runs smoothly.
Many people believe that having an architect and a builder are enough when building or renovating a home, but there is much benefit in hiring an Interior Designer. We tent to look at houses with a different perspective from architects and builders and prove to be a huge advantage in the long run. Architects are mainly focused on the structure itself and the exterior, but commonly overlook room sizes as the homeowner wants a room to function. They also tend to only focus on window placement from the outside, rather than how it will affect the furniture placement. Where architects tend the the exterior, the Interior Designer focuses on how the interior spaces interact since this is where you spend most of your time and is arguably more important. Depending solely on your builder can also lead to some issues, such as cutting costs where a Designer would stress it’s important to spend a little more in certain areas. Another more obvious reason is that a Designer is trained to have a good eye and sense of style, where as builders tend not to always have the best taste, which is totally fine. That’s what you hire an Interior Designer, so you don’t have to worry if you are getting the best advice on what looks best and will be in style for years to come.
Sometimes architects miss opportunities for architectural features that feel unique and set your home apart from others. We strive to take your style and will design interesting features that will reflect your aesthetic and work with the style of your home. A designer is going to want to take all that into account and push your home to the next level, where a contractor or builder merely wants to make sure your house is built accurately. Just as you count on you contractor to build your house structurally sound, you depend on a Designer to make sure your house is on trend yet will feel classic and not feel outdated in a few years. On the flip side, you wouldn’t go to your contractor to make design decisions just like you wouldn’t go to your Designer on how to build your home.
If you are working with a builder or contractor, they may send you to a showroom to pick out finishes for the entire house with a sales rep. This is very time consuming and can prove to be an exhausting feat for a homeowner who doesn’t have any experience doing this and most sales reps don’t have any experience in design. So while the sale reps are there to help you pick out what makes a better floor tile vs. wall tile, they don’t necessarily know what will best go with the style of the home or what will stay in style and not feel outdated in a few years. A lot of the times, you’ll result in a house that feels more like a cookie cutter, run-of-the-mill house than a custom “Designer home”. Or you could end up with a home where the rooms individually look great but overall feels mismatched without a general style or direction. This could risk cheapening the look of the home.
A contractor or builder might not fully understand your vision the way a Designer can interpret. You may not know how to communicate what you like or what your wants are for your project. We act as a buffer between you and the contractor or architect to make sure your vision is communicated in an accurate way. Sometimes you may not even know what you want or what you like - we are here to help you with that as well! The best Designer takes a mix of what you like/want/need and shows you things you didn’t even know you like/want/need all in a cohesive package.
At the end of the day, I always say to potential clients… If you’re spending all this money to invest in your home, wouldn’t you want to make sure you’d do everything to make sure it’s a sound investment? That’s exactly the service we provide, all the while making your home look gorgeous and tailored to you! So what are you waiting for? Contact us today!