Why Hire an Interior Designer? An Expert Insight
Why Hire an Interior Designer?
You may yourself have a very good eye and there are many interior design apps available, not to mention AI, that can help to create the interior and garden design of your dreams. So in this world of Design Apps and AI, why hire an interior designer and what value do designers bring?
Interior designers are highly skilled professionals, focussed on your individual needs. Here are some of the ways that they can help to:
Create Your Individual Home & Garden Design
Design Apps and AI can be very useful, if you have the time, to inspire and help you to see the possibilities for your interior and garden design. They can generate alternative layouts, colour schemes and even make suggestions for furniture and decorative products. But, they do not have the human touch, which can interpret the look and feel that you want to achieve to create a truly personal home to reflect your lifestyle and bring you joy.
Unlike design apps and AI an interior designer will have invaluable experience in dealing with the physical realities and practicalities of design projects. Your designer will consider the proportions of your property, the aspect of each room and how they connect and the peculiarities of the building structure, and will help you to navigate the process. This enables them to transform creative ideas and drawings into your beautiful bespoke design.
Plan & Budget
Whether you are adding an extension, renovating your entire property or just updating your home and garden one space at a time you will want to understand the cost implications and planning permissions required from the start.
Budgeting can be a complex task. Builders and trades will require accurate plans and specifications to give you an accurate quote. Ballpark figures are exactly that and if not tied down with clear design detailing can escalate quickly once you start. Contractors can also provide quite differing quotes and it can be hard to determine whether they are like for like.
Your interior designer can help you with this task, so that you are in control of your home and garden budget from the start.
Creating Interior Design Concepts & Developing Ideas
The best interior designers will create original interior design concepts developed just for you, tailored to suit you perfectly. Having an expert interior designer at your side will make the project much more fun and enjoyable. They will provide an excellent sounding board for the ideas you generate, developing them beyond what you knew was possible. New ideas will be suggested, based on their extensive experience, to help you with your decision-making.
Add Value to Your Property
A carefully thought out redesign can add immense value to your home. We have seen significant uplifts on the value of property at the end of a project. Whether you are planning to live in your home for many years or develop and sell immediately, it is very satisfying to know that the money you are spending will be profitable investment.
Your interior designer will be able to help you to assess which changes have the potential to make the most difference to the value of your home. And, when budget is limited, where to spend and where to save.
Overcome Decision-Making Overload
With so many products available people find themselves faced with decision making overload. They are frazzled by the sheer volume of inspiration out there and they go into a meltdown due to too much choice. Your interior designer will help you to overcome this by carefully curating a selected choice. They will help you to create your own original, considered design, not just the latest, fast trend on Instagram.
Visualise the End Result
When you are investing in an interior design project it is important to have a clear idea of the end result you want to achieve. This is essential for your own decision-making and also for communicating to your family and team of trade specialists so that everyone is working to the same end result.
Your interior designer will be able to provide you with the visuals you need from initial mood boards and concept drawings through to scale drawings and 3D renders, depending on the requirements of the project.
Manage Your Project Long-Distance
Your interior designer can visit site to get quotes from trusted trade suppliers, take the daily decisions that are needed during the build and be available for the long list of deliveries when you can’t be.
This may be an ad hoc requirement or involve full project implementation for busy individuals and families. We regularly manage projects for clients living abroad, with meetings held by Facetime, Teams or Zoom.
Provide Sustainable Solutions
Your interior designer can help you to create a more sustainable solution. Sustainability is an enormous and ever-changing topic but is an important consideration in any renovation project.
This may be as simple as helping you to repurpose existing pieces of furniture and choosing more sustainable materials, or more complex decision-making around energy saving choices and reducing waste. They will can also bring in additional specialists as required.
Design & Draw Bespoke Furniture
A client focussed interior designer will help you to create a design that is tailored to your needs. They will want every one of their clients to enjoy an interior that is bespoke. If you shop totally off the shelf you are likely to create a look for your home that is the same as many others.
Your interior designer will deep dive into your tastes and lifestyle and put together a look that you won’t find anywhere else. This may be achieved by adding in some interesting products from little known suppliers or creating bespoke joinery or furniture.
Problem Solve Unexpected Issues
Every home has its quirks and every project has its’ issues. Interior designers are naturally creative and have many resources to draw on to generate ideas and solutions. They may have experienced similar situations on other projects. If not, they will have an excellent team, behind the scenes to help. Working in collaboration with you, their creative colleagues and a trusted team of trade experts they will help you to make the most of every situation that arises.
Focus on Individual Tasks
Interior designers have a great eye and can put together colour schemes or curated collections of furniture. They can provide individual room layouts or drawings to show how a whole house layout could be improved to maximise flow or storage. Each aspect of the full interior design service can be broken down to provide you with just the help you need. This can be purchased in bundles of hours, or a fixed price depending on the requirement.
Specialist Room Design
Each individual room has specialist requirements. Your interior designer can elevate the design of kitchens, bathrooms, media rooms, home bars and so on. They will set the overall look and feel, design direction and flow throughout the house. They will bring in additional specialists as required. This may include a kitchen designer, joiner, tiler, sound engineer, builder, plumber etc. They will co-ordinate the team to elevate the design and ensure that the design detailing is on point from colour scheme to materials and lighting.
Provide a Turn-Key Service
An interior designer can supply a complete turn-key service for your project from planning through design concepts, detailed design, procurement and project implementation. They will bring together a full team of specialists to provide all the skills and extensive support required. They will be able to arrange storage for timed deliveries if needed.
Introduce Trusted Tradespeople
An experienced interior designer will have developed an extensive little black book of specialist suppliers and trusted trade experts they work with. They will also help you to select and co-ordinate resources.
Good quality contractors are typically busy, but they will prioritise working with their preferred interior designers. They know that they will receive good quality drawings, clear specifications and the support of an experienced team. This makes a good quality end result easier to achieve.
Save You Time & Stress
Watching reality home make-over shows might give you the impression that great interior design is easy to achieve. The reality is quite different. Creating a beautiful home involves a great deal of time, a lot of experience and access to team of specialist experts you can trust. It can be an overwhelming, time-consuming process, involving complex planning, budgeting and manging a diverse range of trades people.
Your interior designer will help guide you through a step by step process, and provide detailed drawings and designs as required. The initial planning and budgeting stage is very important to save you time, money and stress. They will ensure that the desired look and feel is defined early to provide clear design direction. Following this rigorous process will help avoid protracted decision-making and costly mistakes.
Full project co-ordination will ensure that the design is implemented to the highest quality standards, on time and to budget to achieve the desired end result.
Bring Your Interior & Garden Together
An interior designer will help to make the most of drawing the outside in and the inside out as appropriate. When opening up walls and building out into the garden, considering the link between the two spaces is essential. Your interior designer will have garden designers they can bring in to help as required, to create a seamless vision that blurs the lines between inside and out.
Improve Your Lifestyle and Wellbeing
There is strong evidence that the interior design of your home has a powerful impact on your health and wellbeing. Your interior designer will help you to create an environment that has a positive impact on your lifestyle and the wellbeing of you, your friends and family. They will create a design that functions brilliantly, suits your perfectly and adds joy to your life.
We hope that you found this article on why to hire an interior designer helpful. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Photography: Chris Snook Photography