“I'm thinking about remodeling my home, do I really need an Interior Designer? And when should I hire one?” This question is so common! The answer is simple: yes you need one, and you need one as soon as possible!
Why do I need an Interior Designer?
Many see having an Interior Designer as a luxury, we see it as a really smart and economical decision! As design professionals, it’s our job to save you time, money, provide professional guidance and act as the liaison between you and your contractor and vendors.
Remodeling your home, or even just selecting furniture, can be really time-consuming! There are so many options available to you, but your designer will present you with only the most appropriate options for your project, saving you tons of time searching so you don’t have to spin your wheels!
Designing is planning, and planning needs to be done well before a project is scheduled to start. The better planned out your project is, the more money you will save. This will lead into when you should hire your interior designer, so keep reading for more information!
There are so many decisions to be made when you’re working on a home remodel or even just updating a room! Seriously, so many that sometimes even designers can get overwhelmed, and we do this everyday. There are sacrifices and gains with every decision to be made, but with professional guidance from your designer, you can live confidently with the choices you make.
Did we mention that design is time-consuming? So much of what is time-consuming is all behind the scenes, the stuff you don’t see, the countless phone calls, meetings, and emails between us and vendors, material and sample requests, product research, etc… we take care of all this for you! A designer is your liaison and is there to communicate the design intent correctly and efficiently to vendors, contractors and anyone involved on your project. We ensure that what is built or manufactured is done the way we intended it to be, for you.
Now that you understand the importance of hiring an interior designer, let’s talk about when you should do so.
When should I hire my Interior Designer?
We see many clients who hire designers after they have worked with an architect to get their plans approved through the city, or worse, have even broken ground with their contractor! If you’re hiring a designer during one of these phases, it may be too late to for us to deliver the very best design for your project, without many revisions and costly change orders. The truth is, once you’ve decided to start the process of a remodel or update, the very first thing you should do is hire an interior designer.
We like to look at the home with a “bird’s eye view” and ask ourselves, “how can I get the best use out of the space I’m working with for my client?” Sometimes, we may relocate a wall to accommodate better circulation and clearances, or custom built ins for storage. If you’ve already broken ground, our design solutions are so much more limited to the pre-planned plumbing and electrical locations, or restraints of wall locations. Far too frequently do we find that a client never considered alternative solutions during the planning phases, and after a site walk through, they realize a different idea would work better. Unfortunately, now they have to decide: pay the costly change order, or forego the new and better idea all together! Yikes!
When Lisa takes her clients through the design process, she want them to feel as if they have had the opportunity consider every option that could work for them, in order to land on the best decision. When Lisa starts working with a client from the beginning, it’s essentially a blank slate which allows her to deliver exactly what her clients want. By educating her clients on the sacrifices or the gains of each creative design solution, she’s able maintain confidence in their decisions throughout the process.
So now you may be thinking, “That makes sense, but I’m not planning on changing my floor plan, I just want to update my home, keeping everything in the same location.” The answer is the same, hire your designer as soon as possible! Not only can your Interior Designer help you make material selections such as tile, paint colors, light fixtures, hardware and unique plan layouts (to start), they can simultaneously prepare your plans to submit for a permit. Doing these at the same time can speed up construction time and save you money! Never wait to hire a designer the moment your contractor asks you what tile to order, because he’s ready to install that tile in less than a week!
I hope you found this article helpful. Please share with friends who are considering anything from a remodel even to just a furniture update, this information could really save them! Be sure to follow on Instagram @lisamarieid!