You love to bring a theme to a room, to make things look just so. Perhaps friends who visit your home make remarks about wishing they could hire you to fix up their place or that they never know what goes with what. If you seem to be a natural at interior decoration, why not become an interior designer?
There are steps you can take that will ease you onto the road to becoming a professional interior designer, bringing your passion to life.
The terms interior designer and interior decorator are often used interchangeably. Both generally mean that you will create a pleasant space in the dimensions given that you won't make major structural changes in the house. This is important as actually altering the configuration of a house, or a room, may need a permit, license and there may be other red tape which involves building contractors and other professionals.
That said, if you want to do interior decoration for a living, the following considerations may be of help.
Education and training:
While you may be able to hang out a shingle and proclaim yourself an interior designer, you may also not have too many clients. In general, people looking to hire you will want to know where you received your education. There are a lot of schools out there, many of them reputable. However, be sure to do your research before you pay for a series of classes that will never do anything except take your money.
Training will likely be more important than the mere fact that you've been educated in interior decoration. While it may take longer, getting a job with an established interior designer may make things easier for you in the long run. Not only will you make a salary (though just starting out may mean the salary is rather small), you will learn on the job and receive real-world training.
Prepare a portfolio:
No matter what you do, a prospective employer or client will want to see what you can do, in a range of interior design options. Can you create a chic country look? How about a warm, modern feel? How can you prove it? Now you use your portfolio. When you work on an interior decoration project, you'll want to take lots of pictures, have them organized and easy to go through. Your portfolio will sell you, so make sure it's a tool that shows off the best you have to offer.
Practice:
Your home is your personal showcase. Try different looks within it, just to see what looks good. While you may have found the perfect interior decoration for your living room, try switching things up. While it may not be the look for you, someone else may like it. Plus, you'll have the chance to step back and figure out why something doesn't look right—or why it looks great.
Tap your friends for help. There's no reason you can't offer your interior design services to friends, as long as you get to take pictures of the finished product for your portfolio. Be sure to take before-and-after pictures to showcase your interior designer talent as you create a wonderful living space. If cost is a problem, try using what is currently there or find different, cheaper options, like moving furniture from other rooms in the house.
Network:
Attend home shows as an interior designer. Take your portfolio, dress up a corner of the booth, or raffle off a free interior design consultation. Your name needs to be out there in order to create a business.
Try and visit home shows even if you don't rent any space. Introduce yourself to the various participants and hand out business cards. Get in touch with established interior designers; ask them how they got started, if they have any tips for someone just starting out. Usually there is plenty of business in an area to go around. Talk to builders and contractors, offering interior decoration for their model homes.
Make sure you have good business cards. They are often your longest-lasting impression on potential clients, and a badly designed card doesn't fill people with confidence that you'll do great interior decoration. You don't want to be a nuisance, but giving your business card when you are introduced to someone is a good way to get your name out there.
Specialize:
What type of interior design do you want to do? If you want to work on office buildings, building a portfolio of cozy bedrooms will not help you much. If you want to create wonderful interior decoration on a shoestring budget, talking to a contractor who works on multimillion dollar homes will likely be a waste.
Continue to learn your craft:
Even if you take every step known to man to become an interior designer, if you forget to continue learning your craft, you will likely not get far. Interior design changes regularly. Trends alter, offices and homes change, and you should be prepared to adjust. Subscribe to interior design magazines, join a group of decorating professionals, make sure you watch trends-- basically take steps so that you and your work never become stagnant. Only in this way can you offer fresh ideas to your clients.
There isn't a quick way to be an interior designer, particularly if you want to be a good one. However, the above steps will hopefully ease your way along that path. Above all, be sure to enjoy your chosen profession, for that's the best way in which you can always please yourself and your client.
A good interior design consultant is as important to a remodeling project as a builder is to a new home construction. If you decide to work with one, the designer should bring a wealth of experience and product knowledge to the table to help you with your remodeling or new home construction project.
Hiring a good designer - good interior design consultants are like good therapists. They don't tell you what to do, rather they guide you through a process of selecting options that best suite your style and provides the best outcome. So how do you find a good interior design consultant? Well, the best way is through word of mouth and referrals. Talk to your friends to see if any of them recently used an interior design specialist and if they were satisfied with the outcome of the project. Interior designer web sites can be helpful, but also visit local builders and model homes to obtain referrals. Another great source for referrals can be your local furniture store. Many furniture store retailers provide interior design referrals or have local designers that moonlight in the evening. Your local parade of homes or builder show rooms are also good sources.
Review the designer's portfolio - You should interview a few interior design consultants before making your final selection. Be sure to review their portfolio including pictures of recent projects. Ask each designer about his/her education, training, professional affiliations and other credentials. Ask for referrals and contact their prior clients to assess their level of satisfaction. It's important that you develop a good relationship with your interior design consultant. Be prepared to show multiple photographs of what you desire. This will help you communicate your desires and help you determine if the designer's style aligns with what you are envisioning.
Meeting your objectives - Many interior designers will appear to be listening, but then respectfully ignore your suggestions. This can be good and bad. It's acceptable only when the designer is very good at what they do, have taken the time to understand your design goals and then choose to ignore the suggestions that do not fit with their overal design plan you have previously approved. It's bad when an inexperienced designer ignores your suggestions and then ultimately you are not happy wiith the end results. An experienced designer will create a delicate balance between the two. It is important that you feel the designer is listening to you. You should also feel comfortable discussing your budget and feel comfortable saying no. In the end, you need to feel like there was a common goal between you and the designer.
Experience matters - The ideal interior design consultant will have at least ten of experience working with builders, vendors and other suppliers. They should have expertise in fabric, appliances, furniture and other accessories. After listening to your desires, they should be able to take you to the showrooms, fabric stores and other vendors that will supply you with furniture and accessories that will develop and complement your individual style.
Selecting the right Interior Design Consultant will help ensure that when the home improvement project is finished, you love the results.
Both Julie Davidson & Kristi Cole are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Julie Davidson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Small Business, Carpet Cleaning and Upholstery and Adsense. One way to learn design tricks is from learning from those who are already doing it professionally. It may help to bounce ideas off other