5 Signs you Need to Hire an Interior Designer

Do you often find yourself saving inspiration photos on Instagram or Pinterest, but never doing anything with them? Do you see interiors that inspire you, but if you’re honest with yourself, you secretly believe that your home could never look that way? I promise you, it can, and it’s not as far out of reach as you think it is. I’ve put together a list of the 5 most common design hurdles that my clients are facing when they reach out to me. If even one of these resonates with you (and I’m guessing more than one will), it’s time to hire an interior designer!

1. You thought that your contractor would guide you on colors, materials, finishes, and designs, but they’re asking you to tell them what to use. Contractors are experts at executing the plans, but it’s rare that they have design training or they feel comfortable guiding you through design decisions. They are highly trained and skilled to build, and a designer’s job is to give them the detailed design drawings, elevations, and specifications to use. Think of an interior designer as the liaison between you and your contractor, making sure that your vision is communicated to the contractor in the form that they need it to do their best work. * If this is you, I strongly recommend that you press pause with your contractor until you can meet with a designer to get clear on your plans. This can save you time, money, and a lot of decision regret. *
2. You’re paralyzed by the number of decisions you have to make, and you’re worried that you’ll make the wrong one. Remodeling or building a new home requires thousands (maybe even tens of thousands) of decisions, all of which are made individually but need to look cohesive in the end. You start out with enthusiasm and excitement, only to find that several months in, you simply can’t make another decision. You start choosing the easiest or the cheapest option, telling yourself “I’ll just change it later if I hate it.” (Spoiler Alert: you’ll live with it for far longer than you think.) You lose track of the overall vision and have a hard time picturing how the grout color, for example, will affect the aesthetic you are going for. My job as a designer is to anticipate and plan for all of these minor decisions from the outset and present you with a concept design that includes these elements. When the contractor comes asking for a grout color, I can confidently give them that answer based on the concept designs you’ve already approved, and I can make sure that the vision stays front and center.
3. You’re building or remodeling in the midst of a major life change, chaotic phase of life, or a milestone event. If you are planning a wedding, sending a child off to college, caring for elderly parents, or raising tiny humans (this is me – my kids are 7 and 4), you absolutely need help with your remodel or new build. There’s only so much that we, as humans, can manage at once, and now is not the time to take on a major design project on your own. You have earned the right to focus your attention on your life’s major moments, and it’s absolutely okay to hire professional help on your home design. The very first headline you’ll see on my website is that “your home is the backdrop of your life.” Give yourself permission to focus on living, and let a designer handle the backdrop. You’ll be so glad you did!
4. You know what you want but you don’t know where to start. You’ve saved so many inspiration photos that you’re pretty confident you know what you want, but you don’t know which part of it should come first. Maybe you want some custom built-ins, but you’d also like some picture lights in them. You aren’t sure if you need to hire the electrician or the cabinet maker first. For that matter, this will change the footprint of your room and the flooring will need to be done too. If this gives you a headache, it’s time to hire an interior designer. My job is to take the overall vision and break it down into a custom plan of action. We take the logistics off your hands. We’ll work with your contractor, architect, or trades to make sure things are being done in the right order to avoid costly mistakes, and you can rest easy knowing that we’re handling these details so you don’t have to.
5. You are ready to invest in your home, and you want to maximize your investment. If you’re building your forever home, or you’re at the point where you’re intentionally investing in higher quality items across all categories in your life (home, clothing, cars, etc.), an interior designer can help you maximize your investment and give you access to custom and trade-only resources that are not generally available to the public. You could spend $5,000 on a sofa from a well-known retailer on your own, or spend $5,000 on a custom, hand-made sofa from a wholesale furniture maker that is made with the highest quality materials and only accessible to the trade. That’s not to say that everything you get through an interior designer is custom or trade-only, but a designer can guide you on where it makes sense to pursue those custom, trade-only avenues and where the retail option is a better investment. If you hire an interior designer, you can feel confident that your investment is being well-spent to give you the biggest return.

If one or more of these scenarios had you shaking your head, take this as your sign that it’s time to hire an interior designer. Investing in your home can feel scary and overwhelming if you do it alone, and an interior designer can calm the overwhelm, simplify the process, and maximize your budget to bring your vision to life.

If you’d like to learn more about our services or talk about how we can help you with your project, schedule a free intro call! We’re happy to share more about how our process works and send you some information.