6 Reasons to Hire an Interior Designer

Building, extending, or renovating your home is probably one of the biggest investments you’ll make in terms of both time and money. So, it makes sense to think about working with someone who knows what works and what doesn’t when it comes to interiors, a.k.a. an interior designer!

Investing in an interior designer will, of course, add extra cost to your project – but the potential benefits are priceless. Interior designers do much more than choosing colours and cushions that make your home look pretty: they make sure your space feels harmonious in every way, from the floor plan to architectural detailing and everything in between. With that in mind, in this post we’re sharing six reasons to hire an interior designer.

1- Professional assessment of your budget

Whether you’re redecorating your spare room or building a new home from scratch, budget planning is the first and most important step in any interior design project. Here lies the first benefit of working with an interior designer: they’re equipped with the knowledge and expertise to put together a realistic budget on your behalf, saving you the stress of a potential financial mishap.

2- Interior designers save you a lot of time

It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of colour palettes and wallpaper patterns when you’re renovating or redecorating, especially if you’re poring over Pinterest and watching interior design TV shows for inspiration.

What you might not realise is that the curated rooms you see on screen and online were most likely the work of an interior designer. The reality of designing a well-planned space with a picture-perfect finish is that it takes so much time, energy, and research that it can quickly feel like you have a second job.

This is where working with an interior designer makes life a lot easier. A good designer will guide you through the countless decisions that need to be made, and make sure your taste, lifestyle and budget are at the heart of every decision.

They research the brands, products and prices for every part of the project, which relieves a lot of pressure – especially when you’re choosing expensive or permanent items like kitchen countertops and wood floors. It’s also worth noting that time is money: any last-minute changes of heart that cause delays on-site will usually increase your contractor fee (and can be avoided by having professional support on-hand).

3- Interior designers help you to define your style

Instagram and Pinterest are treasure troves of interior design inspiration, but the sheer volume of photographs on the apps often leave you with too much choice at your fingertips. Part of our job as interior designers is to help you define your style so we can incorporate it into the design plan.

It’s never about us: the focus is on pinpointing your taste and enhancing it, so your home feels like an extension of your style and personality. To help us do that, it’s, of course, important to consider your likes and dislikes from the very start.

Another factor to consider when you’re inspiration-hunting on Instagram is that a kitchen that looks good online might not translate well into your floor plan. Again, that’s where interior designers come in! We look at your home’s layout as a whole and come up with a cohesive design that helps each room flow seamlessly into the next.

Because we know your style and taste, an interior designer can then come up with a plan for choosing furniture. This means that each piece within a room will be considered and curated, rather than part of a random mish-mash.

4- Increase the longevity of your home

As we all know, trends are cyclical and we can never say something is never going to go out of fashion. The great thing about hiring an interior designer is that they have an in-depth knowledge of trend cycles and design longevity, which means they choose items that are most likely to endure and add value to your home.

There are still plenty of opportunities to include trend-focused pieces (like that scalloped chair or rattan light fitting you saw on Instagram), an interior designer will just advise you on where to place them for best effect. This is especially true for bathrooms and kitchens, where features are more permanent and need to be chosen wisely.

5- You have a qualified liaison

If you’re renovating or redecorating your home, you will (at some point) have a houseful of industry professionals including architects, contractors, and building owners. One of the biggest drains of time and money comes from minor niggles and miscommunications that could have been avoided by having someone to navigate the conversation.

If your sofa is floating in the middle of your living room, for example, you’d want to consider floor electrical sockets. Interior designers are trained to anticipate these details and clearly communicate the designs to contractors, inspectors, and other tradespeople. An interior designer will be there to ask questions and make sure your vision is well-executed by everyone involved.

6- Availability of resources and contacts

Finding the right resources can be tricky. There are so many competing product platforms, websites, and artisanal makers that it can be difficult to find – and trust – a particular source. As interior designers, we’re already heavily involved in the industry and have built up a network of reliable tradespeople.