What Should You Look for When Hiring an Interior Designer?

While anyone with a Pinterest board thinks they can decorate their home, the reality is that decorating and designing takes a lot of skill and expertise. Hiring an interior designer is a smart choice for homeowners who want to get it right the first time around.

Why Hire an Interior Designer?

Interior designers often don’t get the respect they deserve from the general public, but the reality is they are talented professionals with a number of important, highly sought-after skills. Not only do they have an eye for design, but they also have project management skills that allow you to move from beginning to end without unnecessary delays or unforeseen problems.

It’s also important to note that interior designers typically have connections and a wide availability of resources. As Freshhome.com explains, “There are things available to designers that are not available to the general public in terms of connections, resources and general merchandise. By culminating these resources designers can help to make your space look more collected, unique and pulled together.”

Whether it’s design skill, project management abilities, or connections and resources, hiring an interior designer allows you to achieve the look you want on time and on budget – something most homeowners agree is invaluable.

5 Things to Look for in a Designer

When hiring a designer for your project, you shouldn’t just select the first person you come across. It pays to be selective, and you’ll be more satisfied if you spend some time vetting a few different options. Some of the traits and skills you should be looking for in a designer include:

1. Plenty of Social Proof

You never want to hire an interior designer without first getting a referral or recommendation. While it’s great to get a personal recommendation from a friend or someone you trust, it’s also just as helpful to go online. Be on the lookout for designers with lots of social proof to their name.

Resources like Hometrust allow you to find interior designers and read reviews, see past work, and rank by ratings, pricing, and strengths. This can be invaluable, especially if you don’t know where to start.

2. Project Management

As previously mentioned, an interior designer needs some good project management skills – especially if they’re working on a large-scale design or renovation project.

When evaluating different designers, ask about some of the previous projects they’ve been a part of and what sort of processes they’ve used to organize and stay on track. You can learn a lot by how they walk you through a project from start to finish.

3. Attention to Detail

It’s great to have a big-picture view of what’s happening, but you also need an interior designer to have command of the details. It’s here that an interior design project is made or broken.

4. Good Communication

“Although you are trusting the instincts and experience of an interior designer to create the perfect space for you, you must be able to communicate what you want in your home,” designer Linda Cee explains.

Whether it’s an abstract element of your design vision, or something very specific about the process, you should feel extremely comfortable calling, emailing, or texting your designer – and they should respond in a timely manner. Any unnecessary hitches in communication can really hurt the overall experience.

5. Willingness to Try New Things

It’s always a good sign when you find a designer who has a very clear and articulate understanding of their style. You want someone who is comfortable in their own skin and knows what works. Having said that, you also want a designer with some flexibility.

A skilled interior designer will be willing to try new things and go outside of their “box” in order to provide services that are tailored to each client.

Make a Smart Choice

When it comes to hiring an interior designer, you have plenty of options. From serious, career designers to amateurs who think they have what it takes to do some design work on the side. In order to ensure you get the right designer for the job, set some criteria and be meticulous with your due diligence. Your patience will pay off.