Has anyone used an interior designer? How did you use them, or how did they help you? Was the cost worth the outcome?
I like my house, but I’m tired of living with a style that I call 1980’s college house. I’ve been picking away at things I know need to be changed (like ALL the walls and the ceilings being some variety of yellow), and I know I need to rework the kitchen ($$$ … sigh). I need a bit of help with the kitchen layout, but I also really need someone to help me assemble and set up a cozy, casual, functional living space using a few pieces that I want to keep and potentially replacing bits we have that just don’t work here.
I know there’s ample info out there about how to design/layout a space, and all sorts of good resources for what/where to buy, but, it’s TOO much. I don’t honestly have the time to wade through it all, and frankly I get overwhelmed. I have a good idea of the general look and feel that I want, I just can’t quite make it happen on my own.
Any ideas? I need a designer, right? FWIW, I detest Pinterest …
Thanks!
I seek inspiration from Instagram these days. I really like Dwell, Elle Decor. Even local real estate listings where you know it’s staged but the color schemes and arrangements speak to me. One room at a time? De clutter first, get paint samples, don’t t go for a “look” but consider your lifestyle and what you want out of a space. Rearrange however you want throw convention out the window.
I’ve never used a designer, but I read a lot of design magazines and books. My mom was a frustrated housewife designer, so it was in the genes. But when we remodeled our townhouse, we used a kitchen designer for the kitchen. I felt competent with the other rooms, but I didn’t want to do something dumb in the kitchen, where correcting an error would be more costly and time-consuming. We went with the designer from a cabinet maker, but didn’t end up using them. We had an ace GC, and he was great at coming up with ideas and schemes. We did a lot of upfront analysis, though (like over a year), so we were pretty confident in a lot of our decisions.
Just saw chela’s response. I like Elle Decor, AD, and House Beautiful. You’re going to see a lot of over the top places with extremely expensive finishes, but you can get good ideas for colors, fabrics, and details like: do you prefer blinds to curtains? do you want carpets or hard surfaces? Tiles in bathrooms? etc.
If you’re looking for more down-to-earth, art of the possible in a typical no more than middle class budget design ideas, HGTV magazine is excellent. I’ve slowly been giving the house a makeover the the past 14 months, and I’ve gotten a lot of good ideas there and from This Old House magazine. (Though the latter thinks linoleum should make a comeback, eek)
I would never use an interior designer, unless I was preparing a show home or something.
My thinking is that my house is filled with things that we chose, design choices we made, and it reflects who we are, what we like, and what makes us comfortable.
Living in a house where the furniture and colors and decorations were picked by someone else would feel like living in a stranger’s home or a hotel or something.
If I was really concerned about ‘proper’ design, I’d learn about it and do my best. Because even the mistakes would be a reflection of who I am.
I understand that not everyone feels the same way, and that’s fine. YMMV.
But I have picked everything here (or my husband has) and I don’t feel happy or comfortable in this space that I’ve created. I try and try and it just doesn’t work - that’s why I think I need help, and more help than just cruising design sites.
You make it sound (IMHO) as though using an interior designer is an all or nothing proposition. We’ve used them a few times, often just to recommend a few paint colours we never considered, and it was absolutely worthwhile.
I would certainly recommend it, especially based on what the OP says. The designer isn’t inflicting a staged house in you, just recommendations and some ideas that may never have occurred to you.
Good lord, I don’t look at those magazines for the budgets! You can get ideas for any budget from good ideas. I had a subscription to the HGTV magazine for a short while and let it lapse. The designs were just kind of cartoony (?) for me. Plus way too much Gaines who make me barf (and I don’t like her one design).
I used an interior designer when I bought my place about 20 months ago.
The reason I used one, though, was NOT just to tell me to put a plant here and a carpet there. I needed work done on the place and that was the main reason. My designer had relationships with numerous contractors and could get things done much better than I could. I needed some flooring replaced. Done. I needed some demolition. Done. I needed painting. Done.
And so on. Picking colors and other stuff like some furnishings were welcome help but secondary for me.
I found her help to be invaluable. She coordinated all the things. Contractors responded to her and were more likely to meet deadlines/schedules because she means recurring business to them if they do not disappoint. And I was on a REALLY tight schedule to get moved in (cuz reasons) so this was really critical for me.
Lifesaver really. Her design input I liked a lot too so, all good. And it was not horribly expensive. I mean, it cost money and while not expensive not exactly cheap either but I would say, all-in-all, well worth the expense for me.
I just had my kitchen re-modeled, and also had my living room painted and got new carpet.
I felt exactly like you. Even though I watch remodel/redesign shows all day on HGTV I was 100% overwhelmed by the idea of choosing anything. I knew I wanted to save one wall that I have a mural on in the living room, but I had no idea what all the other walls could look like, or how they would look with the existing wall, or with the kitchen, or what kitchen floor to get, and what carpet would go with all of it, and there was no way I was going to design a kitchen.
I don’t have a style. All I wanted was “cohesive.” After a year of being home from covid lockdowns, I could care less if the place looked like someone else’s house. In fact I think I wanted someone else’s house.
I have a friend from high school who bills herself as an interior designer (no idea if she did any schooling for it, or if she even has a proper business) so I hired her to make all these decisions for me. Paint, carpet, kitchen flooring, countertops and cabinets. She worked with the contractor (who happened to be her dad) to design the kitchen.
I didn’t want new furniture so she made sure her choices fit with my existing stuff. I could have gotten new curtains but I dug some out of the basement and they looked fine and she said they were fine so that was that.
I’m sure my house still looks boring but it’s 1000% fine. The paint and the flooring and the counter tops all go together. There is absolutely no way I could have done this myself. Nooooo way. I just don’t care enough. I mean I care but…I know enough to know I don’t know.
Her services cost me $100, fwiw. I think that was 2 hours of work including the kitchen design. Obviously what I had done was kind of the bare necessities - no furniture arranging or anything. But it was more than worth the price.
I’m actually longing for lino or good vinyl flooring. I have a multitude of pets, mostly cats, and in a perfect world I’d find a pet-centric designer who really gets what it’s like to keep such a house clean and functional and comfortable.
I have a pretty good idea of what I want in general terms, and a very good idea of what I DON’T want, which may be more important. I think getting a pro involved is the way to go.
A good interior designer will listen to your needs and make that work.
A bad one will keep going their own way.
In my case my interior designer gave me options. Good ones should.
It’s your home. Don’t be shy about saying what you want and making sure the final result is something you are happy with. You write the checks…your choice.