5 Considerations Before Hiring a Home or Interior Designer
There are so many aspects to designing a custom home or designing spaces within your existing home. It can be overwhelming for sure and it’s easy to convince yourself to not move forward. To help a bit, we’ve put together our list of things to consider before hiring someone for your home or interior design project, whether you’re starting your journey, been researching for a while, or are ready to pull the trigger. As always, if this resonates with you or you’re interested in our services we’d love to be part of your experience! You can start here!
1.Vibes
Vibe check! To me, one of the most important part of picking who to hire comes down to vibes. There are so many choices on the internet these days that it truly is possible to pick someone that you vibe with. If you go to someone’s website or social media and don’t instantly want to keep scrolling or clicking or something just doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t. Home design and interior design is such a personalized and intimate thing that comfort is truly necessary. Who ever you hire learns lots of details of how you live and if you feel awkward with someone they may not be for you. And don’t say “I’m awkward with everyone I first meet” because honestly me too, but there’s always someone/someplace that doesn’t feel quite as uncomfy as others and that’s what you’re looking for! Oh and besides the vibe of the person/company, does the vibe of their spaces speak to you? Maybe it’s just me, but when I see a space I love I can literally feel it in my stomach and brain.
2.Services, Products, and Presentations
What are your needs and does the designer offer it? It does no one any good if the fit isn’t there. You may love a designer, but if you need one room and they do only full homes, it’s not a good fit, plain and simple. But more so than that, what else do you need? Are you a DIY-er that just wants the inspiration and then go off on your own to make it happen? Are you super busy and want to hand over your space and have your designer just do the thing? This may take some soul searching and reality checks on your end. I always catch myself saying- I can do this- and realize I have zero time to actually implement meaning it will never happen or it will take forever. If you need 3D rendering services to see what your space will look like or to see options, a custom home designed, help redoing parts of your home, or any combination of those things CANB Design offers all of these services! You can see more about them here.
Besides offering the service you need another aspect is the type of products the designer uses. There are thousands of products out there and every designer does things a bit differently. There are fully custom interior design business’ out there that work solely with custom everything. All the way down to e-design where you get a list of items you can buy via Target or somewhere like that. It’s a huge cost and lifestyle difference. A family with young kids probably isn’t wanting an original sculptural art piece to be incorporated, but someone else totally does. I know it seems obvious, but it’s easy to get swept up in the beauty of things until the design is done and then you say “This is going to take how long to make and it’s shipping from where!!!”
And to put it all together- how is all of it provided to you? Do you get visualizations to help you see what the end result is going to be? Do they provide design boards (also sometimes known as mood boards)? 2D plans and elevations? 3D renderings? Video walkthroughs? There’s so many options and you want a designer that provides the things you need. Not everyone can visualize what a 2D line drawing will look like once built and in the same, so 3D renderings are a personal favorite of ours. You can see some of our previous renders here. We love the confidence it brings to making selections and knowing you won’t get to the end and be surprised. Unless that’s how you roll, but most people don’t want to be unsure of the final product.
3.Personal Design Style
This kind of goes back to vibes, but making sure your style works with your designer’s is important. While most designers are able to do pretty much any style, there are most certainly specific ones that the designer does well. Like, could I do super traditional here at CANB Design? Probably, but it’s not my favorite to work with so I don’t typically take those types of clients. More so, is the end goal to find and implement things that help you live in your home better and love the way it looks and feels at the same time? Or is there lots of focus on trends and making it cool for the right now. I can tell you that trends are great to sprinkle in, but that’s also how you hate your home in 5 years and have to repeat the process. I’m looking at you farmhouse style.
In the same breath, do you love everything new or do you like to incorporate existing items? Do you want to replace and renovate your space after 5 years, not because you have to, but because you like your space feeling trendy and new all the time? It’s a personal preference for sure and one that’s important to know before hiring an interior designer. Personally, here at CANB Design, we work to create lasting design that is meant to go through time and transition through your stages of life. And I’m not saying that nothing can change, but it’s easier to update some pillows to give new breath than have to buy a whole other sofa.
4.Communication and Working with your Designer
This is a topic that I think is fairly new to the realm of the service providing industry, but is super important and changing the way lot’s of business’ are run. Communication is how you and the designer you hire will work together and if there’s a disconnect someone is going to end up unhappy. There’s a big push to having these expectations put into contracts, which is a great way to make sure it’s a good fit. If your prospective designer expects to only communicate via email, but you prefer to text that’s a big disconnect. I dislike calls with a passion, especially unscheduled ones, so working with someone that loves to call multiple times a day is a communication disconnect for me. Same thing if you want the designer to be on site constantly checking on things, but they have a set amount of times they visit. If you get to the point of signing a contract and you don’t see items like that in contract, don’t be afraid to ask! Open communication from the start is super necessary to avoid unnecessary frustrations.
5.Trusting your Designer
Duh, Duh, Duh! The final consideration before hiring a home or interior designer, is whether you’re ready to relinquish control and trust your designer. You’ve hired them for a reason and you have to let them do their job. It’s hard I know, but the results are going to be soooo much better, especially if you taken the time to find someone that is right for you. I’m not saying to not ask questions or blindly agree to everything they do, but also second guessing everything they do or not listening to suggestions they have will not work in the end. The project drags on, someone is unhappy, and the end product isn’t as good as it could have been. BUT, if you work with your designer, take their knowledge and expertise, and trust the process they’ve put in place… the results will leave you excited, way less stressed, and ready to enjoy the new space!
This list is definitely not all encompassing, but it’s a great start to finding or confirming you’ve found the designer for you. Interior Design and Home Design can be overwhelming, but that’s why you’re hiring a professional. It saves time, money, and most importantly your sanity! If you are ready to move forward and think that CANB Design is the one for you, fill out our form here to get started. We look forwarding to meeting you and seeing what your home Can Be.
