Tips For Hiring A Designer For Your Home

So you want to hire a designer to help you with your home?  Congrats!

I am taking the mystery out of the process and giving you the scoop.   Hopefully, these tips will ensure the process is fun and smooth-sailing when hiring a designer for your home.

1.Know Your Budget.  Be honest at the very beginning how much you want to spend and what the budget needs to include.   A good designer can tell you approximately how much a typical room will cost, but you must be forthcoming so the design discussion can evolve accordingly.   You may be entrusting this person to spend your money wisely for your home, so make sure you are on the same page from the very beginning.

2.Don’t Be Afraid To Ask How The Process Works.   Your designer can give you specifics about how the entire design process will unfold, and guess what?  There are many different ways designers in our industry work, so be sure to ask about the process, the length of the process, and how the firm charges.

3.Ask Around.   I love all of my clients, but I especially love when someone calls me and has gotten my name from a friend.   This tells me they have done their homework- they know my design aesthetic, how I charge, what I am like to work with, etc..   If you find someone off of the internet, don’t be shy to ask for references and stalk search them on social media.   Find out as much as you can about whom you are thinking of hiring.

4.Show Your Designer Anything You Can to Convey Your Taste. Communication  is key, and pictures are worth a thousand words, as they say.  Make a Pinterest board to share that inspires you and know what you like about each picture.   Giving your designer a visual will help him or her evoke your unique taste into the look of your home.

BUT….

5.Once You Show Pictures Of What You Like, Let Them Do Their Job and Use Their Creativity.   No one wants to copy someone else’s work, and you don’t want to hire someone who copies someone’s work, so show them what you like, why you like it, and let them do their thing.

6.How Involved Do You Want to Be and Who Is The Decision Maker In The Process? Some clients want no part in the design process, while other clients want to be involved in many of the details.  It’s also important to let your designer know up front who in your family will be making the decisions.

7.Trust your Designer. This is a big one.

I get it- Furnishing a home is a long term investment, and you dont want to make any mistakes.

But at the end of the day, you hired this particular person for a reason – because you like his/her style and you felt comfortable with them.

A pretty room can be created in different ways, but I have found that when I am given the leverage and trust by my clients to do my job and use my creativity, the room goes from pretty to pretty incredible.  Invest in someone reputable and good, and be open to what you may not be able to envision.

8.We Want to Make You Happy. Yes, your designer wants to please you, and yes, your designer wants you to be ecstatic with the end result.   Your project is her baby, too.

We work hard and do not always convey the million times we have had to call about a shipment never shipped or that we had to send something back that was not up to our standards.

In the end, we are in this together, and we have the same goal:  To make your home elegant in a way you can enjoy and live in every single day.

I hope these tips for hiring a designer for your home make the process enjoyable, and that the end result will be the home you always imagined!

Have fun,

Dana

If you have a project you would like to discuss with us, email us at info@danawolterinteriors.com.   We would love to hear from you.