There is a vast amount of value that comes with working with a professional interior designer. Sometimes when the value of a service seems intangible, you need to step back and reflect on whether or not tackling it yourself will produce your desired results. How important is it to you to have the right result? At this moment? Or will you decide on a compromised solution that, as the days go on, will always be a nagging reminder of a poor decision on your part?
When you hire a professional interior designer for your home project, consider all the priceless valuables that an interior designer offers:
1) The many, many valuable, practical solutions to awkward windows, wonky off-balanced floor plans, small rooms that need to fit a plentitude of distinct tasks, outdated kitchen and/or bathroom, on and on
2) The years of knowledge coupled with informed, insightful observation plus decisions
3) Problem-solving skills to save you money, and figure out how to best allocate your budget
4) Creative ideas to envision what you cannot, and ultimately, give your home the “wow” factor…for years to come
5) A library of colossal resources and the expertise of selecting the right vendor to find the exact things you need for your home
So, when working with an interior designer on your home design project, be prepared for them to get to know you intimately. There exists a multitude of discussion topics, that will be addressed during the life of the project. However, there are 7 most important questions that you should be prepared to answer, most likely during your initial in-home consultation.
These 7 questions serve as the foundation for interior designers to develop a design concept, to then flourish your thoughts and desires into a reality. The key factor to these questions is to fulfill your requirements and satisfy your intended wants and needs for your designated spaces or entire home.
1. What is it that you love and hate about your home?
Perhaps, your home is lacking in architectural details such as crown molding, or boring stairs that forego unique design of the various parts (steps, guardrails, handrails), or generic door design. Perhaps, you are dealing with the dilemma of dressing problem windows. Or perhaps, there is lack of space or storage for your family of 4. Any one of these conditions or more might be affecting your mood in your own home. Interior designers use this question to discern what troubles you in your current home living environment. From your responses, the designer formulates a list of priorities of what you love and what you hate, and develops a concrete plan as to how to best proceed in the design project.
2. How do you live and move in your rooms?
In this modern era that we are living in at this moment, the global pandemic COVID-19, it is not uncommon for you and your family using the rooms of your home for multitasking, and distinctively from the primary function of the room. Nowadays, the living room is a classroom, teleconference center, mini movie theater, or sleeping quarters for extended family members. You might have a small sitting area in the master bedroom, and want to make that area pleasurable to partake in afternoon reading or “Wine Down Wednesdays.” It is possible that you need extra cabinetry in the mudroom because you just got married, and you need room for that other person’s stuff. Ask yourself honestly, if you have the time, temperament, and intuitive knowledge to tackle these design challenges. An interior designer focuses on designing living environments as beautiful, functional as possible to fulfill the needs of its occupants.
3. Are there any special needs to be considered in these rooms?
Maybe, you are mommy or daddy to a fur baby, and you need fabric and furniture pieces that will hold-up to scratches, stains, and tears, and not show the shedding of their hair. Most importantly, you need breathable fabric, one that does not trap the odor of your pooch or cat, as much. Or possibly, you are co-habiting with an elderly parent with special requirements like the use of wheelchair or other safety issue considerations. The interior designer that you are working with needs to know this information to cultivate the utmost comfort and safety of you and your loved ones in your home.
4. What is your budget?
Your budget structure is the driving force of the direction of the whole project. Having a specific dollar amount established for your budget is one of the crucial ingredients to having the home of your dreams. Are you expecting a Rolls Royce, or will a Hyundai Elantra do very nicely at this time in your life? Are you only interested in how much things costs, and quality is not an important consideration for you? Your designer’s business savvy skills include finding you the best quality products within your budgetary limits. Quality is customarily tied to a price tag. Price tags become your budget. An interior designer is trained to guide you in determining a budget and addressing your home design needs. Further, the designer evaluates the quality level and your budget, and achieve synchronization in between the two decisive points. The quality may not be the highest, but it will be the finest you can receive for your budget framework. Will this matter to you? If you have fashionable, evocative taste and an affinity for high-quality items, but it is just is not within your budget, you must have clear communications on the truth of your budgetary levels with your interior designer. The designer, will then, tackle your wish list on a priority basis and match the standards of your investment for interior design services for your home.
5. Which colors do you love or loathe? What colors are you going for to be incorporated in the design of your home?
Color harmony occurs wherever colors are combined in a manner pleasing to the eye and to the senses. It has been said that there is no such thing as an ugly color, only colors that are used incorrectly. Color is an excellent way to change a home’s look, mood, or formality. An affection towards particular colors are personal, physiologically based, and culturally influenced. Many factors impact the way you see color installed in your home, such as light, texture, material, color placement, distribution, and contrast. The psychology of color is a commodity that a professional interior designer utilizes to execute your home design needs. Knowing your likes and dislikes of certain colors directs the interior designer to elect the color palette for designing the different rooms of your home, and also the amount and combinations that should be adapted.
6. Do you want to make some interior architectural improvements of renovations, as well?
The question goes hand-in-hand with what you do not like about the current state of your home. You may want to add some wall paneling, wooden beams to the ceiling, crown molding to the living areas, change the cabinets in the kitchen, retile the fireplace, etc. During the initial in-home consultation, you will want to be frank with your interior designer regarding your wishes to alter or enhance the look of your rooms. This desire may require minor or major remodeling. Therefore, it is to your advantage to discuss these wishes at the initial stages of your home design project.
7. What is your anticipated project completion deadline?
Having a specific timeframe, in which, you need to have your home design project done is just as pivotal as clearly defining your budget. Understanding the timeline of your project contributes to the success from the barren before to the beautiful after, and your satisfaction of the design process. I cannot stress enough the importance of discussing your desired timeline at the initial in-home consultation. A full-service design project can take up to 16 weeks or more to complete. At times, if you appoint a tight project deadline, recognize that certain treatment of design elements becomes unworkable in the design, and alterations in the design may be required accordingly. Furthermore, you may have to make concession on the quality of furnishings. The deadline of the completion of your home design project, occasionally, may be extended by you if you are willing to adjust on the design quality of the project as a whole.
Are you getting ready to embark on your home design project? We can help! We, at K Lilia Interior Design, would love to work with you on your project. Book a free discovery consultation with us to get your project started.
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Empowering You To Smash Your Design & Conquer Goals,
Keesha
