How much will it cost for an interior designer to furnish & decorate my home? 5 must read tips!

The cost for interior designer services for furnishing or decorating a home can be a reasonable part of the budget. 5 must read tips:

1) Read prospective designer reviews. This homework can greatly affect how much you need to budget for interior design services.

• Client reviews often explain a lot about how each design firm works & the cost for their design services.
• Does their web site reflect numerous homes or is it limited to one or two very expensive homes? Is it limited to the designer's OWN home? --- (the one with the unlimited budget).
• Do they have a limited number of reviews? If so - ask yourself why!

2) Give the designer specific feedback.

• Sentences like "Our rug is sentimental, we want to use it in the new house" or "I like tone on tone colors, but my spouse prefers warm darker colors like brown". Specific feedback saves time!
• Answer emails within 24 hours, this avoids unnecessary follow ups.
• Find three or four "dream rooms" you love - or show them your favorite fabric or piece of art. A photo is worth a thousand words!

3) See what they can do!
Request a design consultation and presentation before you sign a contract! Don't lock yourself in. Ask if you can get a presentation for one area of the home, to view products, fabrics, art, etc. This test area will allow you to find out how well they understand your goals, your taste, and budget.

I wish I had done this myself on a recent project. We hired a landscape designer, after paying far more than was estimated, we received his plan to find that we were extremely disappointed. We are not going to use any of it.
In retrospect, we wish we had requested a 2 to 3 hour maximum service for one area of the lawn. This would've allowed us to see how well the landscape designer listens! His plan did not respect the main goals we stressed - that we wanted low maintenance shrubs, dwarf in size, with open views instead of lots of shrubs and trees that grow large & require constant pruning. This is similar to how interior design can work. Proceeding with one room or area will tell you if you're a good match with that designer.

4) Consider their experience in relation to their fees.
A good designer with years of experience and a good portfolio may be expensive per hour, but their years of experience means they'll be able to accomplish a good deal in a brief amount of time. They can help you avoid mistakes regarding size & scale, budgets & timelines, and durability.

A recent furniture salesperson (the store's designer) told our client that a rayon/cotton blend fabric would be "extremely durable". This type of incorrect information could cause the need to spend over a thousand dollars to recover their sectional within a brief time.

What will it cost to hire a designer to furnish and decorate my home? The cost for a designer should be inconsequential. They often get better pricing on high quality merchandise, as well as the 5 tips below. A good interior designer should be able to steer you toward:

• correct blue print specifications - to avoid costly change orders in remodeling or construction
• correct size & scale furniture & rugs - to avoid restocking fees
• correct colors & merchandise - to avoid repainting & reordering
• good communication - so both spouses are happy
• good sources - upholsterers, seamstresses, carpenters, electricians, tile sources, etc

In this mountain home, we made the process easy, with specifications for
tile, hardwoods, granite, lighting, stains, carpets, stone, hardware, and more.
5) Once you've done your home work and hired the firm you like, trust the process! We've furnished 6,500 sq ft homes with as little as 5 design consultations (due to efficient use of time and excellent communication), while other clients may require several meetings for just one item - due to their inability to visualize or trust the process. It's far more exciting for the budget to go toward amazing items (art, rugs, lamps, furnishings).
The cost to hire an interior designer depends a good deal on you! Your feedback, how you respond to their emails, and how much research you do regarding which design firm will fit your goals.
To learn how much to budget for furnishing and decorating a home: See this blog
http://www.interiordesigngreensboro.com/search?q=budget

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