Fire Your Friend

What? Fire my friend? Yes please! If you haven’t already, do so. Your compadre has good intentions, but when it really comes down to it, her design tastes aren’t yours. So do yourself a favor and relinquish your friend, effective immediately, from all design duties delegated to her. Kristy loves you and has known you since you were in third grade together. She was your maid-of-honor and now lives two blocks over from you; she was even at your bedside when Cole, your son was born. Our friends may mean well and know our true colors—but they, unlike trained and qualified designers, can’t separate their own particular tastes and strong opinions from yours. Using a friend to design your home can lead you into a “design disaster.”

Let’s do it—all together! As Donald Trump would say, “You’re fired!”

Now that we got that out of the way, to whom can you turn for advice? A “qualified residential interior designer” is what is called for in this situation. You might say you can’t afford a designer, but at this point, you can’t afford not to. Interior designers are schooled in integrating all design needs and styles, and bringing them to life. A designer has the resources and the know-how to incorporate your husband’s sports paraphernalia into a plan without turning your entire room into a guys’ sports bar. They take into consideration every opinion of the decision-makers in the household, incorporating them all, so there will be an apparent balance of both his and your tastes.

The great thing about interior designers is that you can hire them for anything from just a consultation, up to the full extent of all possible structural design changes needed. If all that you can afford is a design consultation, do it! Leave your friend out of this meeting! You must do this alone. This information-gathering session is essential to the design process.

For a design consultation, the designer will come over to view the space in question and discuss it in detail with you. He/she will take measurements, draw up a quick sketch, and do a floor-plan layout of furnishings. The designer will also select a color palette to work from. By this point, the designer will have a better idea of what you and your lifestyle are all about, and will be able to offer you suggestions and choices: you can either hire him/her to complete the design proposal, or take the design packet you’ve been given and go it alone.

Note that each designer is different as to what information and/or designs they are willing to leave with you. So be perfectly up-front with a designer about your consultation intentions. Let him/her know if a consultation is all you can afford, or if you want to pay for advice or floorplans or color selections only. The designer may have an hourly fee for the consultation or a standard fee they charge for a one-time service. 

Can’t stand the idea of doing it yourself, or just don’t have the patience or the know-how to do it? Great! Music to every designer’s ears! We love what we do, and want to help you bring that master plan into fulfillment.

How do you find a designer?