Why use an Interior Designer?

An interior designer’s job is to understand your vision and turn that into reality. They’ll help you clarify and articulate that vision, work with you to identify the best use of your space and navigate the sometimes confusing array of colour, fabrics, flooring, lighting, furniture and accessories available. Ultimately, an interior designer’s role is to give great service, to design to your brief and provide solutions to problems.

1. Interior designers are professionals
   Depending on their personal pathway, a professional interior designer has had years of formal education to attain a relevant qualification. Interior designer training is about so much more than just colour charts and fabrics and the tools they employ include space, form, colour, acoustic and light.
2. Proven practical experience
   An experienced interior designer will have taken this theory and applied it to a variety of projects, constantly learning about what works (and what doesn’t) in interior design. Interior designers are experts in their field, they live this every day and have spent years perfecting their craft.
3. Up to date
   It’s an interior designer’s job to be up to date with the latest products that could help deliver the space of your dreams. More than new season trends, it can be knowledge of advances in paint finishes, new materials, acoustic products if noise is an issue for you or even new technologies in textiles for your furniture upholstery.
4. A professional network
   Interior designers don’t work in isolation. They have a trusted network of suppliers and contacts in the industry such as builders, tilers, cabinetmakers, kitchen manufacturers, lighting manufacturers and so on – saving you time and tension when it comes to selecting suppliers and trades for your project.
5. Unbiased advice
   Perhaps your family members have differing opinions, can’t agree on the best layout of the room, curtain fabrics or colour choices? An interior designer can offer unbiased, expert advice, based on your objectives for the space. And remember it’s your space – they won’t impose their personal style on you, but will work with you to identify exactly what you want to achieve.
6. Give you confidence
   Perhaps you have some ideas for your space but lack the confidence in your choices? An interior designer can be a sounding board for your ideas, encourage you to be brave and gently push you to ensure that your space is a true reflection of you.
   “It was a great pleasure to work with such a talented designer whose creativity, passion and special understanding and caring of our needs encouraged us to be more adventurous.”
   SANDRA AND MIKE POPE
7. Save you time, hassle and money
   Doing it yourself may save you money in the short run, but online research, visits to suppliers drafting (and redrafting) your layouts all take time – and can be taxing, particularly when you have to fit them in between your usual everyday tasks. And of course, mistakes can prove expensive and you may still end up with a space that doesn’t quite deliver on what you had imagined.

Creating a space that reflects who you are, what makes you feel good and how you go about living or working is worth investing in. Good design can fill the places and spaces of everyday life with joy. It can make your home life easier and more enjoyable. It can help you work smarter and better.

“We began the process of completely remodelling the bathroom and kitchen in our 1910 villa ourselves and realised we needed a fresh perspective. We chose Frances because of her willingness to listen to our initial thoughts and incorporate our ideas throughout the design process, her high energy level, enthusiasm for the job, creative design ideas and obvious commitment to quality. We had a small bathroom with limited design options and we got a bit lost working out functionality and design. Frances came up with creative ways to maximise the space, both functionally and aesthetically. People walk into our bathroom and their breath is taken away by what has been accomplished.”
CRAIG and CLAUDIA HILL

Feel free to give me a call on 027 474 9194 or email frances@honourcreative.com. And for interior design inspiration, please take a look at some of our recent residential interior design projects.

You can also download our FREE resource, 12 Top Tips for the Ideal Interior Design Brief, a handy guide to developing your interior design brief, an essential part of the interior design process.