3 Important Questions Every Homeowner Should Ask When Hiring an Interior Designer
Have you been thinking about hiring an interior designer? After all, hiring an expert can help you build a beautiful new home, renovate your kitchen & baths, and/or furnish any room in much less time and without all the overwhelm. At Eclectic Designs, we offer more than most people could do on their own; we get to know you and the cadence of your day-to-day living before offering a bespoke solution, weaving your story into an executable vision while managing even the smallest of details along the way.
Interior designers are equipped with experience, education, trusted trade resources, and access to the custom & curated pieces that bring the vision to life. Simply put, when you hire an interior designer, you are hiring an expert to solve your problem.
When it comes to hiring an Interior Designer, you’ll likely have a lot of ideas and questions about how the whole process will unfold. Because we value transparency, we want to make sure you ask the right questions.
While your interior designer should know and be upfront about the project scope & deliverables, estimated investment, billing model, and timelines, there are a few key questions we think are the most important to ask your interior designer to better understand what working with them will really be like. Below, we explain the questions and why they are important.
Question One —
“What is your design process?”
This question is critical to understand what to expect as you move forward working with an interior designer. Although most designers follow a similar process, it is important to understand how your designer moves from concept to completion.
When you work with Eclectic Designs, you’ll find that our process is inquisitive, collaborative, and comprehensive. Here’s what you can expect from us:
Step One: Getting to Know You
We begin each project with a complimentary 30-minute call to introduce ourselves and discuss your design goals, timeline, and investment before determining if we are a good fit. Afterwards, you’ll receive an invitation for an In-Home Design Review, where we’ll walk through your space to fully understand your design goals, take measurements and photos, and catalog existing furniture if needed. We’ll then follow up with a tailored plan that includes a detailed scope, investment, and timeline for your project.
Step Two: Creating the Vision
Once we have all of the details about your project, we begin crafting a vision for your customized space. You’ll be guided through the design process as we review a detailed questionnaire, inspiration photos, design boards, furnishings, fixtures, and more that bring depth to your home’s story and infuse personalized details. We’ll present 3D models, floor plans, elevations, and perspective drawings and refine them until we’ve achieved the perfect plan for your space. Finally, we’ll work closely with our trusted trade resources to coordinate estimates and assemble a team of collaborators to bring everything to life.
Step Three: Procurement and Personalization
With a perfected plan in place to guide us, we’ll begin ordering and purchasing materials & furnishings. Wherever possible, we look to include honest materials and living finishes with an eye toward sustainability, wellness, and exceptional quality. With each material, object, or design decision, we are building upon the story of your home and personalizing it to your unique specifications.
Step Four: Bringing the Vision to Life
Depending on the scope of our work together, this may mean we are making frequent site visits, overseeing construction, ordering and receiving materials for your project, or delivering and installing furnishings. The last important layer of the design process is interior styling, where the finishing touches are intentional and curated to complete your story. Once the final items are in place, we’ll welcome you back into your beautiful new space and raise a glass to the many new memories that will be made and shared with friends and family.
Question Two —
“How much time does the process take?”
You’ll want to ask your interior designer how long your project will take & ask for an estimated timeline. Be sure to consider holidays and planned vacations for everyone involved in the project.
At Eclectic Designs we’ll provide an estimated timeline in your proposal, customized to your unique project. While every project has it’s own specific timeline, you can expect the design phase to take anywhere from 4-8 weeks. From there, ordering, furniture production, shipping, and project management can take anywhere from 12-24 weeks or more. A typical furnishing project takes about 24 weeks from start to finish, and a renovation or build project can take a year or more.
We recommend securing a designer 3-6 months ahead of any upcoming deadlines, to be sure your project is completed in the timeframe you need.
Question Three —
“How will we communicate throughout the project? How frequently will I hear from you?”
You should never feel left in the dark during your project: why isn’t my interior designer calling me? Is anything happening? Are they even working on my project?
Not knowing what is happening with your project can be very frustrating, but in our experience with our clients, it’s more often that “no news is good news”.
Be sure you understand the interior designer’s process and key milestones before working together, so you aren’t worried if you don’t hear from them during a certain phase of the project. You’ve probably heard the term “trust the process” before, and that applies here! Once you know the design process, you’ll understand everything your interior designer is doing behind the scenes to keep your project on track.
It’s also important to know your preferred communication style and your designer’s. For example, if you prefer phone calls but email is how your interior designer and their team communicate best, you may need to adjust your expectations or find a designer who is readily available by phone.
At Eclectic Designs, we pride ourselves on our proactive communication. Aside from clearly communicating every step of our process ahead of time, you can also expect an email each week with project updates so you know the progress that’s happening and what to expect next. We may also communicate by phone or over a Zoom meeting.
Throughout your project, you’ll have online access to a client dashboard for project-specific management, designs, and QR codes to drawings and spec books. We’ll also become a friendly, familiar face as we attend scheduled site visits and collaborate with contractors.
Are you ready for the next step?
We hope these questions have helped prepare you to hire an interior designer. Our relationships with our clients are one of the most treasured parts of our work, and we want you to feel completely confident in putting your trust in us. We work closely with our clients for months or years, and we never take for granted the privilege of hearing your story and finding creative ways to make your space completely unique to you.
If you are considering hiring an interior designer and enjoyed learning about our design process, we’d love to hear from you. We invite you to collaborate with us on creating a vision of your perfect forever home.
Want to feel even more confident in hiring an interior designer?
We’ve outlined 3 more important questions you should ask your interior designer, so you can show up even better prepared.
