The best interior design service professionals will spruce up the look of your home and raise its value. They will create a space you are are comfortable to live in and happy to return to every day. With an interior designer, you can carve out a space that reflects your personality and functions the way you want it to.
It may sound expensive, but, believe it or not, you are ultimately saving money by hiring an interior designer. An interior designer would have the exact measurements of your space, and would be able to accurately advise about what piece of furniture would fit best in that space. They would also know exactly what colour suits the mood of the room, as well as the type of paint to choose. Basically, they take the guesswork out of designing a space so that you can buy exactly what you need the first time. On top of this, a designer would understand exactly how to cater to a budget by sourcing out the best value items for your money.
An interior designer will also help you save time. They would know exactly what need to be done, and when to do it. They would have a schedule to follow, but also be ready to tackle any issues along the way, and that’s the big rub … they have the expertise to handle any interior design situation that might arise. Say an unexpected leak ruins the lovely new wallpaper that has just been put up and more can’t be sourced from any store. The interior designer would be able to side-step and think of a creative way to complete the look of your space without the wallpaper. What a relief!
Your interior designer can also act as a liaison between you and the architects, contractors and building owners. Being well-versed in construction, structural and design-speak, they can help you to pull everything together so that you don’t have to stress about coordinating anything on the project. It’s all interconnected, after all … electrical outlet placement would rely, to some extent, on how you are thinking of placing your furniture, and this sort of decision needs to be made before construction starts. Having an interior designer coordinate all this will save your time, your money, and your hair.
Interior designers have the best resources and contacts to complete your job to your satisfaction. Reliable contractors, electricians, plumbers … they can get them for you. While they themselves are trained to create the most stylish and functional space for you, they would have allied themselves with highly trained architects and contractors who you know will do a good job for you. Are you looking to stand out? Interior designers can help you do that with their access to a wide range of products and raw materials not easily come across in the general market. They can help your home look chic and unique.
Finally, the best interior design service professionals will give your home that extra oomph. Trained to work creatively and spatially, they can step back and see the whole picture, as well as the parts that are required to create that picture. Their attention to every little detail – from furniture selection and placement to suitable lighting, appropriate fabric and popping colour will make your home stand out above the rest.
What Should I Expect with Interior Design Service Professionals?
Interior designers would start off by meeting with the client to plan out designs based on the client’s needs and wishes, assisting in visualising maximum space usage. They would create computer renderings for the design plan, as well as create a timeline for completion ad calculate out project estimates.
When the project starts, the interior designer will be the one to oversee all details of the work, including any building construction or renovation, as well as large installations. They will deal with contractors and all technicians to ensure everything complies with your design plans. They will also liaise with you to choose and order furniture to fit into their design, and ensure you are satisfied with the final result.
* Kitchen and Bath Designer
The kitchen and bath designer has expertise in all areas of creation or remodelling of the bathroom or kitchen. They will look into designing or redesigning fixtures, cabinets appliances and building materials for these 2 areas. These 2 areas require special technical knowledge about electrical solutions and plumbing, too, which speciality designers would have.
* Sustainable Designer
The sustainable designer would have obtained the relevant certification in energy and environmental design and would have the expertise to design spaces sustainably. They would use sustainable products with a low environmental impact, focus on using less energy and water to create the space and also create a space which allows the user’s energy and water usage to be reduced. Under a sustainable interior designer, construction waste would be managed. Finally, air quality would be taken into consideration.
How Do I Choose a Suitable Interior Design Service Professional?
* How Do They Decide If They Will Take On a Project?
Imagine you are an employer, interviewing a potential employee. A common question is, “Why do you think the job is right for you?” The same goes for interviewing an interior designer. Seeing how they assess your project highlights their priorities – what do they view as important? Are these the same factors that you hold as important? The main thing is – is there a personality fit? The space you wish to work on is a reflection of your personality, so it’s important to find someone who understands you and can work with you. Add in the fact that you will be working very closely with the interior designer over a long period of time, and you would want to find someone you work well with.
* Do They Prefer Involved Clients or Hands-off Clients?
Firstly, are YOU an involved client – wanting to be updated and consulted at every step of the way, or a hands-off client – preferring to leave it to the professionals to deal with? Knowing your own working style will go a long way towards finding the right interior designer to work with. Some interior designers thrive in an interactive relationship, but others like to feel trusted to go about their work their own way. Making sure everybody is on the same page will save you time and money in the long run.
* What Are Their Style Influences and Inspirations?
Interior design is a form of art, and the designer is the artist, so where do they draw their influences from? Do they get excited over Zen lines and empty spaces or country-style wood rooms? What inspires them the most? Ask potential designers about their favourite pieces of work that they are most proud of. What turns them off? This way, you will get to know more about whether you both are on the same page.
* What Is Their Project-Management Style?
How will your potential interior designer communicate their plans to you? Does their presentation style make sense to you? Would you prefer that they present the project as a whole – inclusive of floor plans, finishes, fabrics and so on, together with the timeline and estimates, or do you want to look at each aspect of the project as and when it comes up? Do you wish to receive regular updates, or wait for the final reveal? It’s important to agree on project management style before you embark on a project together and the best interior design service professionals will be willing to discuss this with you.
* What’s the Most Challenging Aspects of a Project? How Do You Handle Mistakes?
In asking about their challenges, you will get to know their limitations and how they have overcome them in the past. To feel totally comfortable with something, you must be familiar with the negatives as well as the positives. From there, you will know how to deal with any issues that might arise. Ultimately, you will also figure out whether their work style fits your project scope and timeline.
Similar to knowing how they manage challenges is how they manage mistakes. Their job, after all, is to help you handle problems. What happens if a mistake is made? From this question, you will be able to see if the designer is realistic and has made contingency plans for life’s little (or not so little) hiccups.
* What’s Their Budget Priorities?
Aligning your budget priorities with the designer’s is also important. The best interior design service professionals will be able to see eye-to-eye with you in terms of expenditure. This is important to be hashed out before the project starts to avoid conflict halfway through. Discuss what you will both focus on in the event of an issue. Is aesthetics more important in the long-run, or functionality? How flexible is the budget?
What Are the Prices I Might Expect?
Interior designer fees can vary quite widely because services vary quite widely. Each designer will have their own way to ascertain pricing – some look at project size, while others go by commission percentage of the total cost.
Generally, the fees can be calculated in these ways:
- Monthly interior design retainer
- Interior square footage
- Rather than an hourly cost, designers might do your purchasing for you at a discount, but charge you the retail price, retaining the difference as their fee.
- Another way is to charge a markup fee as their tip (typically 20%), retaining a percentage of your total furnishings and supply costs.
- Keeping your final budget in mind, the interior designer could also calculate their fee by adding the total fee estimate of the parts of the project (construction, materials, etc.) and multiplying that by a percentage.
* Typical interior designer RM8,000 – RM20,000 without furniture
* Online interior designer RM300 – RM6,400 without furniture
- You start off inputting your interior design needs into an app. A designer will contact you once the preliminaries are settled.
* Hourly interior designer RM20 – RM2,000 without furniture
- Suitable for smaller projects
- Includes visits, travel time, shopping, email or phone discussions, general hours spent on your space
