How to Hire an Interior Designer

Naperville architects

Many of you have at least once asked the question: “Why do we need an interior designer? “We can create beauty in the house ourselves.” Unfortunately, this work isn’t so easy as it seems and we need to have special skills, experience and knowledge to achieve our goal. Interior designers in Chicago or any other big cities are highly requested. It’s clear with builders – they demolish and build houses, a bricklayer is engaged in laying bricks and foam blocks, a painter is wielding a brush, and so on …

And what about the designer? After all, he comes up with the idea and concept of the premises, creates 3D visualizations, selects materials and furniture. All these things demand real skills and knowledge. It’s even a piece of art to create an attractive interior design with considering all the customers’ remarks and preferences!

But be that as it may, fantasy and imagination are not qualities inherented in every person. And there are even fewer good ideas. We are often look for interior designers in Chicago to share with them our ideas and ask them not only to implement them but also adapt to our reality and improve a bit.

The truth is that it all starts with an idea. Yes, you can’t touch it, but it is a idea that serves as the foundation for creating a beautiful and ergonomic interior. It is our idea that will be the basis for the work of our builder, bricklayer, painter, etc. After all, first a project is born – and then a model is created and a house is built.

Design, first of all, is design. Correct use of space and zoning. Skillfully applied knowledge, good taste and the wishes of the client – this is how a design project is created that will satisfy all your needs.

More than that customers often can create their design-project and ask the designer to correct it and then transform into reality. An experienced designer looks at the walls for the first time and sees the image, concept and idea. Having listened to your wishes, he will create what is right for you. As a result, you will get not only a beautiful, but also an ergonomic home that you will not want to change over the years. In which you will not face the problem of poor lighting, sunburned walls and insufficient number of outlets.
Some building teams are so open that involve the customers into the process. They can feel themselves as designers and as a part of team they hire. It’s an advantage, because each point is important for the home-owners.

The interior design process is divided into parts or stages and each stage is clear for the customer. The team performs each stage of works and step by step achieves the final goal. It’s interesting to be one of the creators of your home interior design.

So, Let’s Consider the Stages of Cooperation with Interior Designers

1. Acquaintance

When you meet an interior designer, you decide whether to work together. You talk about your expectations, look for common ground, feel if you understand each other. If there is a contact, a professional designer will help you realize what will suit you best in the interior. Sometimes it is easier for an outside person to see the main thing and create an interior that suits your lifestyle, tastes and preferences. With your assistance, of course. Many private designers and design teams are ready to advise you one-time at the very beginning of the renovation – it is not necessary to give them the entire project.

2. Concept development

At this stage, the designer makes measurements of the room and, based on your input data, offers sketches or collages of the future interior. These are collections of real pieces of furniture and materials needed to reflect the future mood, color scheme and style of the room. Here, a decision is made on the functional division of the premises and the need for redevelopment.
The most functional planning solutions, as a rule, come to the mind of professionals. The options you come up with may be good, but rarely are the best. An interior designer takes into account the norms of legislation, since he has a keen eye and more experience. A professional will help you create an interior designin the same style, and will not let conflicting ideas captivate you.

3. Project

The designer prepares working documentation: plans, drawings, estimates, specifications, 3D sketches (if the customer needs them) or detailed collages (this is a simpler option). The specification includes plans for lighting, placement of electrical and plumbing equipment, the choice of specific finishing materials, the development of built-in furniture and custom-designed furniture. As a result, you get a project with a set of documents on the basis of which the work will be done.

A good renovation can happen without a project – that’s a fact. But an interior designer will help you organize the work correctly and avoid confusion with the implementation stages. For example, it is very important not to start construction until all the project documentation is ready: the craftsmen must carry out work on the wiring of electrical, plumbing, lighting in accordance with the drawings. And the drawings, in turn, are prepared on the basis of the approved layout and furniture arrangement. It is much faster and cheaper to make changes to the design documentation than to the construction work.

4. Project implementation: construction and finishing works

It is difficult for a person who has not even one serious construction project to cope with this process on his own. If you have agreed with the designer on architectural supervision, this means that not you, but he will control and coordinate the work of the builders. The designer plays on your side, and the foreman is traditionally on the side of the builders. But at the same time, one must understand that the designer is responsible for ensuring that the construction site corresponds to the project, but not for the quality of all work.

5. Implementation of the project: decoration and equipment

A professional interior designer is somehow familiar with all (or with very many) materials and interior items that are on the market today. He is able to guide you on the best options in different price categories without tiresome pointless shopping raids. The designer will be able to assess the price-quality ratio and make a choice. In addition, a professional will help to save money, since he usually has a developed contact list of suppliers who give him special conditions and discounts.

In Conclusion

Interior design is a high art. The main purpose of the design is to significantly improve the quality of our life.

In design, as in any craft, there is a set of rules that must be followed in order for everything to turn out well.

It is a pity that a good knowledge of the rules of the craft does not guarantee quality design. You can and should know everything about color and graphics, you can and should know the history of art by heart, you can and should know artistic style and technology, but at the same time give a living space where you can not talk about the beauty and benefits of beauty.

Much less often – but so it is possible – at each step to break formal rules, and to give out excellent result. But the first is almost incurable, and the second is correctable.

It is necessary to work and study all your life to reach the needful results and to become a luxury interior designer. However, this is almost impossible without individual creativity and experience.