“Can I afford to hire an interior designer?”

Maybe the better question is can you afford not to?

Hiring me to come up with a room design for you will cost you around £400, plus around four hours of your time. Online design services are a bit cheaper and other designers can be much more expensive. Of course, no one likes paying for something they don’t need so maybe you could do it yourself and come up with an awesome design. This will save you the design fee but how much time will it cost you?

IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME

Let’s see how many items you will need to put together to create a simple, small living room design....

1. Wall colour
2. ceiling colour
3. woodwork colour
4. Flooring
5. Sofa
6. Armchairs
7. Coffee table
8. Side tables
9. Media unit
10. Storage or shelving
11. Ceiling light
12. Wall lights
13. Floor lamps or table lamps
14. Rug
15. Multiple cushions
16. Throw
17. Wall art
18. Frames for wall art
19. Wall mirror
20. Curtain poles
21. Blinds or curtains
22. Light switches/sockets
23. Door furniture
24. Plants
25. Pots or baskets for plants
26. Decorative vase
27. Decorative photo frames
28. Stylish coffee table books
29. Plus all the other small decorative items

Okay, so maybe you are keeping some items and don’t need everything on this list. But generally, you will probably be purchasing around twenty items for a room revamp. How much time could this take? Even if you are super quick and only spend one hour per item that really starts to add up. But who only spends an hour choosing a new sofa? Yeah, it’s more like 5,6,7,8,9 10 hours and beyond!

IT TAKES  A LOT OF KNOW-HOW

So if you’re happy to invest the time then all you need is the know-how. Because these items can’t just be thrown together.  You need to consider so many things; the style of the property, the practical demands of your family life, your stylistic taste, the natural light the room receives, and the scale and proportions of the room. And then every item needs to coordinate so you pull together the right colours, textures and patterns to create a cohesive feel. And then of course there is the budget to stick to.

IT’S EASY TO MAKE MISTAKES

For some, it will come naturally and will be a joy to spend forty hours engrossed in creating your perfect room.

But what if it doesn’t come naturally? What if it’s stressful and infuriating and you make mistakes? This is where the real problem hits. It’s one thing to sacrifice your time, but who wants to throw away good money on the wrong sofa?

SO CAN YOU AFFORD TO HIRE AN INTERIOR DESIGNER?

Absolutely. Just imagine how else you can spend the forty hours you’ll be saving yourself. And think how easy it will be when someone just hands you a shopping list and all you have to do is click ‘add to basket’. Well, okay, there’s painting some walls and putting together some furniture involved too, but you will have all the information you need to put together your perfect room.

If you would like to chat about your next interiors project then drop me an email or give me a call. I offer my design packages and consultancy across Southampton and Hampshire and would love to help you. 

Thanks for reading my blogs I love sharing them with you, if you have any comments then join the discussion below.

Sarah x