WORKING WITH AN INTERIOR DESIGNER

As seen in SNAP magazine

Victoria has an extraordinary collection of great designers that can help you to improve your surroundings, while accommodating your needs and personal lifestyle.  For the size of our city,  Victoria has an extraordinary design industry that is an integral part of your community.  With Spring around the corner, you may be considering hiring an interior designer to help you improve a specific room in your home.  When you need medical advice, you call a doctor. When you need legal advice, you call a lawyer. Remember, your neighbor is usually “not” a designer and what worked in their place, may not be functional or needed in your own space.  There is a big difference in getting the right professional advice, personalized for your home.

 

Meade Design Group at work

 

People often think that a designer is an expensive luxury, but designers can actually help you save money.  At the end of your project, a designer’s cost in fees is actually close to those of a couple good quality appliances. Hiring a designer will give you the advantage to omit mistakes in your project.  A designer will be guiding you in what you need and what you don’t need in your home.  Interior designers truly understand your space and what you have to work with and can efficiently translate your wishes and desires into a reality.  For example, material selections are often about the choices made and how they are put together for a cohesive material/colour scheme, not about how expensive the choices actually are.   Designers provide you with the knowledge, experience and taste to bring your project to another level, and come together more smoothly. Designers can always work with a realistic budget to give you what you want. With a complete vision of your project they can correct things to help keep you in shape with your numbers. Hiring an interior designer who can understand your needs and knows how to maximize the use of your space is priceless. By engaging a designer, you keep everything coordinated.   They have strong relationships with contractors, trades and they know how to communicate their ideas and plans with them and get you what you want.

 

Ivan Meade & Echo Eaton

 

Interior designers usually work on an hourly or percentage basis.  Some important things to consider when hiring a designer are to evaluate their portfolio to see if their aesthetic is similar to yours, to check their years of experience in the business and their references, as well as a contract that spells out what the designer will do for you and what you will pay the designer is a must. As with anyone involved in your project, you need to check that the designer has liability insurance to protect your investment in them.  Always make sure your designer has your interests at heart. And don't hire a designer who won't listen to you when you talk.  Always be open to their new ideas and suggestions, if you work together you will be pleasantly surprised with how much an interior designer can improve your life.

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