Continued from the Interior Designer’s Essential Guide for Consumers
By Marjie Goode of The Goode Touch Interiors, LLC

Now that you understand how an interior designer can help you, the next step is to know what to look for…

I read a recent newspaper article that stated initial consultations from an interior designer should be free. Let me define an initial consultation: a meeting to get to know each other, view a portfolio and gain an understanding of how each party would like to proceed on working together. In other words – what your expectations are as a client and what you expect from the designer. You can show the designer the scope of your project, but once you start asking a designer for their ideas – you’re on the clock and should expect to pay for their creativity.

When selecting your designer:

• You need to have chemistry with your designer! You will be building a personal relationship. You do not need to be best friends, but you must allow your designer to understand you personally so they can give you the utmost service so that your home reflects you and your needs.
  Many designers become an extended family fixture that is called upon when needed.
  Clients change throughout their journey in life. Along with this change, their style changes – calling upon the designer to create updated interiors spaces for their lifestyle.
• You will need excellent communication with your interior designer. Open communication is crucial to a successful project. You must feel comfortable speaking your mind with your designer.
• Give the designer your budget for the project. People have a fear that interior designers are out to spend every last cent. Designers need to know your financial parameters so that they can create within the budget.
• Allow your designer to show you options. A designer should show you product within your budget. Although if they come upon an option that would give your design project the jewelry needed – or that extra punch that makes your friends ooh and aah when they come to your home – by all means allow your designer creative license. You can always say no – or decide to spend the extra dollars.
• Find out the designer’s fee structure:
  – Do they charge hourly?
  – Hourly plus mark-up?
  – A flat rate?
  Do not shy away from higher hourly rates. Question – Is this rate for one designer or a team? Ask about the experience you are paying for. You may hire a lower priced designer thinking that you are getting a great deal but in the end have a large amount of time on your billing statement because your designer does not have the knowledge or speed of a more experienced designer. Experienced designers know where to find the products needed for your project, as well as, have the knowledge and credible resources and venders to bring to a project. They have spent years building up their teams of vendors – which is an incredible resource for you.Most experienced designers have a wonderful working relationship with all trades in order to help you create your dreams without the hassles of playing general contractor.
  A good designer is constantly educating themselves on new products and the technology of new product.
  There are constantly new innovations in paint, fabric, carpet, window coverings and building products to name a few.
• Make sure your designer gives you what you want. Some designers want to throw away everything you have. If that is okay with you – go for it. But if you have pieces that are important to you – you need to communicate and let your designer know what you want to incorporate into your home.
• Understand the capabilities of the interior designer. Different designers have different capabilities. There are designers who only handle paint color selections, window coverings, furnishings and accessorizing. If you are working on construction, you need to make sure your prospective designer has the capability to handle construction?
  Do you want specification notebooks compiled by your designer? Your designer can work from blueprints, compile specification lists and begin research on all products needed for your construction project and create a notebook for the builder to work from, which for example, may include specifications from the roofing material to the floor coverings. They can also supply computer automated drawings of cabinet and tile layouts and so on . . .
• You should build a strong team at the beginning of your construction project. Your team should include an interior designer, an architect and a general contractor/builder. By having all players in place at the beginning of the design process you can verify that they can all work well together and are in sync. You want them to be able to communicate and problem solve so that situations are taken care of without you having to be in the middle.
  If you are someone who wants to do it yourself – you may want to consider building a team of an interior designer and appropriate contractors. Have a meeting with all parties to verify compatibilities. And remember that you can always hire an interior designer for consultation services only.
  Life is too short to be working with conflicting personalities – especially when you are paying the bill. By having a cooperative and productive team you will save time which in turn will save you money.
• Now it is up to you. What do you expect from your designer? How involved do you want to be? Do you want a turnkey operation? Would you like to tell an interior designer your budget, hand them the reins and expect have them deliver the completed project? Do you want to shop with your designer and help make all of the decisions? Or are you a do-it-yourselfer, but want consultation from the designer? Think about the process in which you want to work with your designer and make sure they are comfortable working in this manner.

From the Interior Designer’s Essential Guide for Consumers
By Marjie Goode of The Goode Touch Interiors, LLC

An interior designer can help you with many aspects in your life!

An Interior Designer can:

• Help you add color to your life through paint, fabrics, hard surfaces such as tile, granite, carpet, hardwood. This list goes on… There is color in every aspect of your life. Everything you touch or look at has color. It is so important to have a trained eye for the implementation of color.When designing a project, colors will be selected for every aspect of the project, from fixtures and finishes for a construction project to the fabrics and stains or paints for furnishings, to the paint colors and accessories for an interior project.
• Help you add the right shapes in your life – do you like clean lines and defined edges or do you prefer soft curves or combining the two treatments?
• Help you by understanding how you live so that they can add form and function to your life. A designer should get to know you personally. They are capable of designing every aspect in your home from the public areas to your personal spaces.
• Help you from making costly mistakes. Your furnishings are an investment. Most people do not go out and buy new furniture. Think about your parents – do they still have the furnishings you grew up with? Most Likely. So the next time you go out and buy a piece of furniture, invest in window treatments, or renovate your home – think about how many years you will live with your decision.
• Help you understand what your buying decisions affect. People think that a designer should come in and just help them pick a color or a piece of furniture not realizing that every aspect and decision for that item affects you and everything around it.
  For example: All of the options in selecting a sofa – arm style, the perfect fabric, stain finish for the legs or skirt treatment, trim, seat cushions options, back cushion options, seat depth, seat height, do you want pillows created from a different fabric. The decisions go on and on. An interior designer wants to know how you are going to use the sofa in order to help you with every decision so that you purchase the perfect sofa for your needs.
• Give you access to thousands of products. At designer showrooms around the world there are thousands of product lines available which you can view but need to purchase through an interior designer. Then add all of the other wholesale resources to the trade and retail stores and you realize that hiring an  interior designer can be very beneficial in the process of making sure you select the best merchandise for your project.