9 Things You Should Know About Becoming a Local Interior Designers

1. Start Young and See What Motivates You

Everyone has a muse or a hero that they look up to. It is important to see different examples of local interior designs to see what you can create into your own. Practicing on your own room and watching different shows about local interior designs will also help.

2. Believe in Yourself

Not everyone succeeds the first time around, it is important when designing to keep in mind the customers vision for their home and work with the customer on the interior design. Sometimes there are complications with customers and that can discourage you, so it’s important to take a step back and analyze the interior design.

3. Go to Class, It’s Not All Choosing Lovely Curtains

An interior designer is not just about picking wallpaper and curtains. Geometry is also important to know when picking out floor boards and getting the dimensions for a new living room. It is very competitive now which means it is always important for people to stay in education for as long as they can. It shows staying power, demonstrates certain seriousness about things and allows you to get your thoughts in order. Having a degree will set you apart from other local interior designers.

Getting some sort of grounding in interior architectural design services is a very good thing to do. You need to learn to do things like scale drawings and math is very important too. It’s not all choosing lovely curtains and fabrics.

4. Consider an Internship

Internships are investments in your future. Often, students are reluctant to pursue internships because they worry they’ll be stuck doing menial tasks like getting coffee or making copies and a downside is working for free. The truth is, although not all internships pay in cash they do pay in other ways. Internships are real world experiences in your field. Joining a company as an intern gives you the opportunity to work hands on in a professional environment. As an intern you’re not just there to get coffee or run errands but you’re there to gain actual work experience. Internships help by teaching you more about the career path you are pursuing. Think of it as a way to test drive possible jobs and explore different career options.

5. Don’t Blow the Budget

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to make a room look and feel good. Time frames and budget constraints are probably the most difficult thing to manage about the job. People don’t want to spend too much money and if you go over budget, then people understandably get upset. It’s a good idea to make suggestions and put together a mood board using images from books and magazines. Try and get all your ideas in one place visually, from bits of fabric to tiles to floor finishes, put all the bits you might want to use together and see if they work together on paper, which is always a good place to start.

6. Don’t Aim for Perfection

Things don’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. If you go into a room and it’s all perfect, you don’t feel comfortable. A home interior is not an abstract thing, it is about people, it’s about the way you feel, the way you interact. It’s about family and friends; it’s the backdrop to your life. If things are too perfect then it is without character, it’s not good to be too precious about something. The more you strive for perfection, the more it disappears. Don’t aim for perfection, try to create a relaxed environment, that’s what I think is important.

7. Look for Inspiration in Everything and Get to Know Your Clients

You can get inspiration from all over the place; books, magazines, the internet, shops and even your friends and family. It’s ok for something to turn out ugly and hideous, that comes with growing and seeing what colors and fabrics go together.

Thinking about how a room is going to make you feel is essential. That is what a good interior design does. It’s about creating an atmosphere. You absolutely have to know something about the people you are designing a space for. You need to find out about the way they lead their life, which rooms they use the most and you must always consider form and function.

8. Take Your Time With Color and Lighting

When it comes to making decisions about color, good advice is to do it slowly. Try colors on a small area of the walls you want to paint and look at them at different times of day. It’s about instinct and how it makes you feel again. Always try things before you make any final decisions. Lighting is also essential because it’s all to do with setting the mood. I like to have lots of different light sources, low level lighting as well as ceiling lights and I like to have quite a lot of control over them as well, with lots of different switches and dimmers. The functionality and the atmosphere are the most important things to get right. The fabrics, the floor coverings, the furniture the lighting are the tools that you use to create that. Don’t make rushed decisions if you can help it, apply a process of elimination approach if you can. The more you do it, the more confident you will become in your decision making.

9. Be Empathetic and Think About How a Room Makes You Feel

You’ve got to be able to empathize with your client. Being an interior designer can mean lots of things, there’s a little bit of being a nanny in there, a little bit of psychology and lots of empathy. When you have designed a space or an object or anything really and the client loves it, that is why I do what I do. That is the best feeling and the best thing about the job. If you create something and you put it out there and you know that somebody else is genuinely thrilled with it, then that is your reward and there is no better feeling than coming home to your beautiful interior design.