Why Hire an Interior Designer?

If you have never used an interior designer before, you might think why should I, or what's the benefit of doing so? Well in this blog post I'm going to share with you some of the reasons you might consider using an interior designer like me. 1. The quality of their work. You can see from a designer’s website their projects they have worked on, and their reviews/ testimonials. You should like what you see. Designers have the ability to envision a project and understand how to bring it to fruition through their training and past experience. Designers should be skilled at all phases of a project and how to bring your combined ideas to life. From the early stages of identifying a client’s needs and desires, to developing a budget, fleshing out a workable design, and finishing with delivery and installation of a scheme and final styling to complete the new look. If you have never used an interior designer before, you might think why should I, or what's the benefit of doing so? Well in this blog post I'm going to share with you some of the reasons you might consider using an interior designer like me.

2. Bringing Fresh Eyes and New Ideas A designer will not only bring their expertise, knowledge and past experience to a project, but also fresh eyes. An interior designer won't have lived in your home day in day out, so will be able to see the space for what it is. The best designers will be able to identify the potential of a space, and then provide creative solutions for you based on their experience. It may take someone neutral to your home to confirm that, in fact, all of the furniture you inherited from your in-laws doesn’t work very well. Designers will give you the confidence to upgrade what you have that no longer works, or amalgamate key pieces into a scheme that you want to keep for sentimental reasons. You might be surprised that a beautiful vintage table you haven't been sure what to do with could actually be reimagined to steal the show as a bathroom sink unit instead.

3. Making your Space Functional

I'm a huge advocate of spaces being functional as well as beautiful. After all, we all have 'stuff' in our homes that we need to keep. With two small children I understand the constant battle of making homes not look like a soft play set up, and that plenty of storage is a key component to a beautiful home. I seek your views about aesthetics as well as the anticipated use and function of a space by asking a client to complete a questionnaire and then following up with a zoom call to talk this through, to get to know the client more and to see the space you will be working with. Topics like frequency of use, anticipated changes in the family structure, and favourite patterns or colours are important to discuss, to ensure that a space will meet the needs and taste for years to come.

4. Access to their Networks

One of the biggest advantages of hiring a designer is their contacts.

If you’ve thought about hiring a contractor, you may have found yourself immediately overwhelmed by figuring out whom to choose—and then trying to decipher who can actually get the job done, or who will even take your project. Designers can help with this by suggesting who they have worked with in the past and who might come with a personal recommendation which can save a lot of hard work, money and possible stress.

There is also the possibility of accessing your designer’s trade discounts. Designers can often secure anything up to around 20% discount because they are using these services more often than any individual. I’m affiliated with a number of brands and just recently saved a client £300 on a sofa, and £185 on some fabric to recover an armchair making it completely bespoke. Working with a designer might actually save you money in the long run!

5. You Will Get it Right Once and For All I have heard clients saying when meeting them for the first time, that one of the reasons they want to use a designer, is that this time they ‘just want to get it right’ Doing things yourself means taking a risk, and there’s no guarantee that it will come out the way you anticipated having spent a lot of time and money. Working with a designer like me, means that the refresh will be well thought out from the start, with a clear plan of what you want and how we are going to achieve that, and the resulting outcome in the space can really bring you happiness and enhance your day-to-day living. You will be looking at the project as a whole, not just as individual items, which is where things can start to go wrong and feel disjointed.

I hope that's given you some more tangible information as to why using an interior designer like me might be worth it for a number of reasons.

If you'd like to get in touch to discuss your project, then please do. You can email me on hello@laurenmayinteriors.com or call/ text me on 07712 185467. You can see examples of my work on www.laurenmayinteriors.com and see some testimonials of past client's I have worked with.

That's all for now, speak to you soon.

Lauren x