5 reasons why you should consult an interior designer before renovating your home
You are about to renovate your house. You have spent a lot of time on Pinterest and blogs and you already have some good ideas on what to do with your space. Or on the opposite, you are excited to move forward with the renovation yet you feel a little lost on where to actually start and you are having a hard time picturing the finish result. We’ve worked with clients in both scenarios, we get it!
Wherever you are right now, hiring an interior designer for a consultation before starting your project might be exactly what you need. We compiled 5 reasons why booking a consultation with an interior designer can really help you during your remodeling and set solid foundations for your project.
Let’s take a look!
Get more technical support
Have you looked at your home from a technical standpoint? Before getting creative with the design, it is important to know exactly what we are dealing with and an interior designer can help you do just that. One quick and budget-friendly way to engage a designer is to simply have them do a set of furniture floor plans. It’s a quick process and the interior designer can tell you exactly how to layout the room for your needs and then tell you the exact size of sofa, coffee table, rugs, and more! That way, if you LOVE the shopping and design part, you can go and shop by yourself! But at least with sizes in hand, you’re not going to make an expensive mistake like buying a sofa too big for the space!
Before we start any projects here are a few things we pay attention to:
How are you going to use the space? For example, are you going to host big soirees in which you need a ton of seating?
Does the space need to be multi-functional? Are those soirees few and far between, so when you’re not hosting 120 people, you need a family room set up?
What do you want the space to feel like - this is always a hard question for clients because it’s a very abstract concept to try to verbalize. But sometimes, we just need some adjectives like “cozy” or “warm”, etc.
We can also provide you with 3D renderings (see below - yes it’s a rendering!!) or other plans that you might need when working with other contractors. For example, as long as there’s no structural needs (in which we’ll advise you to hire an architect in addition to your designer), we can create permit drawings that the GC can take straight to the town building department. Want to hear more about how the whole team works together and what the difference between an Architect, Interior Designer, Kitchen Designer and Contractor are? Check out our blog series here!
Get Individualized Answers
This is the time to get professional advice and ask all the questions you have. Someone with experience can look at the plans of your home and give you customized tips to make a particular room feel bigger, brighter, and more functional. These advice won’t be a one-size-fits-all. Instead it will be very particular to YOUR space.
With years of experiences and working in different spaces, we develop an eye and upgrade useless corners into for example cozy nooks.
But here’s the thing - you also have to be open to our suggestions! We won’t pressure you to do things, but we certainly will give you our advice. The worst thing you can do is have us over for a consult and not use the time to ask and listen! Whether you decide to make a change or not, it’s important to hear why!
Save time and money
Talking to a professional at the beginning of your project can really save you both time and money as we can direct you in the right direction from the beginning. No more spending hours browsing the internet to get answers to your questions, nor spending money on furniture that doesn’t fit as well as you would have imagined in the pictures. Instead, we help you create an interior that will look like you and increase the value of your home. Even doing the floor plans (see above!) can save you SO MUCH MONEY from costly mistakes!!! Yes, interior design is an investment, but it’s worth it in the end! Many times we’re brought in late after mistakes have already been made. Don’t be one of those people! Get started early!!! You will be much better off in the end!
Know where to start
When starting big remodeling work it can be hard to know where and how to start. This is something we help you with by first asking you questions to know your priority and how the renovation should go.
For example, if you were to tell us you’re looking to do a major kitchen renovation, we would advise you on the next steps:
If there is any structural changes being made, an architect needs to be engaged to do the initial construction drawings.
Once those construction drawings are drafted, they should go to a couple of GCs for bidding - that way you know where your project budget is headed.
Kitchen designer needs to be engaged once contracts are signed with the GC so that the kitchen plans can be completed.
We will be with you every step of the way - from the tile showrooms to the plumbing and appliance showrooms. We’re guiding you through the process of selections!
Of course, depending on the scope of the project (major construction vs. simply decoration), there’s always a good game plan to get started with.
At the end of the call, get a clear plan of action - know where to start from, who to contact, what to buy.
Get in touch with the right people
If you need other contractors to work on your project and your address book isn’t full of those, this might get tricky for you. We work daily with trustworthy manufacturers, builders, engineers, and other professionals. Having someone with experience recommending you names will make a big difference. Reliable contacts are crucial to make renovation work a success. The Bees have a list of preferred vendors based on their craftsmanship and quality that we’ve known for years. So we always have someone we can recommend!
Have you ever heard those stories of people quitting in the middle of the construction leaving you with unfinished work and no one else to contact? Or someone who isn’t as qualified leaving you with work half done and a lot of consequences for you to deal with…
Knowing trustworthy people to work with helps bring peace of mind. It also helps that if you’re going to have a contractor in your home at 7am each morning during construction - you better really like those people :-)
How We Start
Our process to start is simple - sign up on our contact page and fill out our survey. That survey, while it seems daunting, helps us get to know your project before we even chat! It helps us prepare for our first meeting so that we can be as efficient as possible!
Then we schedule an initial phone call to see if we’re the right fit for you - and we may not be! That’s ok! But hopefully from that call we can either guide you to the right professional or we determine next steps!
Seek professional advice and bring your home’s renovation to the next level. Contact us today to schedule an introduction call.