You may be thinking about hiring an interior designer. After all, a professional can create a beautiful and personal home in much less time and with less stress and decision paralysis than most people could do on their own.
Of course, you can scour Pinterest and Instagram, pinning and bookmarking images until 2am, tear out and save pages from your favourite decor magazines, and save hundreds of images on your phone looking for ideas. But creating something similar in your own home? It can feel impossible, especially when you consider the millions of options available and the fact that just because something looks good doesn’t mean it will work in your home with your existing architecture and for your lifestyle.
Sound familiar?
Don’t feel bad! Designing a space that meets your aesthetic goals and functional requirements, all while staying on budget, taking care of all the other demands on your time, AND feeling confident that your choices are, in fact, ones that will work perfectly together in your home is not easy for most people.
Interior designers, on the other hand, have years of experience, vendors, workrooms, access to trade-only products, professional training and industry-specific resources that help them design and track each detail of a project. Simply put, when you hire an interior designer, you are hiring an expert to solve your problem.
When it comes to hiring an interior designer, you’ll likely have a lot of ideas and questions about how the whole process will unfold. Because we value our relationships with our clients and want them to feel confident when they hire a designer, we want to make sure you ask the right questions.
While your interior designer should know and be upfront about timelines, project budgets, billing and payment terms, working with contractors, architects and other pros, there are 10 key questions I think are the most important to ask your interior designer to better understand what working with them will really be like.
I explain the questions and why they are important in this 3-part series. Let’s dive in!
Question 1
What’s your design process? How much time does each part of the process take?
This question is critical to understand what to expect as you move forward working with an interior designer. Although most designers follow a similar process, it is important to understand how your designer moves from the concept to the installation.
Here’s what you can expect when you work with Mona Britton Interiors on a full-service design project.
Step 1: Discovery Call
During this complimentary 20- minute phone call, we’ll discuss your project goals, timeline, and budget. I’ll share more about our process to determine if we’re a good fit and answer any questions you have about working together.
Step 2: Consultation
During this 90-minute in-home consultation, I’ll walk through your space, take notes and initial measurements, and gather the information I need to prepare a proposal and contract for your project. The consultation fee of 300 € is due at the time of booking and will be applied to the design fees if we decide to move forward.
Step 3: Proposal
After the consultation, I’ll prepare a detailed proposal to outline the scope of work, suggested project budget, and estimated timeline. Once it’s approved, you confirm your spot on our design calendar by signing the contract and paying the first design fee installment.
ONCE YOU’RE A CLIENT
Step 1: Project Kickoff
It’s official! I’ll have you fill out a comprehensive design questionnaire to help me understand your design style, lifestyle, and goals. We’ll review your answers together during your in-home project kick-off meeting. I’ll also take pictures and measurements of your space, catalogue any existing furniture, if applicable, and get to know you and your family. The second design installment fee is due at this time.
Step 2: Concept Design
With a full understanding of your lifestyle, design aesthetic and goals, I’ll move into the concept design phase to prepare a furniture layout, colour scheme and overall design direction for your project. The third design fee installment is due at the concept presentation meeting.
Step 3: Detailed Design
This is when we finalize the design of your space, including the layout and all furniture and finish selections. I coordinate with trades and vendors to prepare a final furnishings budget. Once the final design is approved, we’re ready to take the next steps to bring your vision to life!
Step 4: Project Management
During this phase, we place orders, coordinate and manage our tradespeople, conduct site visits, coordinate shipments, deliveries, and storage of all design elements. We provide regular updates to keep you in the loop. Depending on the scope of work and the specific items included in your design, this phase takes and average of 12-24 weeks. It can last up to a year (or more) if there are significant renovations. Hourly fees are due each month during this phase.
Step 5: Installation
This is the phase where it all comes together! We coordinate white glove delivery of your goods, and provide onsite management on install day. We provide styling with hand-selected accessories to complete your space, as well as post-installation design support. Depending on the size of your project, there may be more than one installation.
Question 2
What will you need from me, and when will you need it? When will you need me to be available?
You’ll want to know what your time commitment will need to be throughout the interior design process. Every interior designer offers different services with varying levels of support and access, so you’ll want to make sure you fully understand whether you’ll need to be hands-on or hands-off, or if there are certain parts where you’ll be more involved than others.
Yes, you are handing the bulk of the work off to designer — that’s the whole idea, so the design process will be easier on you and your family. But to ensure your interior designer has everything they need to understand your specific home goals and then bring it to life, your involvement in providing key information about your needs and your vision is critical.
And, at other times, you’ll need to make your home available so the designer can take measurements, tradespeople can do the work, and so that all the elements can be delivered and installed.
At Mona Britton Design, our clients are the most involved at these key phases:
Welcome and Kickoff
I want to know all the details about your lifestyle, design style, and functional needs. This is what will allow me to fully understand your style and goals to ensure we design a space you love. During this phase, our clients fill out a detailed design questionnaire, share Pinterest boards or other collections of design inspiration, and we discuss this all in detail at the in-home project kickoff meeting.
Design Phase
We have a 2-part design phase which includes an in-person design presentation at the end of each part. First is the concept design meeting, where we finalize the furniture plans and determine the aesthetic direction of your project. A few weeks later, you’ll be invited to the detailed design presentation to see the complete design. We include one round of revisions so we can fine-tune the details, if needed.
Project Management
We’ll be in touch with regular updates during this phase. Reading and replying (as needed) to each email ensures that you are always up to date with how your project is progressing. There will be times when we request access to your home to take measurements, meet with tradespeople to get quotes, for tradespeople to work, and, of course, to oversee the install day. Depending on the scope of your project, we will also schedule site visits to check the progress of any renovation work directly related to your project. We may request that no family members are present or that they’re in a separate part of the home for safety and/or efficiency during certain site visits.
Question 3
How will we communicate throughout the project? How frequently will I hear from you?
You don’t want to feel left in the dark at any time during your project: why isn’t my interior designer calling me? Is anything happening? Are they even working on my project?
These thoughts can be very stressful and even anxiety-provoking and in my experience with our clients, it’s usually a case of “no news is good news”.
key milestones & behind the scenes
You’ll want to make sure you understand the interior designer’s process and key milestones so you aren’t worried if you don’t hear from them during a certain phase. Once you know the design process, you’ll have a full understanding of everything they’re doing behind the scenes to keep your project on track.
communication preferences
Another important thing to be aware of is your preferred communication style and your designer’s. If you prefer phone calls and texts but email is how your interior designer and their team communicate best, you may need to adjust your expectations OR find a designer who is readily available via phone and text.
During the project, I provide regular email updates, scheduled site visits, contractor collaboration, and access to a private, online client portal where you can access details of your design, so you know what to expect. We schedule a call or an in-person meeting if something comes up that is that we know will be more efficient to go over without the back-and-forth of email.
Now you know the first 3 questions to ask a designer. Be sure to read the next two posts to find out what other questions I recommend!
If you’re ready to find out more about working with Mona Britton Interiors for your project, just fill out a Project Inquiry Form and we’ll get back to you with details about our services and pricing.
