Cost of Interior Designers

[Anonymous]

I’ve gotten good design advice from Ethan Allen. I love that they have a wide array of fabrics. But your largest piece in each room from Ethan Allen. That will get you the floor plan. Then you can look at a variety of stores for the rest of the pieces. Don’t just wander in and let an associate pick you. Look at the associate’s online portfolio. The good designers are busy and you’ll need an appointment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve gotten good design advice from Ethan Allen. I love that they have a wide array of fabrics. Buy your largest piece in each room from Ethan Allen. That will get you the floor plan. Then you can look at a variety of stores for the rest of the pieces. Don’t just wander in and let an associate pick you. Look at the associate’s online portfolio. The good designers are busy and you’ll need an appointment.

[Anonymous]

I would not use in store design unless you have a personal rec, bc they are often people hired off the street not formally trained. Similarly, we did a Reno and the contractor pushed hard for their “designer”… who designed our semi custom bathroom vanities and was very protective of design - but after they were ordered, when I pushed for dimensions to order mirrors/lighting, turned out they weren’t up to code and had to be revised. Despite her supposed 20 years in construction. Ridiculous, and why I prefer to choose who I work with.

That said, you can find smaller businesses -
I use an accredited interior designer who does exactly this. Her hourly rate is about $200/hr and she doesn’t upcharge the stuff she orders. She will do anything from trade only brands to c&b or room and board (and pass on discounts). If you go with a traditional interior designer, they often charge a hourly rate plus will charge a percentage of every order, which is ridiculous, and often don’t take below a certain budget (like $50k). I agree you should mix brands/sources for the best result.unless you really don’t care about design/style, in which case you shouldn’t pay for the service anyway.

[Anonymous]

Find an hourly designer and be clear about ordering anything yourself.

[Anonymous]

Finishing up a two room design with an interior designer in Vienna. Her model, and the others I considered, is that her fee is built into the total project cost.

This was part of a renovation (separate from designer) to open up wall between the rooms and make it a larger multi-functional space, 1st floor center hall colonial.

Benefit to me was that she got my style quickly, made suggestions that were exactly what I wanted, didn't feel insanely expensive giving that I was doing a large space from scratch. I have a space that exactly fits our needs (kids, dog, etc), that looks great and is completely customized.

She also suggested paint colors for the entire floor (not just her portion), helped with other design issues in the renovation, etc.

Total cost is at about $40k:
custom drapes for five windows and sliding glass door
custom sectional
low love seat
two swivel chairs
two arm chairs
two area rugs
two smaller stools
media console
two large coffee tables
one small end table
floor lamp
two table lamps

[Anonymous]

Industry standard is that is roughly 20% of the purchase price of a home to decorate and furnish. That is if you don’t have existing and correctly scaled furniture, curtains, lamps, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some info on what it costs to have an interior designer help you furnish your house. I get that this varies wildly depending on the budget for furniture and decor, but assuming a Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn level furniture budget, not a Room and Board/Ethan Allen one, can anyone give me a ballpark? For a smaller house -- say 2500ish sq feet, not a McMansion?

Or at least help me with some insight into how it works?

I'm not interested in the store design services. I don't want an entire room of Pottery Barn stuff, or whatever. I've also used Havenly, and it was ok, but not great and I'm looking for more.

I think this is short sighted. Developing a floor plan is one of the hardest parts and one of the most important. I would try a few free in store design services, even for the ones that are over budget. If one gives you a floorplan you love, that gets you 60% of the way there. You can take those dimensions and shop anywhere.

Thanks, this is helpful. I will reconsider. I'm a bit cautious here because a friend of mine who knows damn near zip about interior design does this for a living at a relatively upscale home store, and views it as her job to just upsell as much as possible. Apparently she mainly uses AI for her "design."

I don’t think this is typical. But anyway, go to Ethan Allen and pick someone who looks sharp. If you don’t like her ideas, try a different one. I do think Rthsn Allen has good designers. Would have doubts about West Elm based on interactions there.

Also, West Elm furniture is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Room lift.

[Anonymous]

I think that you would do better just asking a friend who is good at design to help you.

Alternatively, there are online designers who will give you a floor plan and recommendations on what to buy for a set fee.

I do think that Room and Board designers are often good.

That said you don't sound like someone who will take advice, so you may be better off just doing it yourself.

[Anonymous]

The advice on here is so dumb on this topic. People always say you either have to buy everything from a single store or spend minimum 50k on design services alone. Absolutely not true. There are plenty of online designers.

Try this place.

https://roomlift.com/pages/before-and-after

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The advice on here is so dumb on this topic. People always say you either have to buy everything from a single store or spend minimum 50k on design services alone. Absolutely not true. There are plenty of online designers.

Try this place.

https://roomlift.com/pages/before-and-after

Nobody said those things.
My personal opinion/experience is that the low cost online services are not better than the in store free ones. Having them try to sell you things from larger online retailers isn’t worth anything. Most likely, you’re still going to take that floorplan and maybe a key piece or two and shop outside the plan anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People pay 75-100k just for design services? F’in hell you guys are crazy.

This thread says the total budget is 100k, but I’m sure people routinely pay that much just to the designer, and it’s because they’re very rich and the total budget for the project is >$1m. We’ll tell them you called.

They don’t spend money like they’re “very rich”. They spend money like they’re temporarily rich.

[Anonymous]

Former designer here so I can provide some perspective. Most professional designers have a Minimum Purchase Agreement, clarifying up front that the furnishings spend will be north of $50k or $75k. Design firms have two revenue streams: hourly billing and margin on furnishings they can buy wholesale. They take projects based on two criteria: 1. How profitable it will be, 2. Will it be “magazine-worthy” when finished. Expect hourly fees of $260-$350, and expect professional designers NOT to use retail sources (poor quality and no control over production). Typical furnishings budget for a fully finished room is $30k not including design fees. Hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Finishing up a two room design with an interior designer in Vienna. Her model, and the others I considered, is that her fee is built into the total project cost.

This was part of a renovation (separate from designer) to open up wall between the rooms and make it a larger multi-functional space, 1st floor center hall colonial.

Benefit to me was that she got my style quickly, made suggestions that were exactly what I wanted, didn't feel insanely expensive giving that I was doing a large space from scratch. I have a space that exactly fits our needs (kids, dog, etc), that looks great and is completely customized.

She also suggested paint colors for the entire floor (not just her portion), helped with other design issues in the renovation, etc.

Total cost is at about $40k:
custom drapes for five windows and sliding glass door
custom sectional
low love seat
two swivel chairs
two arm chairs
two area rugs
two smaller stools
media console
two large coffee tables
one small end table
floor lamp
two table lamps

How on earth?!?

A sectional alone is $10k for custom USA made. Easy to spend 15-20k on a good brand like Wesley Hall.

Custom drapes for 5 windows is at least $15k

Are you buying cheap Potterybarn stuff and claiming it’s a designer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former designer here so I can provide some perspective. Most professional designers have a Minimum Purchase Agreement, clarifying up front that the furnishings spend will be north of $50k or $75k. Design firms have two revenue streams: hourly billing and margin on furnishings they can buy wholesale. They take projects based on two criteria: 1. How profitable it will be, 2. Will it be “magazine-worthy” when finished. Expect hourly fees of $260-$350, and expect professional designers NOT to use retail sources (poor quality and no control over production). Typical furnishings budget for a fully finished room is $30k not including design fees. Hope that helps!

This.