Do I need an interior decorator?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does one find an interior decorator? NP here but i would love to find one. Like in NoVa working on a moderate, but decent budget (not high end).

What’s the budget (“moderate” and “high end” are meaningless terms)? Do you want a full service designer, where they act as a retailer (including ordering from “to the trade” sources and marking up)? Have custom upholstery and drapes? Do you want someone who will coordinate carpenters, etc? Receive shipments at a warehouse and then install all at once?

Or are you planning on buying mostly from retail stores (room and board, etc) and need someone to help you with floorplanning and picking things out?

This. It depends on how much involvement you want and what you want to spend.

We are currently working with a decorator who is basically full service. We're doing custom window treatments, couch, rugs among other things. She's also coordinating with tradesmen on a few things we need done. I have absolutely no eye for or interest for design and we've recently moved into a new layout which I have no clue how to decorate it. It's a one level ranch with massive open space. We plan on being here for a while so the cost is worth it to us-we have not bought new furniture in close to 18 years. Full disclosure, we don't really have a set budget, but I'm guessing it will be $50-60K when we're done possibly more.

This is the PP who asked about your budget, I would say $50-75k for the living room is the point that you really want a full service designer. Below that it would be better to use a designer with a different business model suited to your budget (they are out there, often with fixed fee packages for specific things like a floorplan and a list of suggested furniture to buy retail), or a designer who is paid by sales commissions (most online designers and in store designers, even if you pay an additional fee).

I woudl say $60k for three small-ish rooms. One living room, 20x40 feet, one master bedroom, 20x30 feet, and dining room, 15x20 feet

Regardless of budget, how does one find an interior designer? Is there a website or something? Yelp for decorators?

Try Redbird Redesign

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the informative responses. No $75k living room — we have kids and a dog and the room is small. $5-$10k, maybe more for a nice piece of artwork or if we replace the couch.

So what are we buying for that $5-10k? I wouldn’t spend any money on a designer, and you are going to have to get creative to furnish a living room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I once used an interior decorator and I wasn’t happy with the outcome she wanted. It wasn’t her fault, it was totally in line with my inspiration pictures, but it was a waste of money.

OP what you could do aside from an interior decorator:

1. Purchase most things (or lookalikes) from a photo you like, either from a shelter magazine or an ad from a store like Ballard designs or ikea or whatever strikes your fancy. (Or if nothing strikes your fancy, just know that if a store puts a design in an ad, the design is going to be acceptable to most everybody).

2. Get help from a free design person, like from pottery barn or something.

3. Just go for an online designer. You will probably want some inspiration photos just to make things easier on them and be sure it isn’t wildly out of the realm of what you like (you might care more than you think). One good thing about many of them is that for an hourly fee they will buy everything for you with their trade discount.

How in the world is this her fault?

It says it wasn’t her fault.

[Anonymous]

I enjoy interior design as a hobby and follow similar people on instagram who might not be pros but maybe have an antique store or are stylists, have a great eye and offer design consultations, etc. One of them, who had a style I loved and happened to be local, came out to my house and gave me some great suggestions and overall feedback based on where I wanted to go with the house. She charged me hourly, it was well worth it. She directed me to great runners on ebay, found me a great side table and mirror, gave my daughter room suggestions and just overall it was helpful...not the end all or anything, it's a work in progress but she helped me organize my thoughts. At one point, after listening to my thoughts on color, my uncertainty, etc. She goes into my living room, picks up a pillow I had and said simply, "your entire palette is in this one pillow, can you see?" I had not actually. See if you can find someone who can give you a consult or works hourly. Their style should match yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best thing I ever did.

With her discount and ability to find deals she saved me money.

Can you recommend her?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the informative responses. No $75k living room — we have kids and a dog and the room is small. $5-$10k, maybe more for a nice piece of artwork or if we replace the couch.

That's totally fine. You don't need to spend a lot of money to get a satisfactory room.

Here's what I would do:

1. Find a photo from a store--ikea, Ethan Allan, home depot, Serena and Lilly, whatever--that has a sofa that looks like yours and similar lighting. Also blinds if you have blinds.

2. Make a list of all the smaller pieces of furniture, lighting, and decor, and buy it. Black Friday is coming up; if it's from a place like pottery barn, wait until then and take advantage of 20% off discounts.

That's it.

Only one other thing: you might consider changing paint color. It can be hard to choose, and white is fine, but maybe at some point you'll feel like it is worth the pain and cost. Pick a color and post it on this forum and ask if it is acceptable (doesn't need to be the best, just acceptable). If it's a north-facing window avoid a cool color.


Rooms from advertisements are said to be lacking in character, but consider whether or not you want to deal with the pain of trying to express your personality via your decor. It's hard and often doesn't turn out well. Also, if you look at those advertisements, they might be bland, but they are better than the vast majority of living rooms.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the poster above....you may just prefer and do best with a simple, straightforward, clean style. Right now the rage is maximallism and layering with many objects, personal objects, etc. But it's really ok to just have a clean, straightforward style that you mimic from pictures that appeal and that you basically keep the same for awhile. It's ok for decorating to not be your thing in other words. Find images you like and copy it, maybe not literally but in spirit. And then leave it alone and focus on things that matter to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the informative responses. No $75k living room — we have kids and a dog and the room is small. $5-$10k, maybe more for a nice piece of artwork or if we replace the couch.

That's totally fine. You don't need to spend a lot of money to get a satisfactory room.

Here's what I would do:

1. Find a photo from a store--ikea, Ethan Allan, home depot, Serena and Lilly, whatever--that has a sofa that looks like yours and similar lighting. Also blinds if you have blinds.

2. Make a list of all the smaller pieces of furniture, lighting, and decor, and buy it. Black Friday is coming up; if it's from a place like pottery barn, wait until then and take advantage of 20% off discounts.

That's it.

Only one other thing: you might consider changing paint color. It can be hard to choose, and white is fine, but maybe at some point you'll feel like it is worth the pain and cost. Pick a color and post it on this forum and ask if it is acceptable (doesn't need to be the best, just acceptable). If it's a north-facing window avoid a cool color.


Rooms from advertisements are said to be lacking in character, but consider whether or not you want to deal with the pain of trying to express your personality via your decor. It's hard and often doesn't turn out well. Also, if you look at those advertisements, they might be bland, but they are better than the vast majority of living rooms.

I adamantly disagree with this approach. The most important things to get right are floor plan and scale. They do not show small living rooms in catalogues. It’s usually a giant living room seating area on a set. The walls are way back. IRL this would be an absolutely enormous living room. Even if the sofa is “similar” to yours, you need to check the arm height, because that’s how you figure out how tall and end table you need. And how deep. And how wide. Just buying things from a photo is a good way to end up with things that don’t work in your actual room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy interior design as a hobby and follow similar people on instagram who might not be pros but maybe have an antique store or are stylists, have a great eye and offer design consultations, etc. One of them, who had a style I loved and happened to be local, came out to my house and gave me some great suggestions and overall feedback based on where I wanted to go with the house. She charged me hourly, it was well worth it. She directed me to great runners on ebay, found me a great side table and mirror, gave my daughter room suggestions and just overall it was helpful...not the end all or anything, it's a work in progress but she helped me organize my thoughts. At one point, after listening to my thoughts on color, my uncertainty, etc. She goes into my living room, picks up a pillow I had and said simply, "your entire palette is in this one pillow, can you see?" I had not actually. See if you can find someone who can give you a consult or works hourly. Their style should match yours.

This is more what you need. We hired a high end guy as a contractor. He had great ideas and 50% off retail. But the prices were still really high and the quality about the same. It’s hard to find better quality than reputable companies with higher volume. Unless you are spending $$$$

[Anonymous]

I also agree with PP above about scale. Spend some time with a ruler and tape. Lots of times very large pieces go on sale. But they won’t fit your space.

[Anonymous]

I did find in our neighborhood of $1.3M homes that people who hired designers had better looking overall homes. But so many of them used artistic friends.

[Anonymous]

TEN years? Then yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did find in our neighborhood of $1.3M homes that people who hired designers had better looking overall homes. But so many of them used artistic friends.

+1

[Anonymous]

I think that regardless of the budget, OP would probably benefit from spending a little bit of time to figure out what styles they like and don't like. Since there isn't much budget, then it would be helpful to have a direction to start in and avoid costly mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that regardless of the budget, OP would probably benefit from spending a little bit of time to figure out what styles they like and don't like. Since there isn't much budget, then it would be helpful to have a direction to start in and avoid costly mistakes.

Yes the standard advice applies: get on pinterest, instagram and hit the library or book store section on design. (And the magazine rack)