Having good taste and knowing what you like when renovating is an advantage, but working in a team and having an Interior Designer is optimal. When you are renovating your home you are not only investing a significant amount of money but your own, valued time. If you’re renovating your home or considering renovating, let me give you an insight into what is truly involved, and why it’s worthwhile working with a specialist.
Your home renovation team
When embarking on a residential renovation project, it is universally recognised that you seek and engage specialists within their field; from an architect to outline designs and help navigate approval processes, to tradespeople such as joiners, stone masons, decorators, completed by delivery and installation of furniture. It’s a team effort.
Sometimes missing from that very important team is an experienced interior designer. Most people don’t have the skills to accomplish every task during their residential renovation with efficiency and a positive outcome. They need an electrician to install lighting and configure power sockets and switches, or a plumber to install bathroom fittings. An interior designer is as important as an electrician when renovating your home. Why?
Something as simple as the positioning of a light switch may seem trivial, the architect may have already included features like this within their design. But your interior designer has considered much more; where do the switches need to be located in the room? I like to have switches next to the bed to turn the lights off when you go to sleep, all of the lights, not just the bedside lamp. For those that like to read in bed, having a dedicated light on the wall on the side of your bed would be perfect.
Where do the power points need to go? When your architect is designing your new home, does he know where the side table will be placed in the room, or if there is a lamp that needs a GPO to light a corner space? How many devices do you need to use in your kitchen for your family? The architect will require the furniture layout in order to place the points correctly, or the Interior Designer will do it.
These small nuances that go into designing a space within the home, then putting them all together to create a cohesive design outcome, means you really should be adding an interior designer to your home renovation team.
Home renovation design
The most important piece of advice that I can give you before you begin your home renovation project is to have absolutely everything designed, selected and ready to go when you begin the process. Nothing should be designed in isolation. All of the components of your home relate to each other, so it’s more difficult to design room by room, but once the designs are completed you can renovate in stages.
Beginning your renovation in this way should also help ease any of the nasty surprises that you may encounter during the process. Plumbing and electrics often have to be redone or updated, depending on the property being renovated; thoroughly investigating every aspect of your renovation will ensure that everything is taken into consideration and carefully planned for.
To avoid going completely over budget due to unforeseen costs and circumstances, poor time management or the many other reasons budgets can be blown, working with an interior designer with impeccable processes and trusting those processes will mean your project would be effectively managed for you.
Having good taste and knowing what you like does not make you a designer. You will only bring this to life with a designer, who can take that taste and what you like and make it a reality for you that you will love even more than you could have imagined. It is an emotional journey, but one that is worth it. (see Psychology of Interior Design).
Relinquishing control
Working with an interior designer is quite literally you relinquishing control over your home renovation and putting your trust in them and their team. This can be a difficult prospect for those who are usually in control, especially when it comes to something as meaningful as renovating your home.
But what is often overlooked is the significance of a strong brief and well-oiled process. When I meet with a client during our first consultation, we are beginning the briefing process immediately. As your interior designer, I understand you and understand what you need, quite often surprising clients as they discover wonderful new ideas or opportunities.
Some clients may know what they want to achieve, but simply not how to achieve it, which is where we can help. And we achieve it with an honest, expert team of trusted trades that we have had many years of experience working with, as everybody is held to the highest standards. All tied together by perfected processes (Trust your interior designer, trust the process) from many years of experience renovating clients’ homes.
If you’re having second thoughts about renovating your home without working with an interior designer and would like to know more, you can contact us online.
0 Comments