How to Choose and Work with an Interior Designer - as part of the home design series by GeoBeats.

One of the first things you want to do is to take a look at some of the work that they have done. You may be in a friend’s home or you may be at a dinner party somewhere and lo’ and behold you really like the way that particular house was done and you could see living in it for yourself. Make sure that you know they are professional. You can do that by checking their background or their website, talking to people that they have worked for. Make sure you do your due diligence on this so that you get a person that you can trust and that you know is going to do a good job for you. The other thing to do is to make sure that their tastes blend with your tastes. It does not matter really if they do exactly the same kind of work that your home is. They could be doing something traditional and your home is contemporary, but you want to make sure that you are making clear communication with them. That is real important.

The other thing is that they are listening to you. Make sure that they are listening to you so that you get the end result that you really want. If your budget is truly only $10,000, tell your designer you want to stop at $8,000 in a written budget. Once you have done that, believe me, other things are going to crop up. You are going to have accessories that you did not count on. You might have painting the house to be redone. You might have a slew of other things that you had not counted on, so allow yourself that twenty percent of cushion that you can fall back on. So remember, if you have only got $10,000, plan on stopping at $8,000. You will reach your $10,000 budget very easily.

If you feel that you are not communicating and you are not being heard by your designer, it is really important that you sit down and you have that kind of conversation. Before you decide to throw the designer out, lose your mind, spend more money, sit down with your designer and explain exactly how you feel. You feel you are not being heard, you feel the project is not going the direction that you want it to go. Make sure that your needs and your wants are being heard and that the design that you want is being implemented. That is very important.