Interior designers make interior spaces functional, safe, and beautiful for almost every type of building. Interior designers make indoor spaces functional, safe, and beautiful by determining space requirements and selecting essential and decorative items, such as colors, lighting, and materials.

1. Know Your Goals

Take some time to think about what your goals are before meeting with the designer so that you have some direction to give the designer. For instance, if you are an empty nester and are moving from a large home into a more compact living situation, knowing which pieces are important for you to keep and bring with you on your new journey will help the designer incorporate your past with your future. Alternatively, if you have a young growing family or are thinking of adding a pet into the mix, your goal may be create an easy to clean, family friendly environment that also looks great.

2. Come with a Budget

If you invest some time to think about your budget before your meeting, this is extremely helpful for your designer and saves a lot of time. One example of a way to work out what your budget might be on a decorating project would be to write a list of furniture pieces you need and then look at a few websites such as Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn and write down the prices of pieces that you like. This will give you a ball park figure which can then be a starting point with your designer. Coming up with a budget for a renovation can be more challenging and can take some time discussing with your designer and a building professional.

3. Have a Process for Decision-Making

It is ideal that anyone that will be involved in the decision making process in your project is at the initial consultation. This saves a lot of time and frustration as the designer will get a much better picture of what needs to be included in the design and can work at keeping all parties happy. Many times a designer is asked to marry two seemingly opposing styles or ideas which is one of the many skills a designer can bring to the table.

4. Have an Awareness of Your Daily Routine

Having an awareness of how you like to live or how your home could work better for you can give your designer invaluable information for how to tackle the design. A designer will want to make your home function as efficiently as possible so any examples you can have for your ideal lifestyle will be helpful.

5. Be Honest in Sharing Your Habits and Needs

Being open and honest in this first meeting will get your designer on the right page from the very beginning. Remember, this is your home and this meeting is a judgement free zone. The designer wants to make you happy in your space so opening up about your coffee addiction or your large collection of wines from your last trip to the Bali can get your designer thinking of great ways to bring these tastefully into your home.

6. Discover Your Style Preferences in Advance

If you take some time to explore your aesthetic before the consultation, your designer will be able to interpret what you show them and refine your ideas to suit you home and your budget. Reading between the lines is a designers super power but the more clear you can be with the lines, the better the super power works.

7. Bring an Open Mind!

Once you have given your designer a clear direction, keep an open mind and allow your designer to bring some ideas and solutions that you may not have thought of. This is where the trust comes in. It is always best if you research designers well before selecting one or two to do a consultation. That way you already know that they have a style that you can relate to and know that they understand the kind of aesthetic that connects with you.

Bonus Tip: Eliminate Distractions

When you set a time for the initial consultation or any meetings going forward, make sure you have minimal distractions as this is a time that you want to get the most out of your designer. If that means organizing a time when kids are at school or after you have had your morning coffee this will make it easier to connect and really listen to each other.

Numerous factors affecting the timely completion of projects. So we can’t explain the exact time for the interior designing process, however, we can consider some level of approximate timelines of each stage taken i.e. from beginning to completion of a project which takes 10 to 12 months on average.