Or, how to find the right person for redoing your kitchen that isn’t you.
If you’re looking to redo your kitchen, but don’t want to do it yourself, who do you call? An interior designer! Welcome to our final post in our kitchen redesign series. As promised we are looking at the following questions:
What is the difference between a renovator and an interior designer?
What do they want you to know?
How do you make the relationship a happy one?
At what point can you say “I don’t like it” and how do you do it?
Can you ask them to do the upstairs bedroom while they’re at it?
How do you say thank you after the job is done?
What is the difference between a renovator, an interior decorator and an interior designer?
A renovator is someone who will follow the design you give them, exactly as you give it to them, but you have to provide resources, plans, and make sure that everything is on spec and to your plans.
An interior decorator is someone who makes improvements to how things look, but not to the structure of a space. They typically work alone.
An interior designer is a licensed professional who can manage projects that involve construction and architecture. They’ll oversee the project and all subcontractors, keep things running on a timeline, as well as making suggestions for designs that you hadn’t considered.
What do they want you to know?
A quick run down of the 6 biggest things interior designers wished we all knew before working with them.
Even if we don’t live in the same city, we can probably still work together.
It’s not easy! We have to go through an in-depth and rigorous education and training process like any other pro.
We can use all sorts of tech on the cutting edge to help you see what your new space will look like.
It doesn’t matter whether you want a single room or the entire home redone, we can do it.
We can make sure your project conforms to building codes and safety standards.
We typically can’t share our pricing and product sources with you.
How do you make the relationship a happy one?
Before you pick a designer, interview several of them. Somewhere around 5-6 is a good idea. You want to find someone not only that you get on with, but also who fits your budget and has a style that meshes with yours.
Ask questions. Ask all the questions you have. They can’t answer them if you don’t ask them.
Once you have decided on the designer you want to work with, start as you mean to go on. This is someone who is going to be in your home for months. You’re going to become very well acquainted with them. Be friendly, be open and don’t forget to speak up.
- If you don’t like something, tell them. It’s best to say this at the beginning of the process when you’re choosing materials and putting together a list of ideas and plans, but you need to say it. Remember, you’re the one that has to live with any choices made.
- Make sure you have a budget and are fully prepared to spend all of it.
- Present a united front. If you have housemates, you need to all agree on what the space is going to look like.
- Have realistic expectations. Miracles can be done, but there are limits.
- Show off what you like and what you don’t. Explain why. The emotions, thoughts and experiences you attach to shapes, colors and textures go a long way towards how you will interact with a space. Magazines, Pinterest boards, swatches of color, all of these work. Your designer needs to know both sides of what you like and don’t so that they can do their best by you and not bring in an element you despise. Which brings us to..
At what point can you say “I don’t like it” and how do you do it?
The best time to do this is in the beginning, during the planning phase as we said. However, if something has come up during the process that your discussions missed, or you didn’t think of, don’t be afraid to say it. Be polite, be firm, and keep to the point. Whether it’s a motif, a color, the pairing between materials, whatever. Your designer isn’t a mind reader and they won’t know unless you tell them.
Can you ask them to do the upstairs bedroom while they’re at it?
The answer here is going to depend entirely on the designer in question.
You’ll want to approach it has you have everything else to this point, politely and with curiosity, honestly expressing how much you’re enjoying working with them. Provided you mean after the current project is done, you might get a few different answers.
“No? You contracted me for this project and I’m booked for a while afterwards.”
“I’d love to, let’s get it in writing though.”
And here you’d have to go back through the discussion and selection process that you did at the beginning.
“Let’s see how we both feel after the job is done.”
How do you say thank you after the job is done?
While the most common way is to just say ‘thank you’ , there is something better. Tell your friends! Heck, tell your enemies if you have any. The more you brag and show off your newly redesigned kitchen, the more you help their reputation. The better their reputation, the more clients they’ll get. Trust us, they’ll be just as happy as you are at that point.
Thank you for joining us for this post and for this series! We hope that we’ve been able to answer the questions you’ve had about remodeling your kitchen. If you have further questions, feel free to pose them to us in the comments below or over on our Facebook page.
And if you have any issues with your appliances, please let us know. You can call or set up an appointment over on our page. We want to help keep your home running smooth.