Invisapeeps 2.0

OpheliaDev1 · Guru

Interior Decorators - would you hire one?

Balloon Animal · Guru

For me personally no. I cannot afford it and I also think I can handle doing my own decorating. I am a control freak so I want it just so.

But they do have some place in the world. There are people with money who have no style or just can't be bothered to take the time to do it themselves. so they hire someone to do it for them. My friend used to be one. She worked in a fancy furniture store/design place and basically she helped the customers that came in and would give them help picking stuff off and what not and sometimes they would be hired to do entire offices or rooms. She ended up meeting a guy and got married and became a SAHM. Not sure if she met him through work or what.

OpheliaDev1 · Guru

My mom has a friend who hired one (this is general a couple with more money than sense, and now they're flat broke!) and so her house (and beach house and lake house) is covered up in little knick-knacks that the decorator picked out.

I could maybe see getting some guidance on things like paint colors, or on furniture if you were buying a bunch of new stuff. But pictures on the walls and knicknacks? It would not feel like my house!

EmmDee · Guru

I agree with you that maybe on things like paint/furniture colors to get a good base down but not for the rest. I would probably be more inclined to commission an artist to create a one of a kind piece of work and then build the room around it.

iluvsuomi1989 · Senior Member

I live in a town that is BIG on interior decorating. It's the kind of town where people hire publicists to get their homes featured in Architectural Digest, Town & Country and House & Garden. There are a lot of shops that have the sign, "To the Trade Only" in the window. In fact, it seems as if every SAHM, once her kids reach school age, goes out and gets her decorator's license because "for years, people are always telling me they love the way I did my house."

I live in a small 1-BR apt. in a large home; I have no use for a decorator. If I had a large house and little time and could afford it, and if I felt someone understood my tastes, I would consider it.

OpheliaDev1 · Guru

Rather than an interior decorator, I'd pay an art student to paint murals on my walls.

RichardInTN · I believe in I.D.I.C.

I don't think an Interior Decorator can decide "what I like" as well as I can... so, no, I wouldn't hire one even if I could afford it.

ETA: Now... that's not to say that I wouldn't hire someone as a CONTRACTOR to arrange for all the stuff I want to happen to actually happen. But even if it was an "Interior Decorator" that I hired, I'd be the designer and they'd JUST be the contractor.

-- Edited by RichardInTN on Tuesday 11th of March 2014 11:02:39 PM

just hanging around · Senior Member

i have actually hired an interior decorator, but not in the conventional sense of having someone come in and decorate my house.

when we listed our old house when this house was under construction, our RE agent recommended a stager that she works with. the stager came in, gave us great input as to what furniture to move out, what areas needed attention. she then came in just before the house was listed and staged our house with mostly our stuff, but some of hers. must have worked. we had two showings in one day, and got offers from both the next day.

fast forward, we've moved into our new house, have the furniture placed as we want it, but have no idea how to hang the pictures/finish it off. so we hired the same stager for a couple of hours. she hung our pictures, arranged knickknacks, just finished it off. and we love it.

there's no way i could have someone come in and start from scratch, but it was very helpful to have someone come in and just polish it up.

-- Edited by just hanging around on Tuesday 11th of March 2014 08:31:43 PM

EmmDee · Guru

jha, I think that is a good use of an ID. Someone to help showcase what you have, make a few suggestions and it is still you. I guess I could see myself using one in that sense but not in full blown, do it all mode.

Balloon Animal · Guru

Staging is really good at selling houses and yes, a lot of people don't know how to do it themselves so hiring someone to do it is a good idea. People think their stuff is so nice and buyers would be impressed with it, but they really don't realize that the buyers want to not be distracted by your stuff and want to be able to imagine their own stuff in the house while at the same time making the house look really nice and liveable and classy. My Dad thinks he is a good decorator but his house was not selling so he hired an agent that specialized in staging. She came and cleaned it all out and it sold really quickly after that.

winds55 · Guru

A good interior designer will work with you to find out your likes/dislikes and what personal pieces you want to use and display. They'll advise you on what's trendy and what's more timeless, what window coverings will work best (and how to measure for them), who does the best construction work. Plus they can often get things for less than retail for you.

just hanging around · Senior Member

Balloon Animal wrote:
Staging is really good at selling houses and yes, a lot of people don't know how to do it themselves so hiring someone to do it is a good idea. People think their stuff is so nice and buyers would be impressed with it, but they really don't realize that the buyers want to not be distracted by your stuff and want to be able to imagine their own stuff in the house while at the same time making the house look really nice and liveable and classy. My Dad thinks he is a good decorator but his house was not selling so he hired an agent that specialized in staging. She came and cleaned it all out and it sold really quickly after that.

BA, we had already depersonalized before our RE agent or the stager ever set foot in the house, and had packed up/donated/stored a lot of stuff. but the stager moved things around in ways that we had never considered. she rearranged our downstairs family room, and it looked fantastic! i looked at the hubs, he looked at me, and we both were like "why didn't we think of doing this?" we really enjoyed spending time in that family room before we moved out.

i also listened to what she said, and was able to use her advice to kind of counteract one piece of her advice. she wanted us to store the triple dresser and nightstand from our room, the antique mirrored dresser from the guest room, and the mirrored washstand from the computer room. all great ideas, made the rooms look much bigger, but...um, i would have had no drawers for my underwear (the dresser and nightstand from the master bedroom held my clothes)! i called her, told her that i agreed with it all in principle, but i needed to keep some drawers for my clothes. so we moved the mirrored washstand into the guest room, hauled the rest to storage (along with some other furniture), and it worked out great. she even agreed that i had chosen the right piece of furniture to keep. the washstand was low to the ground, so it wasn't a visual stop, but the mirror was tall and filled the space while reflecting light back, and i kept three drawers for my underwear. everyone was happy.... wink