When moving into a new home, it can be daunting to wrap your head around how to design and beautify your space. Our friend Jim Gallagher of Garden Court Antiques/Epoca offers some thoughts on finding, hiring, and working with an interior designer.

If you are thinking about hiring an interior designer, here are some things to consider to make this process much easier.

First, consider the scope of the project that you would like to get done. For the purposes of this blog let’s focus on just the interiors that do not involve complicated matters that might require permitting such as plumbing, electrical, or moving any walls.

Before you even begin to interview designers, do some homework. Look through design sites and magazines and pull anything that you like. It doesn’t matter if the rooms may be more grand or rustic than your home, but it helps to start the process of getting sense for the designer of what you like. It may be a specific piece of furniture or wall color and even just the feeling that the room invokes. Consider cutting things out and making a mood board, or use a site like Pinterest to create collections. Visuals are way easier to replicate than trying to describe these things verbally.

Next, take a blank sheet of paper for each room and make a very basic sketch. Don’t overthink it; this is for reference and not for scale. The idea is to see what each room needs, e.g., a rug, a sofa, a pair of chairs, a coffee table, side tables, a mirror, lamps, etc. From here, I recommend that you put a rough idea of what you expect each of these things cost, or at least what you’re willing to pay. Once you start to see how much a room is going to cost you, it help help inform the scope of the project.

Often, I hear from first-time clients that a designer has come in, looked around, and come up with estimate of the cost of the project that makes their jaw hit the floor. It’s important to keep in mind that a good designer brings a set of skills to the table that may not be immediately apparent. They can see the pieces in the room and quickly determine a general estimate that’s likely pretty close to the actual cost. If you’ve done your homework ahead of time, you can use it as a starting point to discuss with them what you would like to achieve and the expectations based on your research.

You may decide that you don’t have the budget to do the entire project at once. They can help you prioritize what you would like to achieve first and how to phase the project out so that you can execute the project incrementally and not have to go back and undo something later.

In the long run, a designer can actually save you time and money by helping you avoid expensive mistakes. For example, a beautiful swatch of fabric for a custom sofa may look amazing in a 4” swatch, but on a 100” sofa, may look like insanely busy in a room. A designer is there to help you to avoid making costly misjudgments.

To find designers, you can browse many of their websites online or check out their portfolios on sites like Houzz. If you have friends who have homes that you like, ask if they used someone. It’s best to meet with a few designers, and follow your gut after you’ve spent time them. They and their team will be in your home helping you to navigate how you will live in your space. Make sure that you feel comfortable and confident in them.

A great designer can help you to get to live more comfortably, confidently, and happily by giving you options that you didn’t know existed, better use of the space that you have, and a home that you are excited to live in. While this process can be stressful, it mostly should be fun, working with someone who can help you choose fabrics, furniture, and lighting that will make your home shine.