How to Choose the Right Interior Designer for Your Home

Choosing an interior designer is a very personal decision.

You're trusting someone with your home, your budget, and dozens—sometimes hundreds—of decisions that will affect how you live for years. And on a large renovation or whole-home project, you may be working together for quite a while.

A beautiful portfolio matters, but it's only part of the equation.

Here are some of the things we think homeowners should consider when choosing an interior designer.

Look at More Than Their Prettiest Project

Start with the portfolio, but don't just ask yourself whether you like what you see.

Look at the range of projects.

Do all of the homes look essentially the same, or can you see different personalities represented? Can the designer work successfully with different architectural styles, color palettes, and lifestyles?

At Vision Interiors, we don't believe our clients should hire us to recreate a signature “Vision Interiors look.” Our job is to understand the individual client and create a home that represents them.

A portfolio should demonstrate the designer's abilities—not dictate what your house will become.

Make Sure Their Experience Matches Your Project

Designing a single room and managing a whole-home renovation require very different levels of experience.

If you're planning a substantial remodel or new build, ask whether the designer regularly works on projects of that scale.

Do they understand space planning? Construction? Cabinetry? Lighting and electrical plans? Material specifications? Working with contractors and trades? Purchasing and installation?

The earlier a designer is involved in a large project, the more opportunities there are to make sure all of those decisions work together.

Understand Their Process

Ask what actually happens after you hire them.

How are designs presented? When do you make selections? Who handles purchasing? How are changes addressed? How involved will you be? Who communicates with contractors and vendors?

There isn't one universally correct design process.

What matters is understanding the process before you begin and choosing a designer whose way of working fits what you want from the experience.

Talk About Budget Early

A good designer should be willing to have realistic conversations about money.

You don't need to know the exact cost of every item before design begins, but the designer needs to understand your overall investment range and priorities.

Budget influences everything from construction decisions to cabinetry, furnishings, lighting, materials, and how money should be allocated throughout the home.

Being transparent early allows the design team to make better decisions on your behalf.

Pay Attention to How Well They Listen

Your initial conversation shouldn't feel like an audition where you need to prove that you know enough about design.

A designer should be asking questions.

How do you live? What isn't working in your current home? What do you love? What do you hate? How do you entertain? Who lives there? What do you want this home to feel like?

You don't need to arrive knowing your official “design style.”

Part of our job is helping you discover what all of your preferences mean when they're brought together.

Read the Reviews

A portfolio shows you the finished product.

Reviews can tell you something about the experience of getting there.

Look beyond comments about whether the home turned out beautifully. Pay attention to what clients say about communication, problem-solving, organization, collaboration, responsiveness, and how they felt throughout the project.

Those things matter enormously during a long renovation.

Choose Someone You Trust

There will be decisions during a project where your designer recommends something you wouldn't have chosen on your own.

That's part of why you're hiring one.

You should feel comfortable asking questions and expressing opinions, but you should also have enough confidence in your designer's expertise to let them challenge you occasionally.

The best designer-client relationships have both.

Find the Right Fit, Not Just the Right Look

Ultimately, choosing an interior designer isn't simply about finding someone whose portfolio you like.

You're choosing a creative partner who will help make hundreds of interconnected decisions about your home.

Look for experience. Look for a process that makes sense to you. Look for work you admire.

But most importantly, look for someone who wants to understand you before they decide what your home should become.