When should you engage an Interior Designer?
There’s a simple answer to this one – right at the start, when your architect, building designer or draftsperson is drawing up a provisional set of plans and well before you’ve purchased any appliances or fittings.
Far beyond suggesting paint colours and furniture choices, an Interior Design studio like ours is concerned with your lifestyle: who’s going to live in the house, and how you’re going to use the space. We work with you to create highly detailed plans to that effect and finalise them before the build starts. Because our plans contain the maximum level of detail and consider every angle, our team may spot things on the DA plans that may cause issues later. Once building has started, alterations can be costly, so it makes sense to be fully prepared right from the beginning.
THE COST OF NOT HAVING DETAILED PLANS
For many renovators, it’s only after the foundations are installed, the timber frame is up, windows and doors are installed and the plumbing is roughed in, that they can really start to understand how their home will take shape, and they see things they want to change.
A laundry that feels poky, or a bedroom window doesn’t take the best advantage of a lovely view of the garden, a toilet too close to the door ... Altering the size of the room, or the position (or size) of the window means reworking that section of the frame, which will incur costs and delays. Full interior design plans can catch these sorts of problems before the builder has even started work, so they never become an issue.
At this stage of the build, you’re also moving into quick decision-making time. Not all trades are on site all the time; the builder will have booked in plumbers, electricians, tilers, painters according to a carefully planned timeline. Deviations from that plan can cause longer delays than you’d like.
With detailed, upfront plans, things like the exact position of the vanity, the height of the tapware, and the number and placement of light fittings will all have been settled ahead of time. The builder can simply consult the interior design plans and act accordingly, helping the build to run smoothly.
MID-BUILD HELP
So what happens if you haven’t arranged for detailed plans and find yourself in project management hell mid-build, fielding calls from your builder as to how many downlights you want in the kitchen, and what height you want your benchtop to be?
We can still help.
We can’t promise to be able to solve every problem, but with years and years of on-site experience in creating beautiful homes, we can review your existing layout and suggest ways to make the most of it, as well as come up with ideas to tackle any concerns. We can help finesse the look of your rooms, whittle down the number of choices you’re having to make, and create photo-realistic, 3D renders of the finished space so you can see how it’s all going to work.