Interior designer, worth it?

[anythinginapinch]

I have a decent budget.
I have a gorgeous 3 bed house and only me and two cats to please. It's my forever home.

Sadly, I have no real style and absolutely no design skills and tend to buy individual pieces so my rooms never looked balanced or "finished".

Rather than continuing to make changes in an ad hoc "dear Lord let this be the magic item that pulls it all together" way, I'm contemplating using a professional interior designer.

Has anyone done similar? My anxiety is I want my home to look like me - not some show home or fashion statement, and certainly not "on trend", but it's so easy to say what I don't want than what I do want.

Any advice about how to select, brief and work with an interior designer would be very gratefully received.

I'll do it for you for half the price!

I'm awesome at ID!

Update you say?? That's easy.

It looks great ... on paper. Absolutely FA has changed in the room other than boxes of lights, paint, sockets and switches ....

It's all (allegedly) due to start with the electrician "in early November"

It's been so slow I'm quite cross !!

Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. I would be angry too, as I’m not a very patient person…..

Hopefully everything will be ready until the end of November….Fingers crossed 🤞🏽

Hi there, how did it go in November?

Tada ... it's all "done" and

OMG WORTH EVERY PENNY

Instead of a weird unused hallway/dining room/god knows, I now have a beautiful dining room with space for coats and shoes, into which I am
Proud to bring people and where over Xmas many wonderful evenings were spent chatting around a table in a perfect ambiance. I'm very, very happy.

What she did that I could not/did not do, is think both smaller and bigger. So, she cared about every cupboard door handle and the precise "swag" of the blinds; and she wanted to move light switches and sockets, build new "walls", and get bespoke carpentery.

Her work people were all better than ones I've sourced myself. Real quality decorator, curtain maker, electrician. So each element was done beautifully.

And the readily is far far nicer than I could ever have done, but feel like "me" - all the time she spent with me trying to get a feel for what I like and who I am am, paid off. Colours are yummy but not ones I'd have dared do myself; light fittings are gorgeous and just that it funkier than I'd have done. And I spent far more ££ than I'd ever had spent without her pushing me.

One room cost about 10k. Her fees were around 1.6k. There was a lot of bespoke carpentary which was costly and really good quality blinds and curtains.
Downside - apart from the ££, it took way longer than I'd expected but was done before Xmas.
I'm getting her to do my living room next:)

Brilliant update OP. So pleased for you! Can’t you show us a pic or two????

Sounds brilliant! Thanks for updating.

That’s wonderful! Thank you for update! I wish you even more extraordinary moments in your new designed place 😍

Wonderful news! I always think you need to get the bones of a room right, and that's where I tend to spend most of my money - joinery, lighting plan (place of lights, sockets, switches ) and quality switches etc, floor and wall coverings (incl. pannelling) and of course the overall flow and proportions (like moving doors or changing window dimensions). That's the equivalent of creating a supermodel body and high cheek bones. Once you got that, any sofa, table etc will look a million bucks, just like a supermodel can look gorgeous in no more than a simple shirt and leggins.