Hiring an interior designer - cost?

[EyesDoMoreThanSee]

We bought a fantastic 1930s semi a month ago, having lived here a while I know that some rooms are great and need no change in colour (the hall and bathroom) and other rooms are just horrendous colours! Like orange, purple and bright pink!

However I though I know what I wanted to do with the colour scheme but cannot get my head around it. I would usually wait a while until inspiration comes to me but I have invited a great deal of people over for various events throughout Christmas and I would terribly vain I know like the downstairs finished.

I have looked on various websites and I have bought magazines - but we are working with an existing colour scheme to a certain degree, and also the magazines do have a tendency to focus on decor that is 'one trend' whereas I want to be able to use pieces we already have.

So. I am considering hiring an interior designer to give me colour advice, has anyone done this? We are East of England some way from London, I have no idea about costs! DH thinks I am bonkers but right now he owes me bigtime so I might be able to persuade him.

TIA

Pannacotta On another thread on Property (I know because I replied to your post) you're asking really basic questions about organising and storage for your own home. You don't even seem to know what washi tape is.

Yet here you're claiming to be an interior designer.

I'm sure you meant well, but your contradictory posts do seem to illustrate the self-deluded nature of much of the interior design profession. Knowing which Farrow & Ball colours work together doesn't make you an interior designer. OP, buyer beware as always.

What an unpleasant post oldgirl!!

I dont feel the need to justify myself to you, however I am managing a massive renovation of a large house, garden and flat and struggling to keep up with it.
Nor did I call myself an Interior Designer, I said I had some some Interiors work.
Cant see the relevance of washi tape, it is something used for craft, nothing to do with interiors.

Having a feel for helping others doesn't mean you apply it to yourself. I've worked with lots of builders who live in very scruffy houses.

now then, what is going on here then?

Feel free to react so defensively. And get simple things wrong. It just proves my point, really.

Being pragmatic (organising stuff/working out practical solutions to stuff - eg washi tape) does not mean you have an interior design flair. I know. I can do the practicalities (have worked out to perfection where everything will GO in my new kitchen/refurbed house). I cannot do the "look". I have zero flair. I am doing white everywhere except granite worktop and smoked oak floor.

Having flair (my sister can match colours and mix textures beautifully) does not mean you are pragmatic and organised. Her stock phrase is "I'll need to tidy my flat before I leave/come out/do anything". She lives in a constant muddle of beautiful impracticality. (ANd BTW she has enough storage solutions just is ditzy on how she approaches life)

If it would not cause a massive row (always does) I would love to ask for flair-y/colour-y advice from my sister. I have given up (same row-reason) on trying to suggest more pragmatic living methods to my sister.

I think Oldgirl is out of order.

I don't think I am out of order actually.

Pannacotta has apparently been charging £20 per hour for her help with paint, flooring etc, and now seems to be offering help (and possibly soliciting for work) but doesn't appear to be familiar with even the most basic tools of the trade.

Such as that that washi is low-tack repositionable masking tape which interior designers use for moodboards and taping up paint cards because it doesn't leave a residue.

Or where to buy cheap storage.

It just struck me as very fishy and worth bringing to Eyes attention.

Are you really fighting over interior design?

The last time I saw a mood board was clutched to the bosom of a middle class woman who had just finished a course at evening school in interior design and had various clippings from farrow and ball and Osborne and little pinned to it!

No, noddy, just about dubious claims to expertise which could cost another MNer a pretty penny

Maybe she was reading the 1k a day thread.

Good heavens, what a fuss. I've seen lots of very knowledgeable posts from Pannacotta on various interiors subjects over the years. I would have called that tape double sided tape, not washi tape as I've never heard of it. Mood boards? These struck me as a stupid idea even when KLC trained me in about 1942 and I never did one.

And if you're doing your own renovation and looking after DC's you don't necessarily have the time to stay up to date with every type of storage/tap washer/new flooring/double sided tape on the market. But an affinity with colour, texture and proportion is always there and it sounds as if that's what the OP is after.

Fresh I googled the KLC courses yesterday after posting. I take it you don't rate them?

The cheapest is well over a grand and a diploma is £22,000 . You could make a lot of mistakes with Farrow & Ball for that price, and still have money to spare .

Let's just say it didn't suit me, but this was some years ago and it may have changed. I got better value out of a week long course at Ivy House in Bath on business skills for designers. They do diplomas too (disclaimer: I am nothing to do with them).

No client ever asked me about my training. No client ever asked me about membership of a trade body either. For residential work the rapport with the client, a recommendation from a previous client (which is where most of my work came from) and being able to listen properly are the important things.

It's not something I'd want to do professionally, which is just as well at those prices. I'd love to get a handle on the basics for when we come to do our own house. Things like lighting, for example, leave me mystified, and I made so many mistakes refurbing my flat that I'd like to avoid making the same mistakes (on a bigger and more expensive scale) again. The interior designer I used was supposed to prevent that, but didn't .

Keep an eye out in the interiors mags as KLC have shorter courses for home owners who want to do exactly as you describe, and sometimes they run offers on them. Are you in London? Chelsea College of Art do short courses in interior design too.

And this forum is great for advice although you might get someone not qualified as a lighting designer answering (clutches at pearls)

Holy crap on a shit stick how can such a simple post get so heated!

Will be back later as currently in GP surgery with small DD who is the primary reason I do need help to decorate my home.

Well, you'll be clutching at more than pearls if you use a lighting designer who doesn't have a working knowledge of Part P.

I'm sorry for forgetting the cardinal rule of the internet: everyone's an expert if they claim to be one.

Eyes Apologies for hijacking your thread and good wishes for your daughter.

OP - I still say white paint! (see earlier post)

I did an english lit degree at uni and have been an interior designer for years! All word of mouth KLC is for bored housewives of rich husbands those women never really 'work'.It is all word of mouth and recommendation ime. Do friends places for free take pics etc

Well thisoldgirl you do seem determined to be unpleasant. I, and my clients, know that I am not 'claiming to be an expert'. They were quite bright people generally and wouldn't have hired me for projects ranging from complete house renovation (including building work complying to all relevant building regs) down to single rooms if I was an idiot.

I too used to get cross about badly trained people (we used to call them 'Alice Bands') in the industry, but that doesn't mean that everyone other than oneself is a twit.

Mad hatters is what I would call it.

I agree fresh the proof is in the pudding There is a difference between work and a hobby!

But Fresh, you've written you couldn't hack the clients or make the work pay further up the thread. You're dissing your own industry (even in jest) and your earning ability in it.

Other people are going to take that at face value.

FWIW, I do think thisoldgirl has a point about internet pretenders, though I'm hoping the OP is intelligent enough to judge for herself.

'Alice Bands' aren't as thick as they look. If you run your refurbishment through a loss-making company, you will still have access to trade discounts and VAT reclaims. You wind up the company once your own project is finished, and have saved yourself 30% of the refurb costs in the process.

Eyes If we can get the thread back on topic, I posted about Farrow & Ball and just remembered I have their book which is called 'Living with Colour'. Take a look at this and see if it gives you ideas. Also F&B have a colour chart that is painted in real paint. It's about £10 and totally worth it.