How to find an interior designer / shopper when you just need help rather than having funds to pay thousands of pounds for a full service?

[HailRocky]

I hate shopping. I absolutely loathe it, online or in person. I also suffer from decision paralysis and buying fatigue.

I was trying to find an interior designer service to help me source basic items but they all seem to cost thousands of pounds and are designed for HNW individuals (which I’m not).

We have a renovation property and with a more than full time job and two children I’m struggling to find the time to do stuff. So I’ve just lived in the house as is with falling apart flat pack furniture I brought for my first flat 25 years ago!

I know roughly what I want, I don’t have massive budgets, and I can’t find an interior design service for lower-mid budget design. Does that even exist? Or do I just need to suck it up and try and figure out a put together look myself?

Have you tried AI? I’ve seen apps advertised that should give what you need.

Chat gpt is your friend here! Take a photo of your room and add your thoughts around design and ask it to design it for you

John Lewis do home design appointments which are free. They designed our bedroom renovation and did a great job

I struggled with this. Wickes were actually brilliant at designing our bathroom and it was ‘free’ as a service. The bathroom fitter they recommended was then an amazing perfectionist diva who made several improvements, punctuated by screaming matches with his boss on the phone, entertaining because nothing to do with us. I would just put yourself in the retailers’ hands.

I live in France and there's a company belonging to Maisons du Monde which do this
https://www.rhinov.fr/

So I reckon there must be some equivalent in the UK....

There is so much choice with everything.

The way I do it is to find just one thing I absolutely adore, be it furniture, paint colour, picture or plant and use that to work out what the rest should be.
That way you have something that genuinely excites you rather than a blank canvas that becomes a core.

or AI. 😁

Just put a photo of the room into ChatGPT, and tell it your budget and aesthetic (e.g. Scandi, mid century, Victorian, Egyptian, etc.) and ask it to design a room. A prompt could go like this:

(upload photo)
Design this living room in a Scandi aesthetic. Use pale colours and natural fabrics. I like blues, whites, and stone colours. I need a sofa, side tables, a rug, and lamps. My budget is £3000. Add links to the stockists.

You can then ask ChatGPT to tweak it until you are happy with the results.

Chat GPT has been great for suggestions for my new house

I’ve just tried out this prompt for my lounge and ChatGPT returned this picture with a cost of £3400. I then asked it to redo it using mostly IKEA where possible and it returned a very similar room for less than £1500. Obviously the quality will be different but you can see where it’s worth saving and splurging.

Came to echo the others ChatGPT is the best… I’ve sent photos of my current living space and told chat what I wanted - I wanted a dusty pink and warm calming living environment where the tv wasn’t the main focus etc - and it mocked up and image - with a few tweaks

I then said ok find me the pieces online … it provided a few options and then I bought items online - it also helped me decorate with cushions and flowers etc

Those people mentioning AI are missing the major part of the question where OP would still have to source and buy whatever AI churned out. And that’s a big thing she says she struggles with. 🤦‍♀️

If AI is giving you the links to by online, then you don't really need to "source" the stuff, it's just like buying anything else online.

I think you may be looking in the wrong place? Maybe try asking for recommendations locally. I have used an interior designer to do exactly what you’re wanting. She charged by the hour, and also passed on savings to us as she could get trade prices on things like wallpaper and lighting.

ChatGPT will source it for you. It’s on my earlier examples. You can also ask it to send you the links.

I have an interior designer friend who offers this type of service, she does different packages and one is fairly basic and includes a clickable shopping list. She also does lots of high value design projects where she completely project manages a renovation. I imagine she isn't unique in this aspect so perhaps call around a few designers local to you or ask on your community Facebook page as I'm sure there will be options.

Thanks all. Going to give ChatGTP a go!