When to bring in an Interior Designer (hint: Before the builder!)
Many people picture an interior designer arriving at the end of a home renovation. The walls are plastered and the kitchen is in, and now it’s time to choose cushions, curtains and a sofa. It’s an understandable view, but it means many homeowners miss the point at which a designer adds the most value.
The short answer to “When should I bring in an interior designer?” is: earlier than you think. Ideally, it’s before a builder lifts a single tool.
Here’s why timing matters so much, and what to do if your project is already under way.
The ideal moment: at the planning stage
The best time to involve an Interior Designer is when you’re still deciding what to do with your home. If you’re working with an architect on an extension or a reconfiguration, that’s the moment to bring a designer to the table too.
An architect focuses on the structure: what can be built, what planning will allow, and how the spaces connect. An interior designer focuses on how you’ll actually live in those spaces. Where will the sofa go, and will it face the fire or the garden? Where does the dining table sit, and is there room to pull the chairs out? Which way will you be looking when you stand at the kitchen sink?
When these questions are answered at the drawing stage, the building work can be planned around them rather than the other way round. It’s the Interior Designer that gets to know you and what you’re trying to achieve.
Why before the builder?
Some of the most important design decisions in a home are hidden inside the walls and under the floors. Once the builder has done the first fix, changing them becomes disruptive and expensive. An example of this is plug sockets – if you plan on putting a console table behind the sofa and you’d like a lamp on top, you need to put the socket into the floor. If it’s in the wrong place it is incredibly annoying and will stop the flow of the home.
Lighting and electrics. A good lighting scheme is layered, with ambient, task and accent lighting on separate circuits. That means deciding where wall lights, picture lights, pendants over an island and lamps on switched sockets will go before the electrician starts. Lighting is one of the most common regrets in a renovation, and it’s almost entirely avoidable with early planning.
Layout and flow. Moving a doorway by half a metre or turning a window into French doors can transform how a room works. These are easy changes on paper and very hard ones after the plaster has gone on.
Heating, plumbing and joinery. Radiator positions dictate where furniture can go. Bathroom layouts depend on where the pipes run. Built-in joinery needs the right space allowed for it. A designer thinks about all of this together, so nothing clashes later.
Budget. Bringing a designer in early helps you see the whole picture: what the finished home will cost, not just the build. That lets you decide where to invest and where to save while you still have choices. An Interior Designer is also great at knowing where to spend and where to save.
The cost of leaving it late. When a designer is brought in after the build, the job often becomes damage limitation. A beautiful new kitchen-diner might have one central ceiling light and nowhere sensible for a lamp. A sitting room might have the television on the only wall that suits the sofa. A new bathroom might have the loo in full view of the door.
These problems can usually be softened, but rarely solved without reopening walls or ceilings. That means more mess, more time and more money, at exactly the point when you’d hoped to be enjoying your new home.
Already started? It’s not too late
If your builder is already on site, a designer can still make a real difference. There’s often more flexibility than you’d expect before second fix, when sockets, switches and light fittings are finally placed. Even at the finishing stage, a designer can pull a scheme together, source the right pieces and make sure colours, fabrics and furniture work as a whole. The earlier the better, but any stage is better than none.
Planning a renovation? Let’s talk At Anna Wakeham Interiors, we work with homeowners across Berkshire, London and the South on everything from single rooms to full home renovations. We’re happy to work alongside your architect and builder from the very start, so the finished home looks beautiful and works for the way you live. If you’re planning a renovation, the best first step is a conversation. For all new clients we offer a £500 flat fee two hour meeting in your home to so you can meet us and you can tell us in person what your plans look like. From there, if you’d like to go ahead, we can then quote you for full works on your home and we can move the project forward.