Four ways an interior designer will save you money in the long run

A common perception is that interior designers are costly and will only give you expensive ideas that they themselves love.

This is very rarely the case, and most interior/exterior designers will give you a look and feel you’ll love for your home – within a fixed budget.

Although you can spend tens of thousands of dollars for design and architectural advice, you can often get minor assistance (for example paint colours) for as little as $500.

Here are some of the ways an interior designer can help you:

They will show you how to create cohesive spaces

Interior designers will show you how to create spaces that look amazing in their own right, as well as being one piece of a cohesive overall look for your home

It’s not too hard to renovate one room in isolation – but problems arise when you have more than one space to pull together.

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For example, if you’re renovating your kitchen, bathroom, living room and exterior, these rooms should be cohesive, but not matchy-matchy. Often, renovators do not consider the overall effect of their individual room renovations, so the house ends up lacking a sense of flow and each room feels disconnected from the next.

They make sure your home looks good on the inside and the outside

Some interior designers will also give colour and design advice for the exterior of your home. This is extremely important because it assists with the “visual flow” from inside to outside.

One aspect of visual flow is physical – where the walls are located and how you move within the spaces. The other aspect is how the spaces feed in together visually (from outside to inside) by using the right blend and repetition of colours and products.

Interior designers know what things cost

You might think working out the cost of something is a matter of adding the labour cost and the materials costs. What you may forget, though, are all the steps (and additional costs) in between.

A large majority of home renovators blow their budgets because they underestimate the real costs for their renovation and end up spending much more than they’d anticipated.

An experienced designer will give you estimated figures for your renovation before you go too far down the rabbit hole – and pull you back on areas that look like they’re going to exceed your budget.

Interior designers have a sense of what will stay fashionable

Most home renovators are aware of what’s on trend, but the key is to create something that’s modern and contemporary yet will not date. There’s a fine balance between a look that is fashionable right now and a contemporary design that will last seven to 10 years. 

An interior designer will help design your home in a way that ensures you don’t find yourself regretting certain colour or product choices down the track.

Spending a little bit extra on a good interior or exterior designer is well worth your investment and will ensure every part of your home looks and feels exactly the way you want. 

Jane Eyles-Bennett is one of Australia’s top interior/exterior designers and owner of Brisbane based design firm Hotspace Consultants. Join Jane at Home Renovators Network Australia for design and renovation inspiration and insider tips for your home improvement projects.