When you opt to remodel your house or need to do up the interiors of a new house that you have recently purchased, it is but natural for you to look at interior designing firms in your area. These firms consist of good designers who have the ability or the capability to listen to your needs, understand them and then design up the house in a way which comes closest to interpreting your dreams and turning them into reality.
But with many interior designing firms mushrooming in the past few decades, it might be confusing for you to understand which firm to select. But this becomes easy once the following criteria are considered.
- Indentifying the basics: Even before you opt to hand over your house to an interior designer it is important that you clear up certain basics like the:
- Look that you want for your house,
- Timelines for completion,
- Budget and affordability,
- Location etc.
- Making a list of designers: The next step is to identify and make a list of designers who are available near your locality. This list can be made using the internet as a search option, from your family, friends and relatives who have used them in the past, going through decor magazines etc. After making the list, the ones which best suit your needs have to be shortlisted.
- Background check: Performing a background check on these short listed designers and designing firms will give you a fair idea about the:
- Type of work that they do,
- People that they have previously worked with,
- Educational qualifications that they possess,
- Number of years that they have been in business,
- Success stories, if any etc.
- Portfolio check: Each designer has his or her own designing style which might or might not suit what you have in mind. Thus it becomes very important to minutely go through the portfolios of every designer that you have shortlisted. This will enable you to get a good idea of their styles, the designs that they tend to adopt, the decor that they prefer and if they are open to experimenting with the newer trends of interior designing. This criterion will help you to narrow down your search further and you will be able to go into discussions with the few that you have finally kept as options.
- Primary discussions: Since you have already decided on the basics like budget, timelines for completion, designing ideas etc., the same needs to be discussed individually with the final list of designers that you make. After the initial preliminary rounds of discussion, the notes made on the different interior designing firms need to be compared and the one which best suits your style, thought process and budget needs to be finally selected.
Of course you will have to undergo several subsequent rounds of talks to ensure that the designer is able to understand your views and needs completely. It is after all this has been cleared that the designer will submit the first plan for your approval and the work on decoration or remodelling of your house will start in earnest.
