Now that the holidays are behind us we’ve officially entered hibernation season. If you live in a cold climate like I do, these next couple of months are all about staying warm and comfortable. I find that this is the part of the year where I’m most analytical about my space. All that time catching up with good books and Netflix also means I’m looking around my own space more often and usually more critically.
If this sounds like you and you’re not sure what your space is lacking this might be your sign to consider hiring an interior decorator. A decorator specializes in the softer aspects of a space - the furnishings, decor, rugs, window coverings, etc. They don’t work with structural changes of your home.
If this is something you’ve been considering, here are the ways that a decorator can enhance your space and all the benefits of working with one.
HOW AN INTERIOR DECORATOR CAN HELP YOU
1/ Creating a Cohesive Palette
One of the mistakes I see often in homes is that there’s not enough cohesiveness in the colour, pattern and fabric palette being used throughout the home. There is often too much happening in a single room. And with each room there are new colours and patterns that have no relationship to the previous room. While it’s ok to create distinct spaces there should be some cohesiveness amongst the separate spaces.
When I’m hired for a decorating job my starting point is always to work with you and create a palette that can be incorporated throughout the space. This gives your home a more polished look that will feel timeless. That means you won’t be tired of your home again in 2 or 3 months. A well designed space should be timeless and classic with just a nod to the trends of today.
2/ Getting the Sizing Right
Another mistake I see too often is with the size and scale of furniture pieces. Often there are too-large sofas and too-small rugs. This can affect the overall look and feel of the
space.
Remember that when you’re shopping for furniture the showrooms are huge with very high ceilings. The sofa that you fall in love with might look quite small in that space but bring it home to your living room with 8’ ceilings and suddenly it takes up most of the space.
A room will always look poorly designed when the sizing is off so if you’re considering upgrading your furniture, bring in a decorator and get that right. The rest of the design will flow effortlessly when the sizing is correct.
3/ You’ll Have a Home That’s Unique
I know we all love HomeSense, myself included. It’s when we only source from just one retailer that our home starts to look like everyone else’s. This is particularly true when you live in a small town because we don’t have the luxury of 7 or 8 decor stores to choose from.
Decorators have an intrinsic ability to quickly move through a space and know the perfect spot for things. Aside from furniture, we can advise on placement of decor, art and lighting so that your home looks finished and complete.
One of the best things about hiring a decorator is that they will have their own sources when they shop and the pieces they suggest won’t be found in your neighbours’ homes. Even just a few unique pieces will transform your space and make it yours.
If you want to learn more about how decorating can bring a unique feel to your home, read this post.
4/ Time Saving
If you’ve been working on your living room for years and still haven’t got it quite right, you’ll know exactly what I mean. A decorator can work with you to create a plan and implement it all in a short period of time.
There are some timelines when it comes to decorating that are longer than we’d like. If you’re ordering furniture you’ll have to work around that time frame and depending on the manufacturer you can be waiting between 3 months and a year.
Aside from some lengthy furniture timelines, a decorator has the experience to be able to execute on your wishlist quickly.
5/ Creating a Budget
One of the realities of managing your own decorating project is that you’re likely not familiar with the cost of items. It may have been 10 years since you last purchased a sofa, a rug or even artwork. The pandemic had such an impact on pricing in the interior design industry that even if it’s only been a few years, you’ll likely see a huge increase compared to pre-pandemic pricing. A decorator will help you by providing you with high and low pricing guidelines so that you have a budget to guide you throughout the project.
We’ve worked with various manufacturers and we know the quality of the products. We can steer you away from something that may be popular on social media but we know is poorly constructed and won’t last.
Most importantly, we’re skilled at keeping you on budget by incorporating the high/low method. Not everything in your home has to be expensive to create a beautiful space. We know where to splurge and where to save.
6/ Unique Perspectives
One of the reasons that your home may feel bland and ordinary is because you don’t have insight into what will help to elevate the space and make it feel special.
A decorator uses creativity to make your home feel noteworthy and special. It isn’t about making cookie cutter decisions based on what’s popular. It’s about you, your family and the story of who you are and where you’ve been. It could mean incorporating some photos or memories of family trips. It could be adding your grandma’s vintage silver collection or it could be just your love of a particular colour. The way to create a unique space is to have it tell a story about the people who live there.
We also explore what’s bringing the wow factor. It could be a single elegant light fixture or a fabulous piece of art. Or maybe you prefer understated and it’s just a collection of textures working together.
In the end your home should be a collection of pieces that work together to create a space that looks like it was professionally decorated.
7/ We Have Resources
Decorators work full-time sourcing and styling so we’re very accustomed to dealing with the wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers. We know where to quickly find the right products for you at the right price. We don’t have to shop for weeks or months to find what we have envisioned.
We’ve also vetted the most reliable suppliers. We will steer you away from places where we know you’ll have difficulty if you have issues down the road. We have relationships with the best people who will honour their guarantee and treat our clients with respect if problems should occur.
Our sourcing knowledge ends up saving you a ton of time in the long run because once we’ve met with you, we can get straight to work. And our wonderful team of resources are there to keep everything moving smoothly.
8/ We Have Contacts
Need some storage added to your family room? We can suggest a millworker. Need a painter? We know at least a handful. You’re not left struggling to find a trade that will answer your call or worse, not even knowing what to look for. We can help guide you in the right direction with our contacts.
I hope that helps to answer some of the questions you may be having around an interior decorator. If you’ve been thinking about a project in your own home, contact me. I’d love to speak with you and describe more about our design and decorating services.
