Working with an interior designer or decorator

Decorator or designer — and what they do

The two roles overlap but aren't identical. A decorator focuses on the look: colours, furnishings, window treatments, art and styling, working within your existing spaces. An interior designer can go further — reworking layouts, moving or specifying joinery, and coordinating with your builder or architect on a renovation. If your project changes how a space is used, you probably want a designer; if it's about dressing rooms beautifully, a decorator may be all you need.

In practice, services range from a single in-home consult through to a full concept package for one room — mood boards, furniture layout, a colour scheme and a sourced shopping list — up to whole-home design with procurement and styling managed through to installation. Many designers also earn trade discounts on furniture and materials and pass some of that back, which can offset part of their fee on furnishing-heavy jobs.

How the fees work

This is the part to nail down first, because designers charge in several different ways: by the hour, as a fixed package per room, as a percentage of the project budget on bigger jobs, or as a margin on the furniture and materials they buy for you. The calculator on this page gives indicative bands from a short consult through to a whole-home service, but the structure matters as much as the number.

Cost scales with the number of rooms and the depth of service. Advice-only is the cheapest; full procurement, coordination and styling the most. Established designers with strong portfolios sit well above emerging ones. And where the fee is a percentage or a purchase margin, it rises directly with how much you spend on the fit-out — so a clear brief and a real budget keep it predictable.

Choosing and briefing well

Interior design is an unlicensed creative field, so you're choosing on portfolio, taste alignment and how they charge rather than a registration number. Look for a body of work in a style you actually like — a designer whose signature look clashes with yours will be a constant push and pull. A single paid consult is a cheap, low-risk way to test the fit before committing to a full package.

Then brief honestly, especially about money. Share your real budget early; a good designer designs to it rather than presenting beautiful concepts you can't afford. Be upfront about how you live, what you're keeping, and your must-haves. Get the fee basis in writing before any work starts — hourly, fixed, percentage or margin — so there are no surprises when the invoice lands.

Mistakes to avoid

The common regrets here are about money and fit: not understanding how you're being charged, or hiring a designer whose style pulls against your own. Both are avoidable with a clear brief and an honest conversation up front.

• Not pinning down the charging basis — hourly, fixed, percentage or purchase margin — in writing
• Hiding your real budget, then being shown concepts you can't afford
• Hiring on reputation alone without checking their portfolio matches your taste
• Skipping a paid consult that would have tested the fit cheaply
• Assuming a decorator handles layout changes that really need a designer
• Forgetting that percentage and margin fees rise with everything you spend on the fit-out