Interior Designer

Jobs In Interior Decorating

How to know if a job in interior design is right for you. Starting out, and moving up in the field. What kind of schooling may be required.

A career field that is becoming increasingly popular is the field of interior design. Many busy people realize how important it is to have a home or office that is professionally decorated, and therefore many new jobs in interior design are being created.

Another important aspect of the field is that interior designers are located in every city, all over the world, so jobs are available just about everywhere. If a young person is creative and has an artistic flair, a career in interior design may be perfect and will provide a long lasting and satisfying job choice.

The first thing one has to know in order to obtain a job in interior design is what kind of education is required. Different areas may require different levels of education, and a job in a design house in a major firm in Manhattan, for instance, may require a four year degree, while working for a small company in the Midwest may only require two years college. Many schools offer degrees in interior design as part of their fine arts department, and a specialized degree such as this would definitely be an advantage.

Starting out, a new graduate would normally work for another person or for an interior design company. A great deal of experience and contacts can be gained in this kind of environment. Working for an experienced interior designer can give a young person invaluable experience in every aspect of this business, and he can learn many things it took the seasoned professional years to learn. Working side by side with an experienced interior designer, the novice will handle mundane tasks such as ordering swatches and following up delivery schedules, but these are important skills to develop.

After working hand in hand with a senior professional, a new interior designer will then be handed an assignment of his own. Having a a company behind him while he hones his own design skills on a customer is a major advantage to a designer just starting out.

The main (and some say only) focus of interior design is customer satisfaction. The client is the be-all and end-all of the field, so the ability to work with people, who sometimes can be very testy, is crucial.

Once a designer has paid his dues, so to speak, at a company or two, he will want to branch out on his own. Besides being more profitable, owning his own interior design firm allows a decorator to put his own creative stamp on the work he is commissioned to do.

If decorating a room or a home is something you have enjoyed doing, consider a career in interior design. It is very rewarding to be able to bring an artistic vision to fruition, and it can be a very financially successful career as well.

About The Author: Andrew Caxton writes for http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com . Find more publications about interior decorating at http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com/styles-guide.html

How Do I Select the Right Interior Designer For My Project?

Begin your selection process by understanding what an interior designer can do for you and what skills and experience they should have. Many people believe an interior designer simply chooses paint, furniture and accessories but you know they do so much more. Interior designers provide a long list of services including:

· Using software to create and manage design projects.
· Space planning.
· Negotiating prices on furniture, fixtures and accessories.
· Create drawings that include all the technical and design elements of the project.
· Reading blueprints.
· Hiring contractors.
. Keeping the project on time and on budget.
· Researching health and safety codes, permit requirements and building codes.
· Creating contracts and reviewing contracts of other service professionals on the project.

Once you have decided to use an interior designer on your design project you will want to hire someone who is qualified, who shares your vision and who communicates clearly with you.

Begin the selection process by defining the geographic location, budget, scope and time frame for project completion. You will want to use this information when researching and interviewing potential designers to make sure they are a good fit for your project and your location.

Review the websites of your pool of interior designers. Call the candidates who particularly interest you and ask questions and take notes. Some general questions you should ask:

· How long have they been in business?
· Do they work alone or as a team?
· Do they have a field of specialty?
· Can they give you a client list?
· What is their fee structure and contract requirements?
· What supplier partnerships do they have?
· How skilled are they at negotiating pricing for services and projects?
· Do they have case studies and a portfolio?
· What experience do they have with local building codes and the permit process?
· Do they do handle commercial, residential or both?
· Have they worked on a project similar to yours before?
· How do they handle refunds for furniture and accessories that are not used?
· Can they provide at least three references?

Set-up an appointment with those who received good references and take your notes, sketches and design ideas with you. Pay careful attention to the communication style and personality of the designer. Discuss budget and fees, scheduling, deposits, contracts and other policies. If possible, view other projects that the designer has completed. After you have completed this process review all the information you have gathered and you should find it easy to pick a designer or firm for your project and you can begin to look forward to your design ideas becoming reality.

Don’t only look at designers that have done projects exactly like the one you are looking to do. You want a designer that can create personalized spaces that represent your lifestyle vs. a replica of something they have done before.

2008, Style for Life Interiors. Copying of Contents, in its entirety is permitted provided that author by-lines are kept intact and unchanged. Hyperlinks and/or URLs provided by author must remain active.

About The Author: Designer Paul Andrew, Style For Life Interiors, has more than two decades of design experience. His style and intuition has matured and helped to build Style for Life Interiors into a full service design firm that offers home staging, art acquisition, shopping trips, renovations, and new construction consulting in NJ, NY and CT. Paul can be reached at pandrew@styleforlifeinteriors.com and http://www.styleforlifeinteriors.com

The 6 Basic Elements Of Interior Design

There are 6 basic elements used in all aspects of interior design and decorating.   If you correctly incorporate all or most of these elements you will have created a beautiful and functional room. 

Balance
There are two types of balance – symmetrical and asymmetrical.  Perfect symmetry is like the human body – two eyes, two arms etc.  Symmetrical balance is typically very formal.  Asymmetry, on the other hand, refers to an imbalance, perhaps two candlesticks of slightly different sizes placed next to each other.  Asymmetry is used to add visual motion and excitement to a space, and therefore it is considered a more informal way of decorating.  

Balance also refers to the weight of different objects in a room.  This can be the actual weight and size of furniture – such as a large entertainment centre; or it can be visual weight – a patterned or very bold color upholstered piece appears to take up more space than a solid or neutral colored one.  If there is too much weight on one side of a room, the arrangement will feel awkward and uninviting.

Color
The human eye can see more than 16 million colors.  To simplify your paint choices look at your favorite piece of art, a rug or the upholstery fabric.  Choose your colors based on that item using the “60-30-10 rule”.

For example – your favorite painting contains blue, yellow and cream.  You might then choose yellow walls (60%), a blue sofa (30%) and a cream accent cushion (10%).

Focal Point
A focal point is the centre of interest – usually the part of the room that our eye is naturally drawn to when we first enter.  If you don’t have an existing architectural detail – such as a fireplace or large bay window – you can create a focal point by strategically hanging your art or by creatively displaying some accessories on a bookshelf.  Once you have determined or created a focal point in your room, simply arrange your conversation area around it. 

Harmony
This does NOT mean that everything should match.  It simply means that the furniture, art and accessories compliment each other in some way.

Scale and Proportion
The size of pieces relative to one another and the size of the space is their SCALE.  Large, ornate pieces will not look right in a very small room, just as small contemporary pieces will be lost in an oversized space with vaulted ceilings.  And more importantly, the size variance of different pieces within a room should be somewhat related. 

Texture
Texture is the one element that can instantly add interest to a monochromatic color scheme.  Should you choose to decorate an entire room in one color – mocha perhaps – it will be easy to add some visually interesting texture.  Linen window shades and leather pillows can be found in the same color range but each has a very different look and feel.

You may have never put a lot of thought into these elements, but when they are put together in a room, they will enhance the room ad make it beautiful!

Taking on an interior design project can be a huge undertaking.  Don’t let your vision become compromised.  Start by getting organized.

Interior Decorating Using Cool Earth Tones

Cool earth tones are a range of colors achieved by mixing white, or pigments from the cool side of the spectrum such as blue and green, with the basic earth colors. Think of cool stone and slate floors, or the washed creams, gray, and pale sand of a seashore on a winter morning, to get the feel of the colors. They create a soothing but elegant ambience of natural beauty in your interior decorating scheme.

Beige, putty, cream, and parchment all make perfect background settings, so the range of paints and papers that falls into this category is enormous. If you choose to paint rather than wallpaper, a number of translucent washes of different colors from this range will give a more natural finish than a flat latex; in earlier times these colors were full of natural impurities and so had interesting variations of shade and depth. You can either continue the same tones throughout the room, or use the walls as a canvas against which to set a richer series of colors.

If you’re using this palette alone in your interior decorating, it’s important to avoid bland, featureless expanses. Texture, pattern, and detail are vital factors and occur naturally in many of the items that you may choose to include in this type of scheme. For rustic earthy textures, use greeny gold rush matting, jute webbing, rough sandstone, and textured weave linens and cottons. Stone busts and urns, limed wood, or reclaimed bleached pine furniture all give character and interest to your decor.

You can also add interest with strong patterns which don’t tend to dominate because the colors are so muted. Look for bold ethnic designs for fabrics and wall hangings, or densely patterned floral or leafy wallpapers in pale olive, straw and mushroom tones. Important details will count for more in this subtle setting – bone buttons, steely gray upholstery studs, a rough twist of raffia around a recycled glass jar all reinforce the picture but break up the sheer planes of color.

Interior Decorating – Getting Ideas

The easiest way to find your interior decorating style is to start collecting ideas. Flip through interior decorating magazines or home improvement websites and collect pictures of things that catch your eye like a particular sofa style, a really cool lamp, a wall color, window treatments, a fabric, or maybe just the feeling that the whole room gives you. Make notes right on the pages so you remember why you saved it.

Also, start collecting samples of existing fabrics or colors that are going to stay in the room. For instance, say you’re not changing the carpeting and you want to keep your grandmother’s side chair. See if you can clip a little bit of extra fabric off the chair where you won’t see it. Clip a small square of the carpeting out of a closet. If it’s a painted piece, you can use paint chips from your local paint store to match it as closely as possible and have those with you.

You will also want to take measurements of the room and any furniture that is staying. If you can, make a simple floor plan to scale for reference. And finally, take photos of the room and any of the pieces you will be keeping.

Now as you collect all these samples and notes you will need to organize them in a way that makes sense for you; either by room, or by idea such as furniture ideas, lighting, colors, fabrics, or window treatments. Then keep them in your car so when you are out shopping you won’t have to make another trip back home to see if it’s the right color, size, or if it will “go”. Interior Decorators always have samples with them when they shop.

As you start to collect a fair amount of items you will start to see a pattern or similarity in what you like. And a style, that you didn’t think you had, will soon emerge.

Maybe you want to look through an interior decorating magazine to find a style that appeals to you.  That’s fine if you want to copy that style, just be sure that it will work in your house.

Interior Decorating – Some Things You Should Not Do

Decorating “rules” are made to be broken. Not every project will lend itself to every so-called rule.  However, following the rules can help give your project a focus that a more haphazard approach may not. Here are some of the decorating “don’ts”.

• Don’t paint your walls then go out looking for fabrics to match. Paint can be mixed in any of a thousand colors, so select the final shades after upholstery, carpeting, and curtain fabrics are chosen.
• Don’t paint a room without trying a sample of the color in the room. Tiny paint chips can be deceiving as to tone and depth of color, so always paint a test board to confirm your choices.
• Don’t line up the furniture around the walls except in the smallest of rooms. Pulling furniture into attractive groupings in the center of the room will add warmth and be inviting to guests as well.
• Don’t turn your back on the focal point of the room by arranging furniture away from this important feature.
• Don’t place furniture where it will interfere with doorways, cabinet doors, natural traffic patterns, or other everyday activities.
• Don’t clutter up a room with a million little collectibles unless you’re in love with that look. Most of us will feel it is too crowded.
• Don’t try to construct a color scheme from wildly disparate objects. First find a print fabric or rug with all of the colors you want to use, then edit out, repaint, or recover items that don’t fit with the plan.
• Don’t keep something you hate. Do you have a hideous orange sofa from Aunt Zelda? Either slipcover it, recover, or remove it. You’ll be happier.
• Don’t decorate around an item that just isn’t “you”. If your new home came with gold shag carpeting when you love roses and lace, believe me, you’ll never love that carpet. Get rid of it.
• Don’t forget the details. If your theme is Mediterranean, look for iron lamp bases, weathered iron drawer pulls, and tile tables. If you love Cottage then use painted white accessories, floral accents, and lace.
• Don’t fall in love with cheap furniture just because it has an appealing color or exciting fabric. Look for good lines, quality construction, and elegant details first. Then have those pieces covered in a fabric or finish that you love.
• Don’t choose colors standing in a store. Try to take samples (of paint, fabrics, and floor coverings) back to your home and look at them in daylight and at night.
• Don’t spend a lot of money on expensive items that are “trendy”. Try out trends that truly appeal to you by experimenting first with inexpensive accessories.
• Don’t live with a lot of mismatched furniture orphans. Unite pieces with color — either by painting everything one color (white, pale gold, or black for example) or by recovering everything using identical or a mix of coordinating fabrics.
• Don’t always choose backgrounds in your favorite color. Sometimes providing a softer background will make your favorite color stand out as the brightest accent color in the room.
• Don’t choose everything beige if you really love color. Remember, color doesn’t cost more than white. Wouldn’t a pretty mango, soft coral, or lovely green wall make a terrific backdrop for your white sofa?
• Don’t ignore the mood effects of color — red is exciting, pale blue soothing, green calming, and yellow is happy — so choose color schemes that underscore the feeling you want to create in your home.
• Don’t disregard the undertones of a color. Every color can be either light or dark, cool or warm, clear or muddy. Look for these color cues when choosing color.
• Don’t blow your entire budget on something that isn’t functional, classic, or long-lasting, unless you’re completely smitten and can’t live without it. In general it’s best to start with the basics and build from there.

Interior Decorating – Some Things You Should Do

The rules of interior decorating can be as solid as a rock or as open to interpretation as the sky. But many experts agree that learning the rules can be the first step toward freely breaking those rules when necessary. Here are some of the decorating dos.

• Do sketch your floor plan and record the room dimensions, window sizes and placement, and the location of special features, electrical outlets, and so on. Take your floor plan with you when you shop.
• Do take the time to discover your personal style by reading interior design magazines, attending show houses, and browsing online and in stores to learn what styles and colors really appeal to you.
• Do identify the focal point of the room (a fireplace, a view, a bed, an armoire).
• Do define a room’s style in writing , being specific. (Not just “country French”, but “French Country with a rooster motif, chicken wire cupboard fronts, and a color scheme that includes black and gold.”)
• Do pick a signature piece to focus your decorating decisions. It could be a beautiful fabric, an area rug, a picture, a piece of pottery, dishes, or a postcard. The item should embody both the color scheme of the room as well as the style and mood you hope to create.
• Do coordinate fabric and flooring choices before making any major purchases, and before choosing exact paint colors.
• Do purchase large elements first (rugs, draperies, upholstered furniture) whenever possible, and use the exact colors and style of those major pieces to coordinate all other choices.
• Do use a mix of patterns — large-scale, small-scale, checks, stripes, geometrics, plain — when coordinating a room.
• Do allow for natural pathways in a room (such as from the door to the closet) and try to arrange furniture with those walkways in mind.
• Do consider the uses and function of a room before deciding on furnishings and arrangements. For example, if your dining room will also be your study, then you’ll need room for a desk, books, lighting, and files as well as the dining room table and chairs.
• Do consider using unifying elements such as trim color, wood tone, flooring, motifs, fabrics, or materials.
• Do use the principle of repetition when planning shapes, colors, fabrics, and patterns. One red accent in a room may look like an afterthought whereas several red accents here and there will contribute to the color scheme.
• Do plan ahead for appropriate task, general, and dramatic lighting by using a mix of light fixtures on dimmers for maximum control.
• Do purchase the best quality furniture you can afford. Learn more about quality construction and materials that can prolong the life of furniture and make it a better buy in the long run.
• Do use contrast to add interest to a space. Placing furniture and accessories against a contrasting background will highlight each piece.
• Do crosslink your rooms by repeating colors, fabrics, and themes in varying combinations.
• Do balance a room’s furnishings by paying attention to scale and visual weight. Balance a large stone fireplace with a large sofa or armoire placed opposite.
• Do arrange conversational areas to be within an 8 to 14 feet square area.
• Do anchor spaces in open floor plans with area rugs and furniture groupings to define each space.
• Do pair seating in conversation areas with side tables and lamps so that there is a place to set drinks, books, etc. as well as adequate light for reading.
• Do choose accessories that reinforce the color and style theme of a room.
• Do use scale and pattern to create interesting focal points.
• Do use pairs of items to underscore symmetry and balance.
• Do use odd numbers of items (3, 5, 7) when grouping accents for table-scapes. Do place items (high, medium, and low) within an imaginary triangle to add interest.
• Do use symmetrical arrangements in formal rooms. In more casual rooms go for asymmetrical arrangements of furniture and accessories.
• Do emphasize the important elements of the room and play down the unattractive or unimportant elements.
• Do use a variety of textures (smooth, rough, shiny, dull) when you want to add interest to a room.
• Do use line to underscore a room’s style. Horizontal lines emphasize length and underscore a calm mood. Vertical lines will emphasize height, and diagonal lines emphasize space and provide a dynamic and exciting feel.
• Do reinforce the style and theme of a room with appropriate details and accessories.
• Do install more details in a plain boxy room. Consider crown molding, wainscoting, and other applications to add interest and character.
• Do consider the location of your home and the architectural style when planning interiors.