By Wendy Kohn

Additional Info Designer Do’s and Don’ts by Karen Fisher Do interview at least three designers. You’re not hiring a friend or a lover, but it’s an important long-term relationship. You will need to trust your designer’s opinions, so make sure you feel very comfortable with your choice. Do talk money. Each designer sees the job a little differently. You need to know if the designer can work within your budget. Don’t hire your best friend’s designer. You don’t wear the same clothes; you shouldn’t use the same designer. Use a service, or review the publications. Experts have already taken the trouble to find the best professionals, so preview designers’ work before you interview them. Do hire your whole design team at the beginning of the project, and consider team chemistry. As a client, you don’t want a catfight on your hands. A good interior designer will respect a good architect, and vice versa. Karen Fisher, president of Designer Previews (www.dpreviews.com), has written six decorating books and teaches a course on interior design at New York University.

Great interior designers make order out of chaos. Picture this: A trusted adviser starts with a dispassionate inventory of your stuff and ends by touring you through a sequence of spaces that makes you want to jump right in. This is your life, only better. Sound like a dream? Well, you probably won’t get from beginning to end without a few cold sweats, but if you follow some guidelines the parts you remember should be the good ones.

Think inside-out. You may not consider interior design until you have an interior to deal with, but hiring early benefits every aspect of your project. Before you start construction, or close on a new property, an interior designer can point out space-saving (and cost-saving) alternatives. With an understanding of your lifestyle goals, an interior expert can make sure the new space supports your vision of relaxed or formal living, a pristine modern interior or an intimate, cozy hideaway. You are hiring an advocate for a home that feels like more, but uses less: clever storage in leftover spaces, counter space on the right side of the refrigerator, generous dimensions in which you can luxuriate, and compact layouts easy to maintain.

Educate yourself. Mark pages in books and magazines to communicate the styles, furniture, and features that interest you—and those that don’t. Consider what works well in your current home, and what you most want to change. Developing a list of priorities will help you stay focused as you interview designers and make decisions throughout the project.

To make a good match, define your needs. Interior design includes a wide range of services, from space planning and construction administration, to acoustics and lighting, to custom furniture design and layout. Choose a designer whose skills, experience, and interests fit your project.

Interview several designers to find the right combination of style and personality. You’ll be talking money, sleep, and even toilet habits with your interior designer, so hire the person with whom you have the most comfortable conversations, and whose portfolio includes work that you love. In hiring, good credentials are less important than great references.

Whether you hire a decorator, a licensed or unlicensed interior designer, or an architect to design your interiors will depend on the scope of your project. For anything structural—removing walls or adding space—you should consult an interior designer or architect. If your project is limited to furniture, color, lighting, fixtures, or flooring, contact a decorator or interior designer.

If you’ve already hired an architect, get his advice on completing the interiors. Most architects can recommend interior designers with taste and experience well suited to your job. Others have interior designers on staff to do furniture layouts and specify lighting, flooring, paint colors, and fixtures.

Understand design fees. There are a number of methods for billing interior design work, so before hiring anyone, request a fee proposal that includes a cost estimate for your job, a fee structure, the scope of services included, and a description of any additional charges, such as reimbursable expenses. When interviewing, you might also ask for an estimate or bid for your job and then compare different proposals. The size and nature of your project often determines how an interior designer arrives at his/her fee. Smaller jobs can be billed at a higher hourly rate than larger jobs (average per-hour rates range from $70 to $130); many professionals will negotiate a fee structure appropriate for your project. Designers usually charge either a flat fee (with any changes in scope subject to renegotiation or additional charges) or a combination of hourly fees for time spent, plus a percentage of the cost—average is 20 to 30 percent—of any fixtures and furnishings they design or specify. A retainer upon hiring is common practice, and will typically be applied toward your final invoice.

Talk money. Be sure to review your intended budget with your designer. He/she can give you a reality check, suggest ways to complete the job in phases if necessary, or work with your list of priorities to target the most important among them.

Get it in writing. Design projects take time and often become complicated. Negotiating a contract will help you to both simplify and quantify the job, even as your aspirations expand. Whether your designer uses his/her own contract or a standard interior design form, review the contract point by point, making sure the final document is tailored specifically to your scope, schedule, and budget—no more and no less. Various standard interior design contracts are available from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Interior experience depends on the subtle interaction between daylight and lighting, room proportions and furnishings, the stuff that you see every day and the things you don’t have to see for a whole season. Get expert advice to help you coax new life into your new home.