This explanation my help.

An interior designer combines education and experience with aesthetic vision in order to develop design solutions that take in to account the structure of a space, the needs of the occupants, and the style that suits both. Interior design services include space planning, placement of non-load bearing interior walls, specifications of furniture, fabrics and finishes, and compliance with building, fire, and life safety codes. Interior designers create and enhance interior spaces including offices, restaurants, hotels, schools, hospitals, private residences and more.

An interior decorator is a paid consultant on the selection of finishes, such as wallpaper, window treatments, fabrics, furniture, flooring, and fixtures to an interior space. Interior decorators select the items in a room so that it is attractive, easy to use, and functions well within the existing architecture. Interior decorators do not deal with building codes, fire codes and/or occupancy of a space.

Good design doesn’t have to cost more, in fact sometimes it can cost less. It is a known fact in the industry that 30% of the budget goes into fixing screw ups from poor planning.

Read the articles, watch someone explain how to complete the task, and research the product selection you are considering. Still nervous that you are going to make the wrong product choice or that you may end up with a mess and have to hire a contractor to finish?

Hire a designer, even if just as a consultant.

Not a decorator, who is an expert in  window treatments and furniture, but a designer that has experience with renovation and remodeling. They understand the various aspects of construction and most can recommend  a contractor to do the job if needed. Or do it your self with the assurance that, with the help of a professional, you have a plan for success.

A designer also can help with those finishing touches, like paint colors and flooring, proper lighting and plumbing fixtures. I am not discounting the importance of a decorator, they have turned many a dull room into a show case, but ask them if a sink can  move across the room or a wall taken down and they refer to a contractor.

“Oh but they cost so much”…I have heard this so many times. But remember that 30% I mentioned, factor that in and they have more  than covered  their fee and you get the Wow!

But for me it was more than a goal, I dreamed about it, no I really did dream about it. I wanted a space to transform. We began shopping for a house. The dream began to have a life of it’s own. It became an obsession.

I had taken design, architecture, and art classes in college and was a very visual learner, so I began the first of many “idea books”.  How to books began to fill my bookcase.

Thanks to the GI bill, we bought our first fixer upper, and while my husband was at worked I set out to renovate my first house. My dad was a builder and I had seen him transform many a space. It looked so easy.

My first major project was the bathroom. The house had lots of character, perhaps a little to much because the previous home owner had gotten very creative with the use of carpet tile. Who in their right mind would use it on the walls surrounding a bathtub? Perhaps the word “tile” confused them.

Short on money and long on time, I set out to do as much of this project my self as I could. How hard could it be?  Right?

Off to the hardware store where I bought a sunset book on tile installation,  ceramic tiles off the clearance shelf,  glue, grout and the all so important tile splitter.

Removing the moldy carpet tiles was easy but with them came a lot of the plaster, revealing the lath and wire of the old walls…. I cleverly patched up the holes with layers of a product called wall patch, treated with mildew protection and proceeded to install the tile.

You won’t believe what happened a couple years latter while cleaning the bath tub.

Whoops! Dry wall mud or “wall patch” was not apparently the right product.

Please comment and check back to see my progress.