Want to be an Interior Designer? - Advice from the Pros

July 11, 2022 Douglas Robb

So…you want to be an interior designer. And you think you’d be really good at it.

You’ve got a great eye for design
You’re great with details
You’re great with people
You’re motivated to succeed

If only you had the counsel of a group of experienced & successful interior designers to help you on your way. For today’s blog post, I’ve assembled a group of today’s top interior designers to offer some sage advice. Here’s what they had to say:

Douglas Robb - Interior Designher: I’m writing an article for young & aspiring interior designers, and I’m hoping you could offer some advice. What I'm looking for is a small nugget of wisdom to help them launch a successful career in interior design. Maybe something you wish someone had told you when you getting started as an interior designer.

Susan Abramson - Toronto Designers:

Know Your Niche – While it is nice to suggest you can do any style for any client, it is important to truly understand your style and to relay this information to your potential clients. This then gives you the edge over someone else who’s styles are all over the place. When a potential client looks at your portfolio, you want them to see a lot of what they like so that they know they can trust you to guide them in their home.
Have a Great Website – These days, more than ever, people are searching online for someone they can trust. If your website is not current or has a portfolio you are not proud of, update it. Also, the more transparent and honest you are on your website, the easier it is for clients to know if they will make a connection with you. It is rare, if a client has read my website and calls, that I can’t land the deal, so get them intrigued enough to want to call.
Flaunt your Testimonials – There is nothing better than having great testimonials. For someone new, this is not always readily available, but you can ask your friends and family, for whom you did work, to get this started. Short testimonials will get read and will give people the confidence to call. Remember to have these testimonials on your website as well as any other social media platform where potential customers may find you.

Christina Richardson - Christina Richardson Interiors: In the beginning, take every job and execute like your life depends on it to get the experience. After that, when you know your strengths, weaknesses, and interest, make sure you define your ideal type of work and client and learn to decline the projects that are not for you.

Nicole Robb - Robb and Company: As you progress through your interior design career, pay close attention to the aspects of the business that 1) you love & 2) you excel at. By focusing on those tasks, and outsourcing the rest to people better suited, you will deliver the best value for your client.

As the owner of a small residential design company, outsourcing my bookkeeping, marketing, legal, HR, plans, permits, etc has allowed me to focus on designing interiors & interacting with clients…the two things I love & excel at. Doing this has made a huge difference in my business & personal life.

Irene Lovett - designstiles: Know your worth! When I graduated from college, my professor told us not to take any client jobs for less than $50/hr. I was young and felt I didn't have a lot of design experience to charge what I perceived as a lot. I went against my professor's advice and charged less! Shame on me. I also did not track all of my billable time so I was essentially giving away a hefty portion of my time. I kept chalking it up to learning and gaining that experience and was not seeing the value of all the work I was providing. As creatives, we're not necessarily business minded and can have difficulty justifying the price for work that feels like it comes relatively easy. This industry definitely is not easy. So much thought, knowledge, management and skill comes with design - charge accordingly.

Emily Griffin - Emily Griffin Design: My advice to designers starting out is this: “Don’t overlook the importance of the business side of being a designer when you start out. Your creativity will get buried if your jobs are unorganized, fraught with mistakes, over budget, and over time. And while you don’t need to do a full-blown interior design degree to be great at design (some of the best out there have no formal training), take courses in furniture and floor planning and measuring and know how a building is constructed. The more you know the better your designs will be.”

Glenn Gissler - Glenn Gissler Design:

Work for the most talented and successful people that you can for as long as you can.
Always go the extra distance to meet and exceed expectations of you employer and your clients
Feed your creativity and intuition everyday - art, architecture, design, music, food, fashion, light
Be relentlessly inquisitive

Lee Melahn - Pleasant Living:

From our perspective there are three ways to start your own business in interior design.

If you’re lucky enough to have been born into society you can utilize your social connections to begin a clientele base.
Look for an internship or associate position with an established firm and begin making the necessary connections to eventually branch out on your own.
Hang out your shingle, do your homework, go to every event you can and hand out your card, follow up with social media and if you’re good enough, lucky enough and persistent you’ll make it.

Mackenzie Collier - Mackenzie Collier Interiors:

I would suggest that all aspiring interior designers avoid looking to existing designed spaces for inspiration. If you want to practice creativity and originality - pull your design concepts from travel, art, fashion, music... your ideas will stand out among the crowd when they are unexpected!

Jarret Yoshida - Jarret Yoshida Interior Design:

My best piece of advice: Design is a business. Get a great bookkeeper who will make you behave according to best practices. If they don’t, find a new one.

Sarah Desaulniers - Moor Design:

Be authentic to who you are and follow your own path in interior design.
Don’t necessarily follow what everyone else is doing and create your own unique brand of design offerings.
Learning about construction and its phases firsthand on job sites is very important, both for commercial and residential design.
Don’t take yourself or your projects so seriously that it negatively affects your life. Design should be fun with challenges along the way and not give you burn-out and extreme stress.
Your vibe attracts your tribe in any business and you want to be approachable, professional, and authentic to who you are.
Don’t take on projects that are beyond your skillset.
A good website and IG account is super important
Try to avoid working for free even if it’s for friends and family. Your time is money.

Nadia Cieri - Nadia Cieri Interiors:

Be honest and transparent.

Let your clients know exactly what they are paying for. It’s not just putting a space together but also dealing with customer service when things go wrong, missing, discontinued, etc…you must be creative at solutions cause they will happen. People make mistakes but don’t dwell on it…move past it, be honest and transparent.

And always work towards solving the problem instead of blaming someone for it.

Anthony Williams - Anthony W Design:

I find that being intentional with your projects is crucial. Taking the time to go through the details with the client to create something that they will be in love with for years to come, is what really resonates with people and makes them excited about their space.

Patti Wilson - Patti Wilson Design:

Interior design can be a very fulfilling career choice. Here is some advice that can help you reach your professional goals.

Network and find a mentor: A mentor will provide feedback on your work and help you improve. You will benefit from the personal relationship and have an experienced professional coach you to overcome any roadblocks. A mentor will also serve as an accountability partner, which is valuable, especially at the early stages of your career.

Interior Designers of Canada has a new online mentorship program where they connect senior designers and retired members with students and interns across Canada.

Between networking, education, experience, and a great portfolio, you can become a successful force in the interior design field!

Lastly, one of the absolute best podcasts for our industry for everything interior design is “A Well Designed Business”. Even if you are not considering starting your own business, LuAnn Niagara is a tremendous resource and very entertaining too!

She has interviewed countless interior designers such as Amber Lewis, Syd and Shay McGee (McGee & Co), and Melissa and Sacha Leclair, owners of LD Shoppe to name a few. Her podcast, books, and events have elevated my business and have helped me to feel more confident in running my interior design firm and in my work.

Julie Schuster - Julie Schuster Design Studio:

Take your OWN photos! Always photograph your projects with great pictures - professional if possible. You can't ever just go back to a client later to get those great shots when you have the money. Invest in yourself every step of the way.
If you really NEED to make a living while developing your business, don't hesitate to hone your skills working with clients at a showroom or retail operation and side hustle to get personal clients. There is NOTHING like the skillset and confidence achieved this way - it will serve you well later.
Join professional organizations like NKBA (National Kitchen and Bath Association) or others and attend the events! There are educational opportunities, networking opportunities, inspiration, and the ability to stay on top of trends and innovations in our industry that are invaluable!
Interior design is a creative career. As such you have to be willing to do it for love as much as income. Don't get into this sort of work unless you are willing to walk the long walk. There are no shortcuts, but there ARE a whole host of benefits to finding your passion executed on behalf of clients. YOU WILL FIND YOUR WAY!

Lindsay Thornton - AC Interiors Design & Build:

Reach out and ask 3-4 designers for 20 min of their time to ask them pricing and process questions. Most are HAPPY to share advice and knowing what other’s in the industry charge, can really help you to stand firm on your pricing and value your time.
Pricing- if you are working at a firm right now and thinking of going out on your own, a general rule of thumb is to triple your salary/hr to create a billing rate. If you make $50 an hour, you should. Charge $150 an hour as a business to start. 30% will go to marketing and overhead and 30% will go to all of the “unpaid” hours that go into setting up and running a business on your own or hiring others and 30% will be your take home.
DO NOT take photos yourself for a website. Invest in good photography and ask for a discounted rate for your first shoot. Most photographers will do a smaller discount to get in the door with you!

Lynlea West - Lynlea West Studio:

Covid has definitely not made it easy for young designers getting their first jobs. So much of what we have been doing has been remote and online of course. I know that as a small company myself, if I was looking for a junior designer it would help if it was someone who was also able to help with a lot of the other work that has become a large part of my day-to-day as I don’t have a big team.

The idea of a young designer who not only brings great design and communication skills, but brings social media skills and in particular organisational skills would be very appealing. Most new designers pitch for a job by showing their portfolio from their course, which is of course also important, but for a small company, it’s also good to know what other skills they can bring to the table. If you are aiming for a smaller company I would suggest offering yourself part-time too as this may be an option that helps the company and gets you a foot in the door for your interiors journey – which is what it’s all about!

Svetlana Tryaskina - Estee Design:

I would suggest the young designer who wants to start in the industry seek a position in an interior design company that would allow doing CAD drawings, presentation boards and packages, site measures, sourcing of materials and coordination with contractors, suppliers and clients.

Those are the valuable experiences that young designers can’t learn in school in full capacity. Do the research and find the company whose aesthetics are close to your heart and you as a starting designer admire and want to learn from. 3-5 years of such experience would give a starting designer the knowledge to commence their own company and be successful in the future.

David Arduini - Albert David Design: There are no rules to creating a beautiful space, you just have to feel it.