Think back to your first do-it-yourself decorating project. Do you recall the practical experience you gained from your successes and your mistakes? Now, picture what it would be like if you had completed thousands of such projects during a span of many years, totally immersed in design for 50 to 60 hours per week.

That is the wisdom a professional would bring to your project.

I would say the primary reason clients call a professional is to avoid costly mistakes. There are so many details involved in a successful project; it is easy to miss the small stuff that makes a huge difference.

I just hung up the phone from a conversation with a young lady who purchased family room furniture based on nothing other than a selection at a furniture store during a weekend sale. It has been delivered, and the scale is all wrong – a detail she never considered while buying her “deal” furniture. The room looks all out of proportion, the furniture is nonreturnable and she is sick.

Although mistakes like this can sometimes be mitigated, a call at this point in time is usually too late to bring the project to the point of fabulous.  Her 40-percent-off purchase just set her decorating budget back thousands.

There is a huge misconception floating around that using an interior designer will add cost to a project. This homeowner’s one experience dispels that!

A good designer should always be willing to work within the client’s budget and ultimately be able to provide a much more impressive result for the money through a combination of savvy sourcing and skillful design.

The best designers will work with what you already have, or be able to start from scratch.  Every project is different.

Unless the designer selected is totally devoid of talent, the benefits will far outweigh the cost. Just the avoidance of the one mistake can be worth the entire consultation fee! Parts of a project that have to be redone due to error are costly. The elimination of sleepless nights due to uncertainty is worth every cent of consultation billing.

Working with a decorator opens up sources generally closed to the public. Also, designers have a resource list of talented labor they can readily tap into, as well as the ability to negotiate on behalf of a client.