Engaging With a Professional: Design the Home of Your Dreams
Everyone wants the interior of their home to look beautiful and suit their own individual style. With so much inspiration out there and unlimited choices available to homeowners at their fingertips, it can be hard to know where to start. From establishing what style you want for your home, to finding the perfect pieces, the process can be overwhelming. This is where an interior designer can come in to provide sound guidance and reassurance. Melbourne Home Design + Living’s Chloe Jaenicke spoke with Chelsea Simpson, owner of Indigo Interior Design, about the importance of engaging with a professional interior designer when planning your home.
Simpson decided to launch her own full-time business eight years ago, building on her 15 years of experience working in Melbourne as an appointed colour and design consultant for volume and boutique builder clients. Specialising in residential and renovation projects, Simpson has noticed a reoccurrence in the public: many fail to reach out to an interior designer for a role they believe they can do themselves.
However, with her extensive experience in the industry, she has found many people get bogged down in the details due to the limitless choices that are available in today’s market. Simpson believes working with an interior designer can help ensure the result is succeeded beyond a client’s dreams and expectations.
“Investing in the services of an interior designer allows you to create the dream home that you seek to achieve, without the confusion, instilling confidence and guidance towards making clear and concise decisions that will ultimately save time and money,” she says.
REFINING YOUR INSPIRATION
One of the biggest struggles she notices is people solely relying on platforms like Pinterest to source inspiration. While Simpson always encourages clients to create a vision board to provide her with a sense of direction for their intended design, she believes that clients should not use it to replicate a style or look.
“When clients are relying on a platform like this to build their home, it can result in clients being indecisive and engulfed with ideas and therefore feeling confused,” Simpson says. “An interior designer assists with taking these feelings out of the equation and paves the way for a clear and defined direction for all involved.”
Simpson says an interior designer can help clients expand upon these initial ideas through face-to-face meetings where she can ensure clients feel open to discuss all design elements and decisions together.
“Extracting information from my clients about what they like and dislike, including their non-negotiables is key to achieving a clear understanding prior to commencing with designing a project to ensure a harmonious outcome,” Simpson says. “Once a brief has been established, it makes my involvement towards developing a concept for my client’s design vision an easy and enjoyable process.”
An interior designer can be a key asset towards helping distinguish what you like and what reflects your personality and lifestyle.
When sitting down with a client, Simpson believes it’s important for the design of a home to be personal rather than trend driven.
“Interior design trends often come and go however being confident in your own individual style should never waiver,” Simpson says. “An initial design concepts is always developed from countless conversations with my clients to create a design that ‘tugs at the heartstrings’, reflecting their own individual style and how they want to live.”
WHEN TO BRING IN AN INTERIOR DESIGNER
According to Simpson, engaging with an interior designer within the early stages of a build or renovation is paramount to achieving the best possible outcome. This allows for the designer to carefully consider and alter every design element as needed, without disrupting any limitations set out by town planning or local councils.
She strongly advises clients to engage an interior designer early in the building process, as delaying this decision can result in important design details being overlooked without the trained eye of a professional.
“The consideration of important design elements and additions are key to ensuring a design can be built with intension and integrity,” Simpson says. “From preliminary plan reviews, window and door allocations and positioning, the configuration of spaces and the flow on effect from room to room, scale and proportion, design materials and aesthetics, care and maintenance considerations, the list goes on and on.”
In the past, Simpson has had close calls where being called onto a project too late could have been detrimental to the final result.
“A client approached me to assist with their project at frame stage,” Simpson says. “Missing the opportunity to be involved in reviewing the window/door schedule which resulted in a few window placements and designs being overlooked, affecting the overall design aesthetic and function of the build.”
Engaging an interior desinger before your project begins can save valuable time and money, ensuring every decision aligns with your intended design vision from the beginning.
“Early involvement allows an interior designer to create a cohesive design, coordinate your selections and work alongside your builder and trades to achieve a wellplanned, functional and carefully considered outcome,” Simpson says.
Images courtesy of Indigo Interior
