We all get “those” home furnishings catalogs daily, we see the numerous interior design blogs and shops in our news feed and are inundated with ideas of how to make our interiors beautiful. But how do we get it? Sure, the room shown in the Pottery Barn magazine looks amazing but will it look as amazing in your home? I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard a friend or client say to me: “I loved how the room looked in the magazine (or on the website) so I ordered everything and nothing fit—nothing looked right and now I am stuck trying to box everything back up and am paying for hefty shipping fees.”
What you see online or in magazines can be a great jumping point for how you would like your home to read; however, there are many intricate aspects and a great deal of knowledge needed to build and make up a well-executed room. You must take into account size, scale, layout/placement, purpose, lighting, color, fabric selection & material make-up vs. end use, budget, the feeling you want the space to evoke and how the room will ultimately be used. For most people, this can be extremely overwhelming so home improvement and design projects either never get started or get never get finished. This is where an Interior Designer can be of help to you.
Here are the Top 5 Reasons to Hire an Interior Designer:
1) WE WILL SAVE YOU TIME: An Interior Designer will manage your project from start to finish. A good Interior Designer will have extensive knowledge and experience in the field and be your advocate and guide throughout the design process. Your designer will be your liaison to the best contractors, workrooms, installers, vendors, receivers and shippers while anticipating and handling obstacles you might not be aware of and managing all of the details that go into a successful and unique project. Your designer will do it all, while you sit back and relax.
2) WE BRING TRAINED EXPERTISE TO YOUR PROJECT: Interior Design is a delicate balance between art and science. There is a reason that things work together and a seasoned Interior Designer will have a trained eye to make these selections and decisions. They will have a strong understanding of the relationship between color and pattern, size and scale, quality and craftsmanship, price and value. There is a method behind our madness: a reason we select something and a reason why we place it where we did.
When talking with an old friend about why to hire an Interior Designer, he said: “I love to garden, but I am not an expert gardener. I know enough to know what I don’t know, so I will hire a landscape architect to plot out the layout and select the best options for plantings. From there, I will maintain the overall design. The same goes for Interiors. Let the expert lay the groundwork for you to maintain and add to.”
3) WE HAVE EXCLUSIVE RESOURCES: Designers have exclusive resources and have access to vendors who create pieces of higher quality than what you will find offered in local stores and catalogs. Some designers (such as myself) attend the semi-annual Furniture Market in High Point, NC, which provides a designer with current trends and access to new and time-honored resources. Many of these resources are exclusive only to-the-trade, meaning that these pieces are not available to the general public—only through your designer. Often times, these resources offer a discount off retail pricing to the designer. The cost savings and exclusivity are huge benefits of hiring an Interior Designer. After all, why would you want your home interiors to look like everyone else’s or like the cookie cutter options we see everyday in our mailboxes?
4) WE WILL REFINE YOUR IDEAS WHILE BRINGING FRESH, INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS & PERSPECTIVE TO THE PROJECT: Some clients like to collaborate with their designer, while others prefer to give the design professional the creative freedom to work their magic. The clients design preferences are always taken into account, but it is the Interior Designer’s job to translate this into the big picture. A talented designer will think out of the box and see unique possibilities and concepts that you never thought of and once implemented, things you could never live without.
5) WE STOP YOU FROM MAKING COSTLY MISTAKES: Back to my original example—How many times have you bought something online or in a store that looked great, but once in your home it either didn’t fit or looked awful? How many of you have tried finding that perfect paint color only to have spent your entire weekend and eight trips back and forth to Home Depot to find “the one”? Even worse, how many of you have paid your painters to repaint a room where you just cannot seem to select the right color? These mistakes can be costly and time consuming. There are tricks to the trade and a good designer will have the experience and knowledge in order to guide you to the correct choice and help you get it right the first time. Your home and what you choose to surround yourself with is a reflection of you. They create an atmosphere and mood in which you start and end your day? Your interiors tell your story—make it interesting.
Contact Sheri Culver Design today to find out how she can help you transform your house into your dream home.
About the writer: Sheri Culver of Sheri Culver Design is located in the seaside community of Newport, RI. With over 20 years of experience in the Interior Design Industry, her projects span, but are not limited to, the Eastern seaboard. Before opening her own firm 6 years ago, Sheri worked with Penny Drue Baird (Architectural Digest’s Top 100) in NYC, Cindy Rinfret in Greenwich, CT and under the late Jeff Jenkins at Leonards Antiques in Seekonk, MA. Sheri has extensive knowledge in all aspects of Interior Design with expertise in furniture construction and craftsmanship, antiques, fabrication of custom upholstery & window treatments. Sheri is adept in pairing old with new, traditional with contemporary and has an eye for seamlessly blending different styles for a high-end custom look in all price points.
Her innate ability to create a visually pleasing and high functioning space is exceptional. With a vast knowledge of textiles, furnishings and resources, Sheri brings the best of the best to her clientele. Providing invaluable service, Sheri guides her clients to their ultimate vision, opening their eyes to ideas they never imagined, and that once installed, find they could never imagine living without. Always going with her instincts, she encourages her clients to do the same. That willingness to take a risk also serves as the inspiration, innovation and imagination that sets Sheri apart from her peers. “Interiors communicate who you are—without words. Collect things you love, surround yourself with what makes you happy, with what speaks to your soul, then your house becomes your story. Make it interesting.”
To learn more about Sheri Culver Design, please visit SheriCulver.com
or call 401.559.6647
