When trying to decide if Interior Design is right for you, it helps to know what that really means. Interior Design is not simply the profession that “makes rooms and places pretty”; it takes a little bit more than that. You need to know how to do some of the technical aspects of design also. Some of these technical things include:
Designing and reading blueprints: This is particularly for the projects that require a great change in the area’s structure like wall removal etc. This is also required in order to make additional rooms, build gazebos, and add extra rooms. You will need to draw up blueprints of the entire house or read the originals copies so that you can do your job without causing much disturbance to the rest of the house or environment.
Environmental Analysis: Once you can read blueprints, you will have to analyze the information that is listed so that you can best decide where to go with your ideas. You need the ability to effectively create or remove space in a particular environment so that you can cause little or no disturbance to the environment as a whole when making your changes.
Environmental Lighting: Many people forget that lighting is included in any space-changing project. You must have knowledge of how lighting works, and have a general idea of what is needed to install light fixtures in areas that do not have them already. Many homes are not equipped with lighting fixtures in some rooms. Of course, if you wish to change the lighting fixtures from general lamps to say, track lighting, you may have a problem if you do not understand how to install it.
Basic Plumbing & pipe structure: If adding or changing spaces in kitchens and bathrooms, plumbing fixtures are often changed or re-organized. You will need to understand their basic functions in order to effectively plan a change that involves them, or is to be done around them.
Before you consider Interior Design as a profession, you should ask yourself these questions.
Creativity is a subtle, but important quality to have when considering interior design as a profession. Much of your advancement will depend on your ability to be original in your creative efforts to design any space. Clients will always want to keep a designer that can offer them something that nobody else has.
You will also need to be able to turn whatever items that they already have into works of art. Sometimes clients do not want to change everything, or buy new furnishings and draperies; they simply want to make whatever they do have look and feel different. Creative thinking is the only thing that is going to help here.
Colours are your friend, and creativity can help you in setting colours against one another. Many designers love to add colour to a room and change things just using this method and perhaps adding accents to existing items.
Accents in a room can vary. You can create a great space by adding throw pillows, valances, and vases. This is the perfect career choice for a person that likes to be creative, but not idle and/or isolated.
Am I Organized?
Believe it or not, Interior Designers have to be extremely well organized to be able to handle all of the little details that go into doing a good job. You have to be able to keep track of your entire inventory while keeping on top of other things also like, materials, tracking orders, employees, and making sure that you stay on or below the budget that your client set out for you.
It is no easy feat to try and keep track of all the things that have to be done; especially when you’ve got people constantly surrounding you. You must monitor what everyone is doing and still manage to keep up with what you should be doing. Do not forget that you also have to appear calm because your clients will likely be asking you a lot of questions. If you are scattered and panicked, it will be difficult to answer all the questions and look cool at the same time.
The ability to know where everything is, and where every person is is another aspect of the organization. It is very hard to keep jobs if you are constantly wondering where things and employees are.
You will need to be very well organized if your design projects lead you to have to add or remove a room and/or wall. This type of work requires the use of blueprints. You must be able to read them as well as draw them up, you cannot do this without a great sense of organization.
