New Project?!? 😮😱 How to Choose an Interior Designer

hi I'm Rebecca Robson welcome back to my Channel today I'm going to cover a very important topic one that you don't typically see on YouTube and that is how to hire an interior designer my sister lives in San Diego that's where I'm thinking doors I'm an interior designer and I have been for over 30 years and I can tell you I have been interviewed by hundreds of potential clients over the years so not only do I know what it's like to be on the side of the designer being interviewed I know what the potential clients should be asking so let me walk you through my process I think you're going to find it interesting even if it doesn't apply to your life today it might someday [Music] okay guys so here we are this is so fun for me to finally actually get to do a one-time or one hour consultations we might go a little bit longer because you know I do talk a lot when you set up that first meeting to meet with this potential designer I think it's very important that you have your spouse or your partner your husband there at that time the bottom line is usually the first part of the interview is a meet and greet she wants to know about you just as much as you want to know about her because remember you're both kind of interviewing each other at least I used to be doing that as you move into the next part it requires taking a tour through the house do you know which rooms you want to address are you hiring someone just to do one room are you hiring someone to do your entire house she's definitely going to want to see that and as she goes through and sees it what is she going to do pay attention does she take photos of the rooms that she's in does she take measurements those kinds of things are telltale signs of someone who has some experience in doing what they're doing oh let me tell you right now I am going to use when I say her which I'll be saying throughout this whole video please know I mean to say him or her because there are many male designers out there that are great I'll tell you my first impression in here is um proportion if you really want to know what you're getting when you're interviewing her pay attention to the fact that she either does or does not throw out design ideas for you while she's there I would redo this at the same time and probably what I would do you guys if this is not structural if you could I'd lose this when I do my interviews anytime I would go to someone's house I couldn't help myself I mean sometimes we were actually moving furniture while I was there because I could just see it immediately and you know that kind of thing really built confidence in the clients if this person that you're interviewing has confidence she'll probably throw out all kinds of ideas but it is reliant on something else we're going to talk about in the next section but you could get rid of all of that soffit effect and really make this at an amazing first impression here the whole wall or just where the bar is what it would do is when you walk in okay your first impression you would see the reflection you would feel as though these are windows oh my gosh me up I think the most important thing that you're looking for is someone you can trust someone you can trust with your home someone you can trust that understands Your Design style especially if you and your partner or spouse have different design Styles I'd want to know that I Was Heard and he was heard or she was heard let's just do this okay [Laughter] here's the thing there's nothing that says your furniture has to be on the walls it's way sexier way classier to have it it floating floating in the room now here's what you get you actually get a full floor to ceiling window view [Music] is she taking notes just during your your conversation she's taking notes is she I can tell you what I used to do I used to actually record all of my very first time interview appointments with potential clients and here's why I don't want to take notes when I'm meeting with someone for this first time I have a vision the moment I walk into someone's house so what it could look like but that vision changes based on what they are like what they say so rather than take notes about it and then be concerned about how I was spelling something and Miss what they said I just recorded those those first initial appointments and I can't tell you how many times I would go back and listen to those over and over again I would catch oh that's right they wanted privacy Shades in their bedroom but they don't want them in the living room those are the kinds of details that you might be sharing with someone that they may or may not pay attention to so if someone comes and wants to record your conversation don't get freaky about it it's it's most likely she just wants to make sure she gets everything the other side is she's not recording I hope she's taking notes because what you have to say is important okay um the nightstands don't match but they're close enough do you love your lamps no good because I can't stand them would you bring something down from the ceiling um it would look amazing but then you've also got the fact it might draw more attention to the Vault ceiling because you're going to have one chain longer than the other one I think two new lamps um and you're going to have the same problem I have in one of my nightstands is taller than the other so I use a I have a Plexiglas piece that I put underneath of the lamp and it just props it up because when you have lamps that match if they're off by an inch or an inch a couple of inches you really see it I think you should do an accent wall I think you should do it a smoky color um let's get my paint back in the day Ralph Lauren had a line of paint I don't know if he still does do you remember the Ralph Lauren paint and they had some metallic kinds of paint and I'm that's why I'm saying a smoky Moody metallic paint back here that is in the well it might even be in the olive color let's see what that looks like that one's very very dark but I like that yeah I think it's sexy yeah I think that something as simple as that honestly you guys just painting this back wall and getting new lamps you will have you will have done a very inexpensive uh update to your room both of these I think you could keep these curtains I like these curtains and I like the idea of the this wall connecting here I think that would look really good and what about in here okay but if you're gonna if you're gonna paint this paint this okay same color same color as your accent there I'm not kidding you guys that those little things okay oh yeah will make such a difference yeah you'll love that [Music] so that was fun and I'm so glad I got to come and do it you know I'm so glad you're in Tulsa I still I want to hear the story and I've seen the stories but how did you guys really pick Tulsa out of every place we'll have to have wine or some night we can talk about it absolutely any night on the deck we're available all right [Music] you ready to talk about money me too but guess what I got one more Point ask her if she has a degree in interior design that may be important to you and it may not I can tell you that I do not have a degree and I think my clients in the past would tell you it didn't matter but it is something you probably want to find out and if it doesn't matter you then don't ask if it does matter to you shame on you I could never have been your designer [Music] [Music] the discussion about what you're going to be charged for the Design Services is very much commensurate with the person's experience and what it is that they promise to deliver it's important that you decide before the designer comes how much you're willing to spend not only on her but on your project itself I think it's important for the designer to know because she needs to know what is the scope of this job just be sure that you're comfortable with the way that she charges now let's talk about this she could be charging hourly she could be charging by the project and she could be charging uh hourly or project plus a markup there's all different ways of doing it I've done it a lot of different ways throughout my career because I was full service interior designer for 30 plus years so I went through a whole lot of different changes but I'd say typically it's more common for designers to charge hourly what should a designer cost again completely depends on her experience when I started off as an interior designer I actually charged I think my first job was 17 an hour I mean it was 35 years ago but 17 an hour then I went up to 35 and as I got more experience I went up to 55 then to 75 and then the next step and I'm talking over a period of years was a hundred and twenty dollars an hour and it went up from there by the time I finished in San Diego but what I'll tell you is I bumped up my pricing according to my skill level according to my ability [Music] but I would meet people For the First Time for That interview you know what I actually charged for the interview so that's a question you want to ask her when you call on the phone to make the appointment do you charge for your initial consultation I think it's a controversial thing A lot of people do not charge for it let me tell you why I did and why I still do if I was going to do it today because when I go to someone's house I want to be free to just let it rip paint this this color right all the way across all the way around here by the cap painted this color I walk in I have a vision I see something I just want to throw it all out there I just want to say well what about this have you thought about that oh you know it'd be cool over there I want to I want to be like so creative well guess what that's my intellectual property and people need to pay for it some of you want to go shopping with your designers and I totally get that and I highly recommend that both for designers and for homeowners go shopping together once after that if she's good leave her alone you're only going to slow her down your indecision is going to make it very difficult for her and she will not be able to be at her best [Music] the thing that that was a catalyst to me even making a YouTube video on how to hire an interior designer is recently I've spoken to several people who have said yes I've had other designers before and their experience was not positive it all boils down to two things she didn't listen she cost us so much money all right so those are two things that you need to make sure when you finally decide who you're going to hire make sure she's listening look for clues that she's listening and she's Discerning and number two make sure that you have covered from stem to stern every possible cost that could be coming your way because I can tell you that hiring an interior designer is a luxury and it is expensive okay not only is it expensive for you to do the things that she's recommending you do and buy the things she's recommending you by but to pay her to make those recommendations and to follow through and to bring it to completion [Applause] [Music] there's one more important element that I'd like to bring up and that is to make sure you ask for a couple of references if you narrow it down to who you want to hire I wouldn't hire them unless I spoke to someone they're currently working with and someone that they've worked with in the past there's where you're going to get your best input on this person you're looking at so you've seen in this video we have sort of cut in a couple of times some footage of me with potential clients so I want to tell you who they are that is Mick and Christine and turns out they live here in Tulsa now am I looking for new clients not necessarily but they are Christine is a member of the design sessions and as a member of the design session she has the ability to access me on an hourly basis people can buy me and zoom call me for an hour and I do a one hour consultation it's a it's an amazing thing I've done like 30 of them so far all around the world but turns out when I got Christine's information it said we live here in Tulsa so I called her up and I said hey what do you think would you like me to actually come to your house she's like oh my God yes so I went to the house I was able to bring a videographer with me and we captured a lot of what you're seeing today I thought it might if I could show you what it's like when I go to someone's house and I walk through the kinds of things I notice the recommendations or the ideas that just come to me and how that whole thing flows am I looking for you to hire me absolutely not I mean I wouldn't mind doing a one-hour consultation but all I'm trying to say is this is kind of what it should look like to a certain degree when you bring someone in your home and you interview them to be potentially your new interior designer so there you have it my friends my idea of the best way to hire an interior designer and certainly to interview one all right I hope you've enjoyed today's video I will see you guys next Thursday at two o'clock Central time bye bye for now [Music]

Channel: Kinwoven - Robeson Design

Views: 45,031

Keywords: interior design, interior decorating, decorating, home decor, interior design tips, interior design ideas, rebecca robeson, kinwoven, decorating tips, cohesive home, decorating ideas, design style, house tour, home makeover, decorating tricks, home hacks, beautiful home, home inspiration, home how to, interior design online course

Id: dTz1r5BrUOA

Length: 15min 47sec (947 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 15 2023