When it comes to your renovation project, an interior designer will take responsibility for everything involved from start to finish, from initial conception through to bringing the project to fruition. Their purpose is to ensure the success of your interior design and layout project. They begin by carrying out a preliminary study so that the project can be adapted to your house’s particular shapes and spaces.
The aim is thus to provide the expertise required to meet the clients needs in terms of comfort and aesthetics. Interior designers have to have certain qualities, such as particularly good listening and analytical skills, in order to properly carry out the work they do. Some interior designers specialise in very specific types of design and layout projects. Find about the kinds of tasks these professional organisers and arrangers carry out in our article.
Analysis and concept development
Carrying out a renovation project adds significantly to your property’s resale value. In fact, an Interior designer will completely transform your interior space. The skills they bring to the table cover all the different types of work involved in optimising interior space to make it more functional, and this includes the comfort aspect of the space, be it public or private.
They do not simply redecorate houses in the way interior decorators do. This is why, in fact, interior designers need to have a deep understanding of interior arrangement and layout. They also need to be experts in the realms of art and design. What this means in practice is that to work as an interior designer in France you need to have studied the subject to postgraduate level and hold a relevant higher professional qualification.
Before beginning the work itself, interior designers have to carry out a preliminary study. This involves carrying out an analysis of what you’re proposing to have done. Use this as an opportunity to clearly define what your expectations are. This will give you the chance to share your own outlines and ideas with the interior designer.
Whether it’s a flat, an office or a shop, part of the expertise of the interior designer lies in choosing a suitable and appropriate design, but this can also be adapted to meet the client’s expectations. A preliminary visit to the premises is therefore a required part of the process.
Once the analysis has been carried out, the interior designer will then move on to the project development stage, using sketches and 3D plans to turn the client’s dreams into concrete reality. They will need to work within budgetary constraints and take account of any regulations affecting the layout and design project.
As an industry professional, they will already be fully familiar with the applicable administrative rules and regulations, all of which will depend on the scope and scale of the work to be carried out. If necessary, they will help the client with all the administrative steps required to ensure the project is completely legally compliant. Applying for a building permit and submitting a declaration of works to the relevant administrative authority are two examples of this.
Conceptualising the design and making the best use of the spaces
Combining the skills of both decorators and creative conceptualisers, interior designers are able to provide a very wide range of services. They are scenography specialists, endowed with an extraordinary ability to create and develop entire decorative concepts. This stage of the design and conception process equates to providing the client with an overall concept proposal. A detailed programme is put together based on the initial analysis and the sketches and outlines already produced. It’s also at this stage that the costs of carrying out the planned work should be raised.
The size and extent of any given project depends on the client’s budget. The interior designer will also decide where to place each of the client’s furniture items to really make the most of them. They may in fact completely change how everything is organised.
They may decide to incorporate made-to-measure furniture based on their own sketches, or even opt to allow more natural light to enter or introduce different kinds of artificial lighting. It’s possible for them to end up totally transforming the interior spaces. They are experts in designing and organising spaces and hold qualifications testifying to their expertise in this area.
It’s important to be aware that in France it is a legal requirement to employ an architect when building house extensions greater than 150 m² in area. The involvement of an architect is also required when carrying out renovation and redesign work designed to increase the habitable area of a space to more than 150 m². You can have more information on this website.
Monitoring and coordinating the site and the works
The project first has to be accepted and agreed by the client. Once their approval has been obtained, the interior designer then assumes the role of project manager. It is their responsibility to select the businesses and services that will take part in carrying out the work. They also ensure the site is properly organised and coordinated. This will vary in accordance with the scope and extent of the work to be carried out. They may need to employ the services of a painter or a cabinetmaker, or other kinds of construction professionals.
Finding capable and reliable businesses to carry out the work is an arduous and painstaking task. Amongst the services interior designers provide is that of helping the client easily find the right companies for the particular design and layout project in question.
The task of monitoring the work in progress requires regular meetings at the site. The interior designer has to keep the client constantly updated about the progress of the works. They remain involved right up to the point of project handover.
Employing an interior designer can also be an effective way of turning a flat or apartment into a living space that reflects your own personality whilst at the same time lending it a beneficial modern touch.
