Most people are put off by the IDEA that designers charge a lot of money. However, the REALITY is that their job is to save you so much more money, than their fees will actually cost you. No one ever talks about this! If you are spending a certain budget anyway, and need a new expensive element, especially if you need a new kitchen, you will be able to apportion some of your budget for a designer, and then they will be able to get you better prices, savings in cost and time, plus they will be taking the stress and responsibility off you.

An example: I recently produced a new kitchen for a client’s flat, which would have cost her £28,000 through any high street kitchen ‘shop’, except that it would have been of far lesser quality and choice than my version. I saved her 50% of this amount of money, which also covered my fee, saving her £14,000. When you understand this, it doesn’t make sense not to have the benefits of a designer on board. Aside from the new units and appliances, the kitchen now has a more user-friendly lay-out, better positioned entrance door, nicer lighting and is made of solid wood rather than MDF, with updated styles and newer features such as hidden pull-out bins and larders, which are all elements the client was told were impossible by the high street kitchen sales company who had initially quoted.

The designer will think beyond any one room and work out the best flow across the whole property and position and invent new elements for you, reflective of your daily priorities.

One of the loveliest Edinburgh town houses I have been in (but didn’t design!) had the utility room upstairs so that there wasn’t an endless trail of bedding and laundry up and down all the flights of stairs - these areas don’t have be positioned by the kitchen, which is far from the bedrooms and bathrooms after all!

A designer will understand about using colour throughout to make the best use of directional facing/ sunlight/ warmth and atmosphere, as well as the most beneficial flow and functionality which may not have ever been considered yet has a transformative effect on how you feel in your own home.

Of course a designer is bound to present you with ideas you may never have imagined, which could end up being favourite parts of your home.

Organised. Unflappable. Creative. Experienced. Good decision-maker. Problem-solver. Manager of tasks, personalities, timescales, budgets, suppliers. Patient. Flexible. Good Listener. Aesthete. Practical. Clever. Responsible. Organised (again).

When you pay for an interior designer, you are paying for their expertise and eye, but also their connections and negotiating power, plus their organisational skills and you entrust responsibility with your asset/ investment and money.

Costs will be saved at each stage through good relationships with suppliers, and communication with contractors, and also through a practical understanding and experience of knowing how builds are done at each different stage, from the ground up. Being able to anticipate where issues may lie ahead in terms of lead times or quality, or a change of decision on a design feature can avoid mistakes and unnecessary expense.

I am a believer in the phrase “Pay well, pay once”. In addition, I am well-connected with many excellent antiques and art dealers, and also the whole gamut of retail/ trade sourcing over 20 years. I know I have an enviable trade supplier sourcebook, with the best discount levels possible through being a retailer and negotiator.

Before I set up my first shop (back in 2007!) I was a PA to several different CEOs which really set me up to be a good project manager, which is a central tenet, probably 70% so, of being an Interior Designer. I also have the personal experience of the total renovation of two of my own successive homes, one of which was a building site for the best part of 18 months.

My performance training (BA Hons & LTCL in music/ opera) means I am a good and confident communicator, another essential tenet! There are a lot of personalities to manage at all levels.

Every person is so different, and professional levels vary hugely - I have met so many supposed ‘interior designers’ in my shop who are really only (self) stylists without training or qualifications, buoyed on by Instagram! Everybody is now a stylist, darling! It is important to do your research but also to find a personality that you want to work with, and that’s a two way decision.

Advising on colour through a few rooms or an entire space, costs from a few hundred pounds. I offer specialist colour consultancy through Edward Bulmer, and Farrow & Ball, or my own combination of these two favourite paint brands.

If you add to the Colour fee, the same again at least in paint per room, plus decorator labour charge per room, you can work out that c.£850 would see 1-2 rooms newly painted.

Around six thousand pounds all inclusive would see a finished 4-5 bedroomed house, updated and refreshed with a new colour scheme throughout (with paint costs around £1800, supplied by us, and decorating costs at a current daily tradesman rate, allowing for a couple of weeks’ labour time.)

A re-paint is the cheapest and quickest way of updating your home.

Colour Consultancy:

I have trained with both Edward Bulmer, and Farrow and Ball, and offer their paint and consultancy, which is bookable by arrangement. I can also do a combination of both these brands, and other paints, such as Argile and Francesca’s Paints, Coat, Lick, Little Greene, Papers and Paints.

This is difficult to answer generally, as every project and scale is different. However, in aiming to give a helpful, answer, we could think of it in levels/ stages for advice and help, but also room by room and based on the size of property. Then there are the furnishings and furniture to consider and budget for, if that is part of the requirement.

To start:

I make a small charge of a few hundred pounds for an initial meeting to discuss your wishes and needs, on which I base my proposal, and see how we might get on in order to work together.

Going Forward:

Most design and project management fees cost around 15-20% of the overall refurbishment cost. This is the nearest percentage to what most things always end up being, as an industry standard. So, broadly, if you are budgeting around £300k for a rebuild/ refurb, it will end up costing around £45,000 for all of that to be project managed and installed, in collaboration with builders, suppliers and the architect if you use one. So the timescale should ideally cover the whole project from start to finish, with a large amount of physical input right at the end as the final layer of decoration and furnishings are reached. It could take 2 years to complete, depending on builders. Your designer should be there from start to finish, always with the vision of the finished result in mind, and to guide the decisions. Leaving the appointment of an interior designer until right at the end of a project misses the point of what they’re there to do, and creates more stress for you, but will cost the same, or more.

A 2-3 bedroomed flat might have a refresh budget of £50,000. The fee is roughly £8 - 10,000 within that budget.

The cost of the fixtures and furnishings are on top of the fees outlined above. This be done on a small budget or rising to a premium level for a bespoke, full finish, and for that, the sky’s the limit (set by the client though!).

Your designer should be there from start to finish, alongside instructing the builders and architect if you go down that route. Your designer will always retain the vision of the finished result in mind, to guide the decisions along the process.

Leaving the appointment of an interior designer until right at the end of a project misses the point of what they’re there to do, and creates more stress for you, but will cost you the same, or more (most likely, as there are always things which will need re-doing in these circumstances).

Also, good designers can only take on a few projects per year due to the high workload involved, so book early to get the person you want.

Projects can take from a few months, to up to 3 years to complete if lots of building work is required. That doesn’t include Planning!