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How do I choose which interior designer is right for me?
Working with an interior designer is similar to a marriage or a business partnership.It requires open communication and trust.This person will be spending many hours in your home, and it is important that you feel comfortable with and trust him or her. You are buying a service and paying for the expertise of your interior designer just as you pay for your attorney and accountant. Ask yourself these three questions: How's our rapport? It is important that your interior designer listen to you as well as having great ideas. Can I speak frankly? If you feel intimidated saying, "I hate pink, or This table costs twice what I can spend, you may need a different interior designer. Am I being asked enough questions? Remember that the interior designer is interviewing you as much as you're interviewing him or her. In order to get an interior that is customized to your needs, the designer must ask you a lot of questions.
Do I have to do the whole house at once?
Do not feel that you can only call an interior designer to do a complete house. Your interior designer will help you prioritize your design needs and make suggestions as to what can be accomplished with your present budget. It is not uncommon for a designer to work with a client for one to three years in order to complete a project. Most interior designers would rather do each area right on its own than do a whole house in a very short time. But at the same time, it is important to design for the entire house, so that each room flows into the next and there is a relationship between one area and the next.
Understanding the Language of Landscape Design
Whenever you put something together yourself, you are engaged in designing, however humble the project. Sometimes we take our designing skills for granted, because what we're putting together is so commonplace for us that we are no longer conscious of the designing process. For instance, you are employing designing techniques when you compose a letter to send to somebody. Your basic "elements" to accomplish such a task include vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Somewhat more complex elements, or "principles" build directly on the basic elements. Letter-writing principles include conveying your ideas clearly and coming across as a courteous, intelligent individual. Your success with these principles will largely determine whether or not your letter achieves its ultimate objective.
And so it is with landscape design. Do-it-yourselfers must first learn the basic designing elements that underlie the discipline of landscape design. These fundamental elements will then serve as building blocks for learning and implementing the more advanced principles for designing a garden in the backyard. These tried and true principles are the cornerstones of the world's picture-perfect gardens.
Interior designers plan the design of living and commercial
environments. They then manage the work of turning their ideas
into a reality. They need to design a space that is practical for its
purpose as well as visually pleasing.
Projects can be broad in scope, ranging from structural alterations
to the choice of furnishings, curtains, wallpaper and lighting. The
role includes:
working to a brief, which details what the space will be used for
inspecting and surveying buildings
negotiating fees and setting schedules for the project
researching and drawing up rough plans
developing detailed designs and choosing materials
supervising the work as it is carried out.
An interior designer must have:
creativity and imagination
an eye for design, including colour, and good 3D awareness
the ability to visualise concepts and explain them to others
good drawing and IT skills
an interest in changing trends in design.
Landscape design.
Sounds rather imposing, doesn't it? And, to be sure, one could spend years studying all the ideas in the field of garden or landscape design. But what about the do-it-yourselfer who wants to give a lawn a makeover, or wishes to tinker with designing a garden? If you need to spruce up the landscape design of a house that you are about to sell, or if you simply want to enjoy an enhanced beauty in the privacy of your backyard, you could profit from a straightforward, no-nonsense look at the ideas behind designing a garden, supplemented with hands-on project guides
