Why DIY Interior Design Will Cost You More

02 Jul Why DIY Interior Design Will Cost You More

These days we are surrounded by Interior Design imagery. It is everywhere from social media to magazines to television shows. With so many inspirations, it can feel like DIY Interior Design is the way to go. In the end, though, DIY Interior Design is not as easy – or cost-effective – as it may appear to be.

Why DIY Interior Design Can Cost You More

1. Purchasing items that do not fit your lifestyle

Some furnishings may draw you in, but that does not mean they are right for your lifestyle. For example, if you have young children, bright white furniture might not be a good call. If you enjoy hosting dinner parties, having a small table is not the best decision. To make sure that a design is right, you have to consider how people will use the space, what rooms are most important, how durable their Interior Design needs to be, and a range of other factors. Professionals take all this into account when sourcing items for your home.

2. Buying items at the wrong scale

When homeowners look at designs, they tend to focus on whether or not they like the style of the pieces. This can lead to a sense that Interior Design is just about picking pretty furnishings. In reality, however, it is not just about pieces looking good on their own. They also have fit the scale of your space. If you engage in DIY Interior Design, you may find pieces being too big or too small for a room, forcing you to make new purchases.

3. Inefficient use of your time

Professional Interior Designers are trained to work quickly and efficiently. When you engage in DIY Interior Design, you can find the project will start eating up your free time quickly! After you add up all the hours you spend on your design (as those hours are part of the cost of the project) you will probably find your DIY Interior Design is not as economical as you expected.

4. Lacking connections

Interior Designers have connections with other professionals throughout the industry. This often results in discounts on materials and finishes, access to insider furnishings, and more. When you work with a firm like Draft On Site, the Interior Design team works with our Custom Home Design team, offering you a range of advantages including a more integrated design process leading to less unexpected costs.

5. Not seeing the big picture

Here at Draft On Site, we think of design in a holistic way, we have a lot of different team members that focus on becoming experts in a variety of topics. That means we create an overall design concept, then add the pieces and engage the professionals that will help realize that concept. This is the opposite of the way most DIY Interior Design occurs.

6. Going over budget

Interior Designers pay attention to your budget – and they know how to best stretch your money. This allows you to get the best possible design for your budget. Your Designers will also think about what adds value to your home, putting money into those areas first.

Amateur designers tend to focus on the pieces first, putting them together but not considering how they impact the other pieces. That can easily lead to a thrown together look and potentially costing more as the pieces have to be rethought and even replaced part way through the project.

If you handle your Interior Design without professional support, you may not have the insight or advice you need. Which means you are much more likely to go over budget… while ending up with less value in your home.

In the end, there is a reason professional Interior Designers train long and hard. They are experts in their field – and that can be seen in their work.