Should I be an Interior Designer or Decorator is a question that every beginning interior design or interior decorating students should ask themselves before before they invest the money and time for the training. As you know, training to become an Interior Designer or an Interior Decorator can be costly and time consuming. Some interior design training programs can take up to 5 years of full time study inorder to complete the program. For some, even investing 1 year full time can be difficult due to other life’s obligations.
Working in both the interior design and interior decorating are fun and exciting. Unlike many other profession such as being a teacher, Doctor, sales etc, Interior Designer or Decorator are creative individuals working in an exciting creative field.
Lets first briefly take a look at what each of the profession is all about first. By understanding the roles, responsibilities and type of work performed by each of the profession can provide you some insights for you choose to become an Interior Designer o Decorator.
Should I Be an Interior Decorator
Rather you wish to be an Interior Designer or Decorator, both professions perform interior decorating work. However, as an Interior Decorator, most of the time, you are working with existing space and your task is to enhance the look and feel of this exiting space. This is normally achieved by choosing paint colors, a new type of wall papers or ceiling finishes, selecting new furniture and lighting fixtures, new curtains and drapes, new sofa cushions, accessories etc.
To be an Interior Decorator, education or training is not required and anyone can become an Interior Decorator. If you do wish to take some classes in interior decorating, courses are available online or at your local post secondary schools. Like any professions or skills, it is always beneficial to take some classes inorder to gain some knowledge and training in the field.
Having additional interior design skills and training can be beneficial for Interior Decorators
In most of your interior decorating projects, you will be working in smaller single family residential properties with homeowners. In some cases, you may be working for larger residential properties such as apartment units and even performing decoration work for show homes for Property Developers.
Lets take a look at some of the pros and cons being an Interior Decorator:
Pros:
- creative
- can start your own interior decorating business
- work on interesting projects
- low to no training required
- get to meet new people
- get invited to events
- get to invited to parties and dinners with clients
- less work and responsibilities compare to an Interior Designer
- larger home projects can be lucrative
Cons:
- limited to mostly in residential interiors only
- some home owners can be more difficult to work with
- unlike commercial interiors, homeowners have more demands and expectations for their homes
- compare to Interior Designers, Interior Decorators provide limited services and not as diversified as Interior Designers
- unable to work in an interior design studio where more skills are required for more complex interior projects
- career diversity can be limited
- income potential can be limited
Should I Be an Interior Designer
Similar to an Interior Decorator, an Interior Designer also perform decorating work as well. However, an Interior Designer carry more responsibilities and provide more services to an interior design project. An Interior Designer not only just work with existing space and enhancing the look of an existing space, the Interior Designer also design, create and plan spaces, design custom furniture and lighting fixtures, design accessories, signage design, graphics, work with consultants such as Contractors, Architects and Engineers, provide project management and coordination services, construction administration work, technical drafting and more.
Interior Designer works on both residential and commercial interior projects from single family homes to large residential projects, restaurants, retails, shopping malls, night clubs, offices, schools, hospitals, airplanes, cars, cruise-ships, movie sets and many more. Clients can range from homeowners to business owners, property developers, Architects, Governments etc.
Now, lets take a look at the pros and cons of being an Interior Designer:
Pros:
- creative
- can do what an Interior Decorator can do
- design work is more diversified
- can start your own interior design business
- work on interesting projects
- get to meet new people
- get invited to events
- get to invited to parties and dinners with clients
- can work in both residential and commercial projects
- can work for interior design studios
- get to work on more larger projects
- unlimited potential income if start your own design business
- get to travel for international projects
- more diversified career opportunities
Cons:
- more responsibilities
- projects can be more complex
- project’s client group can be large
- more people to work with
- some interior design training will be required to become an Interior Designer
- large stakeholder group can sometime hard to work with
- more administration work
- more coordination work
To learn more about how to become an Interior Designer, click here.
