Should I Become an Interior Designer or an Interior Decorator

As an Interior Decorator, you will mostly be working on residential projects such as interior of a house or an apartment for a particular space or for the entire house. In most case, you will be working on a particular space such as a bathroom, kitchen or the living room etc. Your primary service provided to the client is to bring visual aesthetics and appeal to an existing residential space and this may include selecting colors, the floor and wall finishes, the type of window curtains, the lighting fixtures, furniture and various other accessories etc. Other tasks would include furniture layout arrangement, basic drafting and drawing, color rendering, site visits and coordinating your design with suppliers etc. As regards to the training requirement to become an Interior Decorator, the training will be less intense and less technical. The training duration normally can take anywhere from a few months to a year depending on if you are taking a part time or a full time program. The tuition fees for the training is also much less and much more affordable.

For an Interior Designer, there are more diversification in-terms of project types and the type of services provided. Interior Designer will get involved in both residential and commercial projects and design projects can be much larger in scale and scope of work. Commercial interior projects may include restaurants, dance clubs and bars, coffee shops, retails, offices, hotels, schools, churches, cars, cruise ships and much more.

Similar to an Interior Decorator, the Interior Designer also will need to provide visual aesthetics service to the project for existing spaces but also for spaces created by you. You will also provide much more additional services to the project which may include furniture and lighting fixture design, logo design, creating artworks, graphic design, interior building system reviews, assessments and inspections, building code and bylaw regulation reviews, coordinating with City officials and other consultants such as Architects and Engineers, space planning, technical drafting and drawings, color renderings, sketching, project management and coordination work, project costing, contract administrations etc.

Training requirement to become an Interior Designer can be abit more costly and longer in duration from a few months to up to 4+ years. Due to the skills you will learn in interior design, more doors can be opened for you and you will be able to provide more services to your client resulting in higher fees, more income or higher wages.

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