How To Start An Interior Design Business

If you love touring the annual Parade of Homes shows, learn how to start an interior design business.

Interior designers can give new look to homes and business through the use of furniture and accessories.

They can create different looks using color, themes, various style and furniture placement.

Interior designers may work on one room within a home or they may overhaul the entire home. They may also develop a unique look for a suite of offices.

Designers must have imagination, an understanding of their client's need, and a talent for pulling varied pieces together to create a specific look.

Decorator or Designer?

The terms interior designer and interior decorator are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference. In many states, interior designers must be licensed and typically must have at least two years of college-level design experience.

Designers are also expected to understand building structure and to be comfortable coordinating structural changes, such as moving or knocking out walls.

For becoming an interior decorator, however, there is no license or education requirement. While the title may matter to some clients, what matters to most is your individual skill.

How to Start an Interior Design Business

Because the field of decorating is vast, it is a good idea to focus on a particular niche when learning how to start an interior design business.

You may focus on creating one-of-a-kind nurseries of fantasy children's bedrooms.

Your love for restoration might lead you to work with older homes in gentrified neighborhoods. Likewise, you may want to help homes in new developments lose their cookie-cutter interiors.

Or, perhaps your interest is on office decorating, and you can create serene environments for dentists' offices.

Other Types of Business

Some clients do not want – or cannot afford—a major redecorating project in their home. Or maybe they like their furnishings, but can't quite pull the entire look together. Designers/decorators can redesign this space, often using furnishings and accessories the client already has. Some design professionals also coach their clients to help them create a specific look themselves.

If you have the organization gene, maybe you can start out becoming a professional organizer. While you work with your clients on de-cluttering, you can make suggestions on how to use space and furnishings better - a great idea for how to start an interior design business!

Starting Your Business

Decorator, decorate thyself! In other words, use your own home, your parent's home, and your friends' homes as samples. Take before and after pictures to put up on your website.

Tell everyone you know about your interior decorating business, and give out business cards.

Contact construction companies in new neighborhoods to decorate model homes.

Keep an eye on real estate lists for homes for sale. Contact owners whose houses have been for sale awhile, and offer to visit and make suggestions that will make the house more “show ready.” Point out areas to improve, but save some ideas for when they hire you!

Attend home shows to network. Keep learning by visiting new and older homes for sale, reading design magazines and watching some of the home design shows on TV.

By deepening your knowledge of your profession, understanding your client's needs and using your personal flair, you can design a business you'll be proud of.

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