Interior Designer VS Interior Decorator

Interior Designer or Interior Decorator. Many believe that the two are the same. But there are some significant differences in the two professions.

A Interior Designer has the education, training and experience to make structural changes to your home. Would manage the construction and installation of a design. Making sure designs are in compliance with building and safety codes. Designers are also, in some states, required to have a license. The license certifies the designer is qualified to make complex decisions about interior spaces.

A Interior Decorator is primarily concerned with surface decoration. Will have the ability and expertise to transform an interior with the use of color, paint, wall papers, furnishings, fabrics, window treatments, accessories and art placement. Helping you put the finishing touch on each room of your home. They can help you select the appropriate products to create the look and feel you want for your environment. Warm and Cozy, Causal Elegant, or Bright and Cheery?

Although there are few schools for interior decorators, most are geared toward the profession of interior design, many decorators are trained and have studied the principals and elements of design and will use that training and skills to help you complete your decorating projects. They will also have available to them products that are offered to the trade only. Allowing you access to products you would not have on your own.

I am proud to say I am a Interior Decorator and have NO desire to be a Interior Designer.

In a future post I will give you some tips on hiring a Designer or Decorator.

Wake Up Your Walls With Color

Why live with boring white walls? Paint is the least expensive way to decorate, set the mood and enhance the look of a room.

When choosing a color for your walls consider the amount of light in the room and the orientation of the room. North facing rooms may need to be warmed up with color. Rooms facing south tend to get a lot of light mid day and bright light washes out color. So off whites may not be enough for those rooms. East and west facing rooms give you the most leeway.

You can also create a mood with color. To create a feeling of tranquility focus on a cool color palette. Blue is probably the most serene color in the spectrum.

Looking to spread a little cheer through out your decor? The basic rule here is stick to warm colors.

Warm and cozy setting also use a warm palette to produce a snug comfortable look. If cool colors are part of your color scheme, choose warmer versions of them. Greens with more yellow in them and blues warmed up with red.

Vertical Solutions

There was a time when our only choices for a sliding glass door was a traversing drapery or dated vertical blinds. Not any more!

Vertical blinds are now available in soft fabric vanes and the vinyl blinds are available in beautiful patterns and colors. Also an option is one simple wand control that tilts the vanes, and open and closes the blinds. No more cord and chain controls.

Duette with Vertiglide, (pictured here ) made from the same cellular fabric you are familiar with for the window is now made to fit the sliding door. It can open left or right and takes only 6" of stack space.

Luminette from Hunter Douglas combines the beauty of a sheer with the versatility of a vertical blind. Get it all in one product.

Newest on the market is a product called panel track. Panels slide left or right stacking on top of each other. Panels can be made from natural materials like woven woods or bamboo type materials. Or can be flat panels of drapery fabric. Panels can range in size. I will be trying to find a picture to post so you can see this wonderful new option for large windows or sliding doors.

Enhance Your View

Don't cover up your view, Enhance it!

Each window in your home will have its own specific needs. Start by assessing your rooms need for privacy and light control. Even when you have a great view from your windows, there may be a need for privacy and light control. There are many products available that will allow you to have privacy when you need it and enjoy the view when you want.

Also keep in mind that while your room may not have a need for privacy or light control, when it gets dark and you lose your view, windows can become a big black hole swallowing up your room. So you may want to consider a shade for the window that can be lowered at night and raised during the day.

Once you have assessed your windows need for privacy and light control now it is time to complete your window. Like an artist, when he completes his masterpiece, he enhances his work with framing. We do the same with our windows. We don't want to cover up our beautiful view, but enhance and frame it with beautiful fabrics. These enhancing treatments will allow you to create a look or set the mood to your room. They help to give your home a finished and completed look. Each treatment should be designed and fabrics selected with your lifestyle and the style of the home in mind.