What It Takes To Be An Interior Designer

0:00Expedia and Visit Scotland invite you to come experience the beauty that awaits in Scotland. The sweep of wild coastlines, quiet locks and untamed landscapes. Fresh cuisine that feels rooted in the land. Come experience the kind of stillness that stays with you long after you leave. Plan your Scottish escape today at Expedia.com slash VisitScotland. Hello everyone, welcome to Dear Alice. Today I think we're going to be answering a lot of people's questions. this is probably our most asked question here on Dear Alice. Everybody wants to know, how do I get into the interior design field? We get asked this question a lot ourselves.

0:47It's not a straightforward path for some people, and there's a lot of ways to skin a cat. We're going to answer at least four of your questions today, all having to do with getting into the field. And so we're wanting to just give you all the industry and career tips we can think of on ways for you to break into the field if you've always wanted to be an interior designer. Even in addition to just the questions that we get for dear Alice, when you say, hi, my name is Jess. I do interior design. Guarantee you there's 50 % of the people that come up to you and be like, that's so fun. I want to do that.

1:18I want to be an interior designer. Yes. Proof positive. You're young. You are interested in this field. Do it because we hear so many people say they wish they had. Yeah. It's like their life regret. You're in the point where you're figuring out what do you want to do with the rest of your life? You're 18, 2019, you're getting into it, do it. It's so great. Yeah. And if you're not, you've lived your first life. Now is your chance to live your second life. Totally. And I'll say this, the field is actually quite wide and large, and there's so many different types of talents it needs in order to do design.

1:49And so maybe you love the field, but you're not sure where your skills would fit. So we're going to break down today all of the different roles that there are within at least our firm. We also have a furniture store here. So we have stylists and whatnot. So we kind of have kind of a lovely opportunity to represent both and say what jobs there are within both so that that way you know how to sort of break into the market and just try this on if it's something you've always wanted to do. We'll also talk about the schooling necessary if you do want to go to school or jobs that you can do if you don't want to go to school.

2:22Let's start with Sloan's question first off, just to sort of set the table and then we'll break it down. They asked, I'm looking to finally change careers this year and pursue my passion in interior design. Do you have any advice for someone with no experience or schooling who is trying to get into this career? For reference, I got my degree in risk management and insurance and I'm working at an insurance company currently. I love Sloan. Yeah, me too. You've weighed the risks. Yeah, exactly. The irony in this is it's perfect. I love it. I think every firm could use somebody like a Sloan that really knows how to get in there and get the paperwork done and dot the I's and cross the T's.

3:02I'm sure Sloan, you're probably drawn to the beautiful side of it, but there are like things like project managers that are really help managing the project and keep things moving on time. There's so many pieces and parts to this outside of making the 1 million decisions. Then there's also following the decision down its path until it hits your warehouse, until it hits your client's home. So it's funny because it's the creatives that are drawn to this as a major, but then you need the non-creatives to make sure that these things arrive on time and get to their destination. I heard from some of our non-creatives, they hate when we say non-creatives.

3:35You know what? It's true. It does take creativity to solve the problem of where are these things. It's almost like more of a left brain, right brain thing, but that's not saying that they're not creative because they definitely are. That's a good point, Sue. So yeah, it takes all different types. So we want to sort of break down some of the roles within the design firm. And Sloan, you could be any one of these. And that's why we wanted to sort of say what they are. And maybe you'll within this find that you're like, okay, that's the kind of role I want within the design firm. I'll still get to be around design all day.

4:05And maybe I'm not the one that's meeting with the client, or maybe I am. Maybe you're a great salesperson and you want to really read their heart and soul and you want to create the design for them. Or maybe you want to be drafting in the back room or managing the project. Yeah, there's so many things. So let's break it down. So let's first break down the difference between a designer and a decorator. Okay. Because I feel like everybody calls themselves an interior designer, and they don't necessarily know the difference between a designer and a decorator. A designer, in my opinion, an interior designer.

4:36And a lot of schools, like including where I got my degree, has changed it into instead of just interior design, it's interior architecture, which I think is really a relevant title change because you are learning about the architecture. You're learning how to take a plan from a drawing, develop that, into its details and construction drawings elevations details finish schedules how to work with a contractor into its final stage of furniture and then styling is a whole other thing but an interior designer knows how to take it from its birth like it's like idea fruition yeah and take it all the way through and that means it's like that's your cabinetry drawings that's your tile that's all your selections that's your plumbing that's your switches that's electrical RCPs all those details if you love all the details of just the skeleton of a home and how pathways affect another pathway and axes and everything interior design is a great field for you because you get to take it from the very beginning all the way to the very end so it's a lot of technical drawings and it's a lot with measurements and you're drawing elevations like she said the cabinetry drawings so you can hand it off to a cabinetry shop and explain your vision perfectly.

5:43They'll make shop drawings that you'll have to redline, but you really, it's super, super technical. When she said tile, those are tile drawings. So you're showing the tile layer exactly what you had in mind, how you want this tile laid, whether it's offset, whether it's in line, whether they're cutting the tiles in half to make this pattern, what grout you're specifying. So every single thing is accounted for and you're doing construction documents. So there's a lot of technicality in being a designer. It's as technical as an architect. And honestly, when we say it's our job it's just making a million decisions a day that's what it is you're making it you're you need to know what the profile edge of that's going to be you need to know what the finish of that countertop is going to be you need to know what finish on the actual toilet lever knob that's going to be you know like they're so just down to the most mundane you have to be in the details design is in the details and that's what an interior designer does and think steps ahead like you're playing chess you have to know all of what these decisions that you're going to have to make months from now.

6:40You're going to have to know what they are so you can populate the finished schedule. Exactly. And in fact, we're usually saying we'd like to get started like six months before they break ground, before they even begin the build, because we're the ones leading the charge and then everything's going to come after us. So if the home's already broke ground framed and they're at four way and they're like, oh, now we need finishes. Guess what? You have to choose everything in stock. You don't get to wait for that dream tile that's six weeks away. You're late to the game. So then the designer is playing this in stock game.

7:10You might not be able to, I mean, you really want to get this started a half a year before everybody else. Yeah, that's the ideal practice. So that's the designer, if you will. The decorator is somebody that is doing the furniture. Kind of the soft coverings. Yeah, totally. Maybe they're into the wallpaper. They might be good at choosing paint, but they're really in that furnishings layer of styling and decorating the home, the drapery treatments, all of that. A lot of times the decorator takes on the role of designer, even though it's out of their wheelhouse, they might not know AutoCAD, they can't do the drawings.

7:47And so you've really got somebody that can't fulfill the technical side of the job playing the role of designer. So that's why we think it's really nice if we're just trying to set the record straight here so that you know what you want to be. You might really want to be a decorator. There's no shame in that. You want to be good at both, to be honest. You do want to be good at both, but maybe you don't want to go to school. And I know becoming a designer requires schooling. It's going to take time. It's going to take schooling and you're going to need a certificate to do it. And then you're going to need a lot of time, you know, working in the construction field so that you're somebody that they can really rely on that does great drawings and is really accountable, has great construction schedules.

8:28I think if you're going to just choose one, kind of like you were saying, Suze, like you kind of want to know both, like even if you're going to specialize in one, I think it's always going to be beneficial to at least know like the pieces and parts of the other. Yes. Just to take those into consideration. And I would dare say, Corey, that it would be nice if your firm had both. Yes. And also if you're going to hire a designer because everybody's going to call themselves a designer you should know if they're more of a decorator or more of a designer or if they or if in their firm they practice both it's just really important for the construction side of things that you do have a technical designer just in this day and age and like we've even like more recently had been working with an architect who doesn't do autocad it's really hard as far as just like the speed and the efficiencies at which a job can move forward is frustrating for all other i guess departments and fields working on this home to get to the finish line.

9:23It just takes time. It takes more money, actually. They become the bottleneck. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely, it's the slow part of this job. And I'm like, oh my gosh, if he just had, if he had a draftsman or had, you know, some level of AutoCAD understanding, we would get to the next step. So being able to like say to your client that you can provide these things, that you can provide elevations, that you can come down to the details. If that's what you want to do, you need to get the education. You need to get, you know, the certificate, two-year, four-year degree in interior design. And honestly, I can tell usually like even a two-year from a four-year just because of that extra two years of AutoCAD drafting.

10:01Before I even look at their resume, I can be like, okay, two-year, four-year. It's pretty easy to decipher between. Not to say that you can't learn. And if you are hungry, we're going to go into all the different things. But designer to decorator, that is the difference. It's just like the technicalities and the soft coverings. Yeah. So for Sloan, depending on what side sounds like the most fun for you, but you're like ready to make a change right away, you could go and work for a designer or a decorator in their firm and they could just put you to work doing whatever it is that they need. It might be managing a project.

10:33It might be helping to manage their libraries. It might be, you're just getting into the details. And then at night you could take some sort of schooling to learn AutoCAD, whether it be a certificate, maybe it's an online school that's two years long, maybe it's a local school that offers night classes, you could be learning AutoCAD in the evening. And that could allow you to become a drafter or even a junior designer once you get that certificate. So you'd be well on your way to being a designer, but at least you're in the field. And you're at least you're learning if you like it. And you're kind of learning just sort of the pace of it.

11:05And you're being you're going to be on job sites, you're going to be in the decision making, you're going to be meeting the clients, and you're just going to be in the mix. There's so many decisions being made and they need so much help on so many levels to really get a project completion. Amen. So besides the designer and the decorator, Sue, do you want to define what a drafter is? Yeah. A draftsman is just like what I was talking about. That architect that he only, he's old school. He's only doing that in like by hand, beautiful drawings, not great as far as transferring to other trades. So the drafter is the person that's going to draft those hand drawings into AutoCAD plans.

11:40So again, If you're taking like CAD classes, you know, at a community college or somewhere local to you, you can get like a drafting license to be able to draft that. It's not an architect, but you're able to draft up plans, working plans that they could hand off to the different trades to build a home. Or actually to architects will have a bunch of drafters within their office and he's the one that will stamp it. Project manager. Do you want to define for them what the project manager is? Okay. The project manager is the person that helps us. And a lot, it's so interesting because there's, again, just going to count a million ways.

12:09yeah there's so many different types of interior design offices there are some where like the head designer is the project manager you know and like wears all the hats but if you are lucky enough to have a project manager or work for a place that like requires a project manager they're the one that kind of keeps the cog going they're the ones that are just like they're usually working like on the billing you know as far as like making sure clients are invoiced they are the ones just doing a lot of the orchestration between what the designer needs to communicate to the teams and just making sure that every, you know, teams or even the furniture lines that you're ordering furniture, our project managers kind of touch all the things through the project when it doesn't come to design or necessary client facing for presentations.

12:52They know everything. So again, it's a very, it's an organized position. It's someone, you know, who like loves design, but they definitely have that side of the brain where they can keep things straight. They can keep things on time. They can confirm all the appointments. They can make sure that everybody is having the best experience that they can and making the job easier for the designer, for the client. I think that's the role of a project manager. Yeah. Well said. I think everybody has skills that could be complimentary to a firm. It's just finding out where you fit. And like you said, sometimes it's just like going to work for a firm and trying a couple of different things on and see what suits you best.

13:31Along with the creatives, We need people that, you know, are into finance. So I think it makes sense to have a passion for interiors and design, but then see what your individual skills, see how those can lend to making the entire team successful. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah. There's, I mean, we'll keep getting into them, but I thought I would just add that while it was on my mind. But this is great. My sister has a degree in like business management. She's done pediatrician's office and all these things. She's retired now. But I was like, man, would she make a great project manager? and into your design firm.

14:04So I'm like, if you are that person, you're interested in the design field, this is a great pathway that you could plug yourself into a firm and be a really efficient tool and get to be a part of it and see beautiful things come to pass if you don't want to go and do the actual design route. But it also is still a ton of fun just to be around that, to be a part of that energy and the creative process. And I have learned a ton about, you know design and stuff just through osmosis yeah you know working here I think having a passion for it to begin with and my passion has been fed from the both of you seeing how hard you work how dedicated you are how just you know you're in it for the love of the game I honestly believe we didn't make a dollar do you guys would still do this because it's you're called to it's it's your passion it's a calling I think that's what Sloan is feeling and so many of the other people that wrote in with questions is they're feeling called to this.

15:00They love it. They're like, I would do it for free. Probably. It's probably their hobby outside of their job. And so they're like, how do I just do this full time? Here's the thing, just like you, Corey got all of this through osmosis. You've done your 10 ,000 hours, right? At some point, all of you guys interested in this, we'll do your 10 ,000 hours. You will become an expert in it. I think you can work for a showroom or a designer and absorb the information. You might want the technical training of getting that certificate at night so that you can really just say put me in anywhere because I have that ability also to do the drawings.

15:34You'll find your spot, but we just wanted to give you this information to empower you to say, actually, Sloan, just get started right now at a local showroom for a local decorator or designer, and let's just start absorbing the information. You don't have to wait to get your degree. The next one on the list is stylist. We have a showroom, which is a furniture showroom that we are styling every day of the week that we work here. There's just always updates, new products coming in, new beds to be made. You're around the product all the time. I think what's great about a stylist, and I would say Suze and I cut our teeth, having a brand new showroom, you really do take risks with space planning and try things that you wouldn't normally if you were just working on a client's home.

16:17They don't make sense on paper. Exactly. But there's something magic three-dimensionally about taking risks in the showroom. We call it our design laboratory. We were just constantly trying different things. And it really is an art. If you're an interior designer that's mostly working in finishes and getting the home build, when it comes to the furniture layer, that is a muscle you might not use a lot. One of the things that makes us great at both is having a showroom because we're constantly out there playing it, in it, understanding it, and really working out the space planning and taking risks.

16:50I remember when I was, it was 08 when I met you. like end of 08 I start working for you in 09 and I remember my previous boss it was 08 you know the world was falling apart and she's like you're making career suicide and I'm just like not when it came to what I wanted uh-huh I knew that technical side I'd been working in it for several years I'd worked for her but I needed to know more about how to style I'm a people person and you'll know you'll kind of discover these things if you like people the stylist is a great thing for you because you get to work with people and it's a good introductory.

17:21Gals will come up and say, I really want to do this. What should, what's my first move? I'm like, work for a showroom you like, you know, start to figure out how to work with not only as far as furniture, styling, accessories and things, but you learn how to work with people and you learn how to care about people because that is what drives, you know, a project to the finish line. You fall in love with it. You fall in love with the person. And unless you know how to do that, it's really hard to be in front of a client and have them believe you that you really want the very best for them and this is your best foot forward on what you want the space to be.

17:52Yeah there's so much training and learning when it comes to furnishings and styling a space just working within the libraries and the fabrics that things are available. A huge part of interior design that nobody tells you about is it's also a sales job. You are selling a client what their finished room is going to look like. It's a sales job even when it's a construction site because you're selling them on why you chose the tile that you did for the bathroom, what their shower is going to look like, why you think this hardware is going to be the most beautiful for them. Every single part, every decision, you're taking them through it and you're helping them understand your vision for it.

18:28And then all the way down to the furniture layer, that's a sales job too. So working as a stylist in a showroom is going to get you really comfortable talking to anybody that walks in that door about that favorite sofa that everybody's buying. Here's the favorite cover, or here's the favorite fabric, or, oh, we made it this way one time. This one's kid proof, Oh, we can also make it in leather. Just really getting comfortable with how furniture is made, how long it takes, what options it's available in, how to customize it, how to make that sofa into a sectional. There's a whole vernacular and language that comes with being a stylist and working in a showroom.

18:59I actually know a gal that's beginning the design field. She's probably in her 50s and she just got a job working at RH. Go her. Yeah. That's awesome. I think it will, it's going to be a really nice way to cut her teeth and just get more and more comfortable with the design process. So that's something you don't need a degree for. You can go do that right away. There's also this other stylist title that you could wear. And this one's a lot more niche, but people that will style for photo shoots are also known as a stylist. I know a gal who is a stylist today and she'll just go around and style for the shoot.

19:32And you're looking through the lens with that all set up and you can see what the photographer's getting ready to shoot or shot already. And you're like, oh my gosh, I've got to move the flowers in six inches because they're outside of the shot. or I've got to adjust this or I've got to swivel this chair around. Even though it doesn't look good in the space, it looks great in the lens. So they're always styling for the shot. And a lot of times an interior stylist will be hired for a photo shoot. So if you know a photographer friend and you are always styling your house and you've got a knack, you can say, can I come along and just, can I just, you know, I'll do it for free.

20:03I just want to see how it's done. I want to help style the shoot. I'll bring flowers. I'll bring whatever. That's also a stylist position. So good, so good, so good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom Rack Stores now And up to 60 % off Stock up and save on the brands you love Like Vince, Sam Edelman, Frame, and Free People Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts Shop new arrivals first and more Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free Great brands, great prices That's why you rack Or if you even want to look at I'm like, if I was young And I wanted to do this I'd be like, I would go and look at my favorite shelter magazine.

20:44I would look at Arc Digest. I would look and look, see what photographers are noted in the projects that I love the most and be like, I love them. I'm going to call them and be like, who's a stylist? I would intern for them or just kind of. And I think that that is so much of it is just like most people that are into interior design, they have, you know, some algorithm of people that they're following that are like making them love it, you know, and the deeper you get in, the better your algorithm gets and the more people you follow, the more passionate you're going to become. but also the more aligned with the right firm, with the right degree, with the right path that you're going to become because you're feeding yourself all that.

21:18Totally. So it's just, it's a, it's a passion feed, man. It's just, yeah. When you start and so many listeners probably feel this, when you start down this road, it does not sleep. Design does not sleep. We are constantly sending each other inspiring things. What is lighting us up? You can't put it down. It's so hard to put down because it's just, it's a calling. Yeah. Yeah. Well said. And that passion has to be there because there's a lot, just like any other job, there's a lot of parts to it that are hard and logistics complicate things. The passion, as long as that's there, that's the fire that like keeps you going.

21:51The good outweighs the grit. Yes. But stylist would be really, it would be a really fun job. I think so too. I would, that's where I would start right away while I figure out where I belong. Or I go work for a designer that you really admire their work because you want to love their aesthetic. You're doing this for the aesthetics. And so I would just go and, you know, Find the very best you can and learn their practices because it is a messy field. And so you want to work for somebody that's great at it. They probably have processes figured out. It's the most painful thing. It's like going to the dentist with no numbing or don't have a good process.

22:22Oh, it's so awful. Yeah. So I think working for like a reputable place, every designer is going to need help because like you said, it never sleeps. So and maybe you're a person that likes to come up with processes. So maybe you do want to work for somebody that's just starting out and then help them create processes. and then you can help make them even better and become invaluable to them. I would say our operations is what 50 % of that experience is. Yeah. It's so important. Two more roles within interior design that you could do. This one's a little bit more adjacent, but you could become a sales rep.

22:51Do you want to tell them about Utah State? Yeah, Utah State, they don't have this anymore, but I think that you could still get a degree in marketing and have it satisfy. When I was going to school 20 years ago, you had to get into the program, the interior design program, which is the studio, which is when you're taking CAD and doing all these projects for architecture teachers and da da da da. So they had 20 slots for that, but there was 75 to a hundred kids that were trying out for this. And they're just like, well, what do we do with the others? You know? And they figured out that the best route was just like sales, you know, sales and marketing.

23:20If you didn't, you don't want to do studio and it could be a choice. You don't want to do studio. You could go into the sales and marketing branch of design. And that kind of taught you kind of the skills to become a sales rep for furniture and just, and a lot of just like marketing sales, Any of that information, if you have a degree in that already, this is a great way to foray into the field is to become a sales rep. And what that is, we meet with sales reps every single week. We have hundreds of different furniture lines. And all those furniture lines have sales reps that help educate and push their furniture and fabrics and all the options to designers everywhere.

23:54So you could work for Hickory Chair. And I get very well versed. You're going to all the markets. You're going to all the firms in your region. and you're basically you're selling this beautiful product. So if that feels more in line with what your will set is, that is a really, I think a great avenue for a lot of people. And you can make really good money. I'll say, I'm like, when we were doing this, they're just like the sales reps going to make more money than you just so you know. They are. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So again, for the love of the game. And to add onto that, we've all worked with good sales reps and not so good sales reps.