Interior Designers are like Fashion Stylists, sort of.

I like to use analogies, and I think this one is fairly relatable for most people because we have all been shopping for clothes probably hundreds of times in life and we can easily imagine these scenarios. Think of hiring an interior designer like hiring a fashion stylist. Home furnishings = clothing, shoes, and accessories. Your wardrobe = your home. Below are some examples that might make understanding interior design services easier.

Scenario A:

I want to hire a pro to help me get my dream wardrobe!! I want them to make me look my best! Better than I’ve ever made myself look before! But I want to love every single thing they buy, so I want them to run the options past me for approval before buying. And I want to have a few alternate options for each selection.

Yeah, I know. Seems a little awkward when you think of it in terms of clothing and accessories, right? Imagine you’re paying someone for their knowledge and eye for pulling together outfits way cooler than the ones you normally wear, but you’re going to make them shop for at least 3 times the number of items you actually need, so that you can be presented with options, and then you’re going to be the one leading the decisions about what to buy.

The truth is, if you insist on directing the whole effort, you’ve now brought your amazing, impressive, artistic stylist down to the level of being your shopping assistant. The wardrobe you end up with and how you combine the pieces to make outfits won’t be what your stylist would have picked, and wasn’t that the reason you wanted them to curate it??

It is TOUGH letting go of control. ESPECIALLY when it’s going to mean “risking” a lot of your money on something that is going to represent you to the rest of the world! But, if you want to get your money’s worth, you’ll let your stylist do the work they’re great at, and you’ll know that you chose them because you trust their taste (so it shouldn’t be all that big of a risk anyway, right?).

In order to have a pleasant (not painfully tedious) experience creating a new wardrobe, you can’t be approving every single choice from a selection of options. That creates a really inefficient, frustrating shopping process and a disjointed collection that is missing key “standout” items that were too far from comfortable for you to approve. It also makes following a budget very challenging for your stylist (designer), and it’s a recipe for everyone getting burned out halfway through the project, leaving you with a half-done wardrobe that no one is really excited about.

If you let your stylist do their job with minimal input after the initial planning talks, there will surely be a couple things in your closet you don’t love, but I bet there will be a TON of things you adore that you never would’ve thought you’d like.

Scenario B:

My clothes fell off of the back of our moving truck. I’m starting with nothing, and I need everything. ASAP.

Cool, cool. Just, keep these two things in mind: the quicker you need this done, the fewer options you have, and the less time there is to price shop.

If you need to curate a full wardrobe in the next 2 weeks, you’re only going to be able to choose from things that are for sale right now. It can definitely be done, but remember that a normal wardrobe’s composition has some clothes from a long time ago, some from the last couple years, and some you’ve just picked up. You may not realize it, but that natural progression of collecting across many seasons has allowed you to be pickier when you shop than you can be if you have to get it done in one shopping spree.

When you have more time, you have the opportunity to see something, think about it, look for something similar elsewhere, and consider your best option. If you need to rush your purchase decisions, you will probably realize at the end of it all that almost the same shirt you picked up at the Gap was available at H&M for $18 less. It sucks, but there are limits to how much comparison shopping we can do in a short period of time.

Scenario C:

I just don’t see the value in designer handbags, but face cream? If it’s not top of the line, it’s not coming into my home.

People have unique perspectives on what items are worth spending money on and which aren’t. These values are not universal. You’ll want to make sure to communicate any of these preferences, if you are aware of them, to your designer so they can shop efficiently at the “right” level for you.

You’d be amazed by the way people assume that their attitudes about pricing and value are “common sense” and obvious. I could be wrong, but I don’t think people would make such an assumption about clothing because we’re all more aware of the range of price and quality options for clothing, and we know that there are customers for all levels. When it comes to furnishings, though, we need to begin from a solid understanding of what each client feels is a reasonable price range for each category.

At HDC, in our very first meeting with a prospective client, we’ll sit down with you and review a price catalog of average costs for things like sofas, kitchen tables, beds, lamps, etc. from a range of vendors representing good, better, and best. You’ll have an opportunity to see real costs for the items in these categories and provide feedback about what quality level is right for you. It is rarely a straight shot down one column for anyone, because everyone has different opinions about what items are worth more investment and which aren’t. It’s also very common for people to assume things cost a certain amount and then realize they don’t. …or at least, not post-Covid…

Scenario D:

I always buy off the rack. Never visit a tailor. Didn’t even realize I could get a custom dress made for my body.

Look, this is most people. It’s not weird or bad if this is you. But, just so you know, you can get a custom dress made for your body. …you can also have a custom sectional made to fit your room, with the fabric you choose (out of thousands of options), with the cushions as firm or soft as you want, and with the feet stained the color of wood you prefer, and with the arm style you like. It’s not for everyone, but it does exist. And like a custom-designed dress, it will cost more than a standard dress off the rack. Let your designer know if you’re interested in this option, but be prepared to wait as long as a year for a custom furniture order, and pay a fair bit more for it, too.

Scenario E:

I only buy my clothes from [X store]. It’s great quality without costing an arm and a leg. Are there low-end and high-end brands for furniture?

Are you familiar with Goodwill? Old Navy? The Gap? Banana Republic? How about Gucci or Louis Vuitton? Hermès? What about Loro Piana?

Nope? Not Loro Piana? Me neither. I googled “super expensive luxury clothing brands” and found that one. Turns out, for the bargain price of $34,800, you can buy a coat from them. Yeah, I’m also not going to be wearing one of those coats next winter.

The point is: there is obviously a range of price and quality in the fashion industry. Likewise, there is a range of price and quality in the home furnishings industry.

(I know, this is unexpected, I’m also blown away by this news.)

At or near the bottom, we have the Old Navys of the furniture industry: Home Goods and Ashley Furniture. (Don’t be offended– a lot of people shop there. It’s okay! No judgment!) They meet a need in the marketplace. Just recognize that Ashley and Home Goods aren’t selling top quality merch and we’ll all be on the same page.

So, if you want to move up in quality, we can shop in places like RC Willey and Living Spaces (this is the level I’d equate to The Gap). Then maybe we move on to Banana Republic (Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel, for instance). And if we’re feeling fancy, we hit the showroom floor at Ethan Allen or Bassett (Gucci maybe?). There are some Hermès-level brands you may recognize, like Currey & Company (they sell high-end light fixtures), but then there’s the Loro Pianas of the furniture and decor industry: the brands that are so high end, us peons aren’t talking about them because they’re so beyond our reach that they’re irrelevant.

All of these levels meet different needs and they all serve a purpose. (Maybe not the Loro Piana level…? $35K for a coat is really something…) Whatever tier you tend to shop, wherever you find value for your investment, you don’t need to feel weird about it. As I said, people hold really wide ranges of values about home furnishings and décor. Price, brand, quality… it’s all just a function of access and what we feel is important.

Whatever you feel is your sweet spot, communicate that to your designer. And you can use clothing brands as a reference point, since most everyone is more familiar with those than the home furnishings brands, anyway, and it will help your designer understand what you mean when you say you want something high-end.

So there it is. My wardrobe analogy and examples. Feel free to think about it as often as you like, since I know it’s a super clever analogy that’s obviously never been thought of by anyone else before and I’m a brilliant visionary for recognizing the relationship here.