The world has been through 50-years of DIY culture, with the majority of people re-modelling, upgrading, and decorating their own homes in their spare time. However, that cycle is ending for a number of key reasons and this demise has given birth to some amazing and exciting opportunities for those people interested in Interior Design.
In the DIY period, people were happy to spend their spare time on home-improvements and they enjoyed showing off their efforts to all their visitors. Today, there are too many distractions and alternatives that have much more appeal to the modern generation of homeowners–who are happier spending their time in more entertaining activities with their friends.
Furthermore, in most families, adults are bringing home larger disposable incomes than ever before and today they prefer to employ an Interior Designer, rather than spend hours in trying to do it alone. The plethora of glossy magazines that are now available each month have thousands of pages with colourful photographs of beautiful homes, all with rooms designed by an expert in Interior Design. These magazines create the desire in people to have such a room in their own home.
That burgeoning desire for a beautiful home can only be fulfilled by an Interior Designer.
For years, tradesmen like painters, decorators, and carpenters would have nothing to do with people who worked in the Interior Design industry, and with a sneer, they would tell their customers not to waste their money on them. Today, it is a completely different story, because the tradesman now accepts that a home designed by an Interior Designer is far superior to anything they can provide. Furthermore, the tradesman often earns a far bigger profit when completing work for an Interior Designer compared to when they work directly for the customer.
This is because the Interior Designer will quote for the complete job: from basic design to provision of all the materials and completing the actual conversion. It can even include the supply of carpets, curtains, rugs, furniture, pictures, and ornaments. The fee for the decorator who does the painting and papering is perhaps only a small part of the overall price, and will often include a 15% to 20% profit margin to the Interior Designer.
Tradesmen in the home-improvement industry now spend considerable time and effort in developing a good relationship with Interior Designers, because today they can provide an increasing part of their annual income. This is a two-way connection, because the Interior Designer often receives valuable enquiries for design work from their pool of tradesmen. In addition, when the tradesman completes their work to a high standard, the Interior Designer is likely to benefit in the future from referrals and additional work from their clients.
However, working on designs for homes is only touching the surface of the income stream of a good Interior Designer. There is a vast and highly profitable design market in the retail, commercial, and industrial sectors where directors and managers are not slow in spending huge amounts of money in improving their environment. It is always easier to spend ‘other people’s money’ and the wise Interior Designer will make sure they enjoy a large slice of this business income stream. It is far larger and much more lucrative than the domestic sector where people are spending their own money.
The retail industry is always looking for ways to attract customers, and the Interior Design of their store is becoming a vital factor in establishing their brand. Commercial offices need to have ambient Interior Design if they are to attract and keep the best people as employees, and they are willing to spend vast amounts of money to achieve that objective.
There is also a certain amount of fame and publicity awarded the successful Interior Designer.
The avaricious glossy magazine market is continually on the lookout for interesting stories to photograph and publish. The clever Interior Designer will nurture relationships with editors and journalists and feed them stories of work they have done that may be of interest to magazine readers. This not only includes the obvious VIP sector where most important people in business, politics, religion, sport, and entertainment are only too pleased to have their home featured in a magazine, but there are other sectors that must not be ignored.
You may be designing a new home for a lottery winner, an invalid or an accident victim, or a person with an unusual hobby or occupation that requires a specific feature of interest. The building may be a converted 15th Century barn, a spacious farmhouse, a prison, or even a railway station. A large number of your contracts will have the potential for becoming a glossy magazine feature article, and this can provide you with the PR, publicity, and promotion that can boost your income tenfold!
There are opportunities for Interior Design everywhere you look.
People worldwide spend more than 90% of their life indoors and they need the right high quality environment, which is created by an Interior Design professional. As an Interior Designer, you can contribute to the health, safety, and welfare of people living in homes as well as those working in offices, hotels, restaurants, schools, stores, and other business places. You can be self-employed, you can work for an Interior Design company, or architectural offices, retail groups, or other commercial establishments can employ you.
Some newspapers and magazines are willing to pay an Interior Designer a handsome fee for a complete redesign of a home, which they then offer as a prize in a competition that will increase their readership. You can contact the promotions & marketing section of the media and suggest this idea to them, arrange a meeting to discuss the project, and negotiate a suitable fee. This will be much easier if some of your work has been photographed and published previously, and your name is becoming known.
The show-homes on display at new housing developments require excellent Interior Design in order to encourage visitors to become purchasers. Shopping malls and department stores can provide space for you to display photographs of your work, distribute colour brochures and flyers, and collect names of prospective clients for your Interior Design services.
You can learn all the secrets of Interior Design by taking a Course.
This is a profession that is open to almost everybody with a keen interest in design, and there are no restrictions on age, sex, race, or creed–if you really want to be an Interior Designer, a Course will show you exactly how!
You can complete a course from the comfort of your own home by distance learning, which means you can live in anywhere with Internet access and download the modules onto your computer.
Finally, as an Interior Designer in the 21st Century, you are not limited to simply advising and selecting furniture and accessories. You will create attractive and functional surroundings with the right ambience for either productive work or relaxation. You interact with many different people, enjoy a profitable and creative career, and best of all you can set your own schedule.