FAQ
Interior designer
An interior designer has expertise in all facets of home design. From the architectural planning aspects and structural elements, to the finishings selection and functional components like plumbing, lighting and millwork. An interior designer is important if you are building a new construction home, major remodeling and adding on rooms or gutting an older home. When clients hire Home Frosting for interior design services, their projects often involve moving walls, adding rooms, and significant electrical and plumbing changes and finishing and decor.
Home decorator
A home decorator is often not involved in all of the technical and mechanical features of project, but brings expertise in the aesthetic of the project. This can include: wall treatments, color, fabrics, floor coverings, window treatments, furnishings, art and accessories. When clients hire Home Frosting for home decorating services, they have a home that feels out of date, or their needs in room purpose have changed. They are can be empty nesters and looking for a more sophisticated style and less family-friendly or they can be ready for cosmetic improvements tot their spaces.
Home stylist
A home stylist polishes, tweaks and finishes spaces. They are usually experts in placement and arrangement of furnishings, accessorizing and room flow. A home stylist is ideal when your home needs a re fresh, editing down, re arranging with what you have and augmenting with new on-tend items. When clients hire Home Frosting for home styling services, they often have big event planned in their home and need a fresh set of eyes and visual updating.
All great home design and decor professionals, be it a home stylist, home decorator or interior designer, should have a design point of view. This is based on their experience and their personal style. The role of a design professional in working with a client should include sharing this point of view, and having a sincere interest in helping their client enjoy their home or office. Beyond a design professional’s point of view, they should also share what’s currently in home style and decor vogue, new product innovations and expertise in other areas like color, lighting, safety, sound proofing, durability and comfort.
No they do not.
Few doubted Joanna Gaines ‘s (left) talent and skill as she built her international design empire and brand.
Joanna Gaines does not have a formal design education. Instead of going to design school, she learned much of what she knows on the job. Her early field of study was communications.
Same goes for architectural icon and legend Frank Lloyd Wright (right). He was officially a drop-out, having only completed a year of college. He was educated primarily by working in the offices of others, including fellow dropout Louis Sullivan.
Having a good working chemistry and communications rapport with your design professionals is key. This means you trust them and let them do, what they do best. Make sure they clearly understand your vision, budget, personal design style and preferences. Be honest with them, so they don’t waste your time or theirs going down the wrong path. A skilled and talented design professional should be creative, resourceful and do their research.
A design company also have a network of professional resources and sub contractors they involve in the project. This team should practice optimal safety standards and have adequate insurance for their part of the project.
Home Frosting offers home decorating, home styling and interior design services.
Our team includes both formally trained professionals, licensed sub contractors and very talented, self taught designers and craftsman.
This depends on your project scope, who is leading the project & their responsibilities, and your desired timeline for completion.
Here are some scenarios:
- Considering in buying a home that needs work?
Before you commit to the purchase a home, an interior designer can help you evaluate design possibilities and budgets needed for planning. - Building a new home.
We suggest hiring an interior designer before or around the time of hiring an architect, builder or general contractor. Knowledgeable designers are able to enhance the project and ensure that you receive the end result that is in your dreams. We’re here to guide you and be your advocate through the process. If you just need a home stylist or home decorator, this type of professional can be brought in once your building and or renovations are complete. If you are sourcing construction out to another company, you may want to include your other design professionals in key meetings to ensure the style, design and function flow all works together. - Updating your home with a scheduled event.
Again scope of project and level customization are key factors in determining this timing. If you are buying items that can ship fast, a home update can be accomplished in as little as 30 days. If you are looking for custom home decor elements, it’s not unusually to need 6 months to plan, order and install new decor.
Let’s look at what happens when you don’t bring in a designer first–it’s like making a movie without a director; there’s no one holding the full vision and no one sharing information with the team in a way they are used to processing the information. With a designer on board, you will have someone taking charge of all the decisions, someone who knows exactly how all of the pieces in your very large project puzzle impacts the next, and someone who can, and will, take all those pieces and create a home that is breathtaking in every way.
This depends on your project scope, who is leading the project & their responsibilities, and your desired timeline for completion.
Here are some scenarios:
- Considering in buying a home that needs work?
Before you commit to the purchase a home, an interior designer can help you evaluate design possibilities and budgets needed for planning. - Building a new home.
We suggest hiring an interior designer before or around the time of hiring an architect, builder or general contractor. Knowledgeable designers are able to enhance the project and ensure that you receive the end result that is in your dreams. We’re here to guide you and be your advocate through the process. If you just need a home stylist or home decorator, this type of professional can be brought in once your building and or renovations are complete. If you are sourcing construction out to another company, you may want to include your other design professionals in key meetings to ensure the style, design and function flow all works together. - Updating your home with a scheduled event.
Again scope of project and level customization are key factors in determining this timing. If you are buying items that can ship fast, a home update can be accomplished in as little as 30 days. If you are looking for custom home decor elements, it’s not unusually to need 6 months to plan, order and install new decor.
That’s up to you and your budget. When Home Frosting takes on a project, in the first phase, we define and confirm everyone’s role, the approval process, degree of detail you want to see, so the project is managed efficiently and exceeds the clients’ expectation.
The ideal design team should be an unbiased expert resource. This means:
- Providing a point of view based on experience, skill and talent, however, the final decision is yours
- Advocating for the client and serving as the liaison between all your various services: architect, contractor, and other craftsmen people.
- Communicating the information on the who, what, where and how of your home to the appropriate parties.
If you want to do your own purchasing, that is fine as long as we know that prior to beginning the project. We ask that you show us your selections before purchasing, and if we don’t believe the item fits, we’ll let you know. Purchasing items direct may impact your fees if added time or expense is involved. Should you decide to purchase items direct, you are responsible for delivery, installation, freight damages and time spent coordinating all of the services.
The budget is where the realistic picture of your project begins, and we won’t start a project without one; budgets can be created by available funds for the project, a % of the home value or on a price per square foot formula. Budgets include: furnishings, accessories and design fees. A budget is the map that shows us how we can do the best job for you. We will walk you through the process of budgeting based on our extensive experience with interior design. We find that our clients may know how much they want to invest, but may not know what is a reasonable budget for furnishings and fees are for a project like yours. We guide you through this process. Here’s a link to a website that provides resources about interior design so that you can be more aware of typical budget guidelines. What you choose to invest is your choice. Perhaps your comfort level is less than what Home Trust suggests. Our goal is to work within your investment range.
We’re happy to help you with a master plan for your project. Depending on the room size and other details, we can provide a proposal for you.