How To Become A Residential Interior Designer

With the exploding popularity of reality television shows like Trading Spaces and the entire lineup of the Home and Garden Network, residential interior design has been catapulted into the spotlight as the career choice du jour for up-and-coming creative students. But being a residential interior designer is more complicated than you see on TV. It's not all breezing through downtown Toronto lofts gluing hay to the walls and criticizing the throw pillows. It involves not just aesthetic tastes but carpentry, electrical work, and plumbing. If you're a creative person who likes to work with your hands, interior design could be for you, and our series of articles can help you on your way.

Before you make a decision on whether to embark on the process of becoming an interior designer, you should make sure that you and the profession are suited to each other. Ask yourself questions like: when I walk into a room, do I see only the room as it is presented, or also the possibilities for how it could look? Am I comfortable working with power tools? Can I tell the difference between cord grips and vice grips? Do I have a good understanding of color, function, and light? If you're not an expert on these subjects, don't worry. That's what training is for. But you should at least want to know the answers.

The first thing you need to realize about becoming an interior designer is that the process is more complicated than simply doing an Ottawa job search on Monster.com and coming up with six or seven projects that need doing. Most people will not even consider hiring you to design the interior of your house unless you are a) accredited and b) have an impressive portfolio. These two aims can be achieved through a combination of university or college education and apprenticeships. Our articles will cover what you can expect from these programs, where to find them, and which programs are best suited to your particular needs.

Interior design involves creating functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing homes, which involves everything you would find inside a house, from windows to wall hangings. Learning about these elements will take time. Six years of time, in fact, from beginning to end, and the end point is where you can START looking for a position. That's a long time to be studying. If you need finance to study interior design, that's one of the areas we'll cover as well. Some people support themselves by working part time in a shop that does cheap postcard printing, while others take out loans. We'll help you find the method that will work for you.

Above all, though, becoming an interior designer and actually working as an interior designer are processes that involve creating and maintaining good relationships with others. You'll not only be working around the client's wishes, but you'll also have to deal with manufacturers of growers supplies, building materials, and decorations. The better your relationships are, the better the deals you'll be able to get, so we'll help you learn to relate to people so you can attract and keep clients.